Thank you, Mary Lee, for hosting today’s Poetry Friday Round Up. She wrote a powerful villanelle about her retirement. You can visit her at her new blog, A(nother) Year of Reading.
The Poem-a-Day on 31 July 2021 was “Life” by Carrie Law Morgan Figgs.
1
A moment of pleasure,
An hour of pain,
A day of sunshine,
A week of rain,
A fortnight of peace,
A month of strife,
These taken together
Make up life.
2
One real friend
To a dozen foes,
Two open gates,
’Gainst twenty that’s closed,
Prosperity’s chair,
Then adversity’s knife;
These my friends
Make up life.
3
At daybreak a blossom,
At noontime a rose,
At twilight ’tis withered,
At evening ’tis closed.
The din of confusion,
The strain of the fife,
These with other things
Make up life.
4
A smile, then a tear,
Like a mystic pearl,
A pause, then a rush
Into the mad whirl,
A kiss, then a stab
From a traitor’s knife;
I think that you’ll agree with me,
That this life.
I wrote a summary poem about Figgs’ “Life” poem. I’m not sure why! I wrote two lines about each of her four stanzas.
About Life
After Carrie Law Morgan Figgs
Moments to months
The joy and the pain
Friends and prosperity
Adversity’s disdain
From daybreak to night
Whole lifetimes pass by
Life’s mystic, varied flurry
Days of storm and blue sky
Such a true poem, and your “summary poem” is fantastic!
The poem-of-the day holds so many truths to ponder. Your summary pulls it all together in a simplistic form, Denise. I often wonder at the end of the week how fast life passes by as I rethink the week.
From daybreak to night
Whole lifetimes pass by
oooooh. A summary poem. What a wonderful idea. And, what a beautiful poem. It reminds me of the brief life of a butterfly. Well done.
I think you did it because for sooooo many of us this is the hardest lesson to learn. We have to review and revisit. I think you made something more, something extra from it, too.
This is a terrific way to get to know a poem better. I feel like both poems fit well with Ruth’s post. It’s lovely to see how Poetry Friday posts complement each other!
And there is life in a nutshell; a kernel of words. Thank-you for sharing.
Those ‘ups and downs’ & ‘ins & outs’ perform our life weaving just as we realize, but maybe don’t want much of the time. You’ve given us so many different ways of looking at life, Denise. I love that you found and written so many wonderful pairs, yin yang of life!
The poem you shared depicts life’s roller coaster Denise. As Linda writes, the ying & yang we all encounter. It’s always interesting when we read a poem and it moves us to respond/reply. You have responded respectfully and most appropriately.
I like yours better than the original! (The anti-spam words are “hilly joy” – how great is that?)
I love the way both the original and your summary poem capture the ups and downs of life. I especially love:
From daybreak to night
Whole lifetimes pass by
Perfect! Thanks for sharing Carrie Law Morgan Figgs and for sharing your own inspired piece as well!
I love your summary poem – you’ve distilled the essence of the inspiration. I love this language:
“Life’s mystic, varied flurry
Days of storm and blue sky”
A beautiful way to capture the varied experiences that add up to “life.”
Your summary reads so beautifully. The weeks fly by and sometimes I just need to slow down.
Thanks for sharing Figgs poem, written as if for today with much to contemplate on. And your response sums up her poem poignantly, I especially liked this line,
“From daybreak to night
Whole lifetimes pass by”
Thanks Denise!