A Friend to Man
This week’s choice is “The House by the Side of the Road” by Sam Walter Foss which I have chosen for David and Hannah who are house-hunting.
Ride, Boldly Ride
This week’s choice is “Eldorado” by Edgar Allan Poe and it’s partly inspired by Jesse Gilbert’s musical version and partly by last week’s poem “La Belle Dame Sans Merci”.
And No Birds Sing
This week’s choice is “La Belle Dame Sans Merci: A Ballad” by John Keats which I have chosen for a friend’s daughter.
The Farthest Hebrides
This week’s choice is “The Solitary Reaper” by William Wordsworth. I have chosen it because Rachel has been on holiday on the Isle of Lewis and has sent me photos of its stark but magnificent beauty.
Nature’s Works
This week’s choice marks the 100th birthday of Sir David Attenborough and it is “The Naturalist’s Summer-Evening Walk” by Gilbert White, another pioneering naturalist.
A Glowing, Radiant Stain
This week’s choice is “A Bluebell Wood” by Felix Dennis and I have chosen it to mark the beginning of May: the bluebell month.
Keep Your Fancy Free
This week’s choice is Part VIII of “A Shropshire Lad” by A.E. Housman and is generally known as “When I Was One-and-Twenty”.
Tranquillity Is Here
This week’s choice was inspired by our trip to the Lake District last week. It is “Composed By The Side Of Grasmere Lake 1806” by William Wordsworth. Great Pan himself low-whispering through the reeds,“Be thankful, thou; for, if unholy deedsRavage the world, tranquillity is here!” William Wordsworth (1770—1850) Poem 434. Composed By The Side Of Grasmere Lake 1806 CLOUDS, lingering yet, extend in solid barsThrough the grey west; and lo! these waters, steeledBy breezeless air to smoothest polish, yieldA vivid repetition of the stars;Jove, Venus, and the ruddy crest of MarsAmid his fellows beauteously revealedAt happy distance from earth’s groaning field,Where ruthless mortals wage incessant wars.Is it a mirror? — or the nether SphereOpening to view the abyss in which she feeds Her own calm fires? — But list! a voice is near;Great Pan himself low-whispering through the reeds,“Be thankful, thou; for, if unholy…
Not Yet One Common Man
This week’s choice is “Human Family” by Maya Angelou which I have chosen to mark meeting Rachel’s daughter Emily and her fiancé Forrest.
Dreaming and Singing
This week’s choice is “Ode” by Arthur O’Shaughnessy which I have chosen to mark the sixth anniversary of Poet’s Day.