National Poetry Day 5th October 2023
For National Poetry Day on 5th October 2023, we invited students and staff to share a poem, their own and/or their favourite, on a noticeboard in the Hugh Owen Library. Here are the results:
Mais il dit oui avec le coeur
Il dit oui à ce qu'il aime"
[Le cancre, Jaques Prévert]
"From that day on I bathed in the Poem of the Sea etoile infusé et lactescent"
[Arthur Rimbaud, The Drunken Boat]
"And the fire will put his red hat on.
And sing to us.
(Let the fire now
put on its red hat
and sing to us)"
[Mary Oliver, Why I Wake Early (2004)]
"What is the life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night
No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance,
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich the smile her eyes began?
A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare."
[W.H. Davies, Leisure (1911)]
"I hope my love will find you
Across the hill and ditches
Through sea and sky
Through time
My love will find
Through all adversity"
[Dion Crawsord]
"May your light not dim as life unfolds through you and in your moment of Darkness and your light fades
May there be a candlelight of hope to call your Sanctuary"
"Oduram bu"
[Eba]
"Time is nothing if not cruel,
but there is beauty behind the brutality.
Follow your own rules."
"My Mama moved among the days
like a dreamwalker in a field;
seemed like what she touched was hers
seemed like what touched her couldn't hold,
she got us almost through the high grass
then seemed like she turned around and ran
right back in
right back on in"
[Lucile Clifton]
"I listen to echoes of the voices I just heard yesterday
I like listening to other people speak
Even when I am not able to talk
Because there aren't many things I find
As comforting as hearing the words
I want to say through someone else's voice."
"I know your days are precious on this earth
But what are you trying to be free of?
The living?
The miraculous taste of it?
Love is for the ones who love the work."
"Es mala amante la fama
y no va a quererte de verdad
Es demasia'o traicionera,
y como ella viene, se te va1
Sabe que será celosa,
yo nunca le confiaré
si quiere' duerme con ella,
pero nunca la vayas a casar"
[Rosalía, La fama (2022)]
"I can't tell you I miss you
Reality is frozen
I can't pull your photos off the wall
I can't choose another photo frame for the shelves
I miss you madly
I can't write letters to anybody else
Do you still paint those pictures for your wall?
Do you still smile the way you used to?
Do you still remember me?
I can't help but miss you madly"
[@worlds_to_come]
"A happy vicar I might have been
200 years ago
To preach upon eternal doom
And watch my walnuts grow,
But born, alas, in an evil time,
I missed that pleasant haven,
For the hair has grown on my upper lip
And the clergy are all clean shaven"
[George Orwell]
"Those lives lived
And yet, the question remains
"Who am I?"
Beyond thought
Beyond reason + logic
Uncomprehended beauty shimmers
Calling us home
Suit after suit
Our bodies turn to dust
One reality,
At the sourve of all things
Relinquish
The pain,
Witness
The illusions
Of good + bad,
Of forms + labels
Of, dare I say, identity
Does it scare you to find out?
"Go within"
Our ancestors sing + become
Eternal peace"
[Connor Hunter-Wem]
"Three summers ago
when I was your age
I cut off my right ear
and whispered into it
as I crawled into bed
how much love I have inside me
I kissed it good night
the blood tasted sour
like church wine
when I woke up only an outline
was left"
[Mila Shelleb.]
"Not all those who wander are lost."
[J.R.R. Tolkien]
"A wise old owl sat in an oak,
The more he saw
The less he spoke,
The less he spoke
The more he heard.
Why can't we be more like
That wise old bird?"
Don't remember (isn't it cute tho?) [Nursey Rhyme, 1875]
"Du mener, det kan ikke være sant,
så onde kan ikke mennesker være.
Der fins da vel skikkelig folk iblandt?
Bror, du har ennu meget å lære!"
"Cawsom genedl o genhedlaeth
i genhedlaeth, ac anadlu
ein hanes ni ein hunain"
[Gerallt Lloyd Owen]
"Und wie mag die Liebe dir kommen sein?
Kam sie wie ein Sonnen, ein Blütenschnein,
kam sie wie ein Beten? - Erzähle:
Ein Glück löste leuchtend aus Himmeln sich los
und hing mit gefalteten Schwingen groß
an meiner blühenden Seele...
Das war der Tag der weißen Chrysanthemen, -
mir bangte fast vor seiner schweren Pracht...
Und dann, dann kamst du mir die Seele nehmen
tief in der Nacht"
[Rainer Maria Rilke, Lieben]
"And how may love have come to you? Did she come like sunshine, a blossom, did she come like praying? - Tell me: A piece of happiness broke loose brightly from the sky and hung with folded wings on my blossoming soul... II. That was the day of the white chrysanthemums - I was almost afraid of its heavy splendor... And then, then you came to take my soul deep in the night. I was so afraid, and you came sweetly and quietly - I had just thought of you in a dream. You came, and the night sounded as quiet as a fairy tale..."
"Si muero,
Dejad el balcón abierto.
El niño come naranjas
(Desde mi balcón lo veo)
El segador siega el trigo
(Desde mi balcón lo siento)
Si muero,
¡dejad el balcón abierto!"
[Federico García Lorca]
