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
