Stat Crux Dum Volvitur Orbis

[poliphilo]

Stat Crux Dum Volvitur Orbis

 

The young have other priorities-

I understand that.

A leman to hold you,

Children running in the garth,

White flowers at the start of the year,

Apples in the long grass smelling sweetly of death-

These are all good things

While their seasons last.

But why should an old man or woman want more

Than a roof to keep the rain off,

A stout door to keep the newsmongers out,

Water running from a bronze tap,

A garden to dig in,

Books to read and write in,

Brothers and sisters- all close-

But none of them speaking

Except in silence-

Silence

The conversation of angels-

And one Friend

Steady in all his gifts,

Steady in every season,

Of whom it would be foolish to say more?

 

A tree is desirable too- especially if it’s a nut tree.

Although I wouldn’t say I needed it,

I am happy to have one.

Comments

[queen-in-autumn.livejournal.com]

I like this very much.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad.

[frumiousb.livejournal.com]

that's lovely.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[daisytells.livejournal.com]

Your poem says it all for me. The simple life, "aint" it grand?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

That's right. One of the blessings of getting older, I believe, is that you want and need less.

[daisytells.livejournal.com]

Amen to that!

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

That is beautiful...and appeals to me very much today.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[clindau.livejournal.com]

I like this very much--is it newly written or rediscovered?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

It's entirely new. I wrote it this morning.

[amritarosa.livejournal.com]

Beautiful. May I repost?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

Please do. I'd be honoured.

[veronica-milvus.livejournal.com]

Is that your muse back with you?
Glad!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Seems like it.

Only time will show if this is more than a flying visit :)

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

Such pleasant melancholy.

A tree is desirable too- especially if it’s a nut tree.
Although I wouldn’t say I needed it,
I am happy to have one.

I had a little nut-tree.
Nothing would it bear
But a silver nutmeg
and a golden pear;
The king of Spain's daughter
came to visit me,
And all because of my little nut-tree.

I skipped over water, I danced over sea.
And all the birds in the air couldn't catch me.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

That's one of my very favourite nursery rhymes. Whoever wrote it was a true poet.

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

My mother used to sing it to me.

I can almost hear her voice, very light and lilting.

She also sang to me "Can she bake a cherry pie, Charming Billy?" and "He promised to buy me a bunch of blue ribons to tie up my bonnie brown hair," and "Sweet and low, sweet and low, wind of the western sea"--which made me think of the color purple, and see a moon in a purple sky.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

My mother used to sing me The Skye Boat Song- all about the '45 rebellion and Bonnie Prince Charlie.

Speed bonnie boat like a bird on the wing;
"Onward" the sailors cry.
Carry the lad that's born to be king
Over the sea to Skye.

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

I can imagine that the stirring

Carry the lad that's born to be king
Over the sea to Skye

would be most evocative to you as a child!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Perhaps all the more so because I'd only the vaguest idea what the history was.

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

Perhaps all the more so because I'd only the vaguest idea what the history was.


Right--you got the archetype of the child king.