The Forum Advent Calendar - 1st December 2009
- Thread starter karena
- Start date
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December 02
:lol: at the dancing robots. Posting a little early because I don't know if I'll have time tomorrow.
I'm not really a poetry person, nor religious, but I'm always reminded of this poem of my beloved Dorothy Parker around this time, so I thought I'd share for the 2nd of December. Hope you like it as much as I do.
December 02
Prayer for a new mother
The things she knew, let her forget again -
The voices in the sky, the fear, the cold,
The gaping shepherds, and the queer old men
Piling their clumsy gifts of foreign gold.
Let her have laughter with her little one;
Teach her the endless, tuneless songs to sing;
Grant her the right to whisper to her son
The foolish names one dare not call a king
Keep from her dreams the rumble of a crowd,
The smell of rough-cut wood, the trail of red,
The thick and chilly whiteness of the shroud,
That wraps the strange new body of the dead.
Ah, let her go, kind Lord, where mothers go
And boast his pretty words and ways, and plan
The proud and happy years that they shall know
Together, when her son is grown a man.
Dorothy Parker, from her 'Complete Poems'
:lol: at the dancing robots. Posting a little early because I don't know if I'll have time tomorrow.
I'm not really a poetry person, nor religious, but I'm always reminded of this poem of my beloved Dorothy Parker around this time, so I thought I'd share for the 2nd of December. Hope you like it as much as I do.
December 02
Prayer for a new mother
The things she knew, let her forget again -
The voices in the sky, the fear, the cold,
The gaping shepherds, and the queer old men
Piling their clumsy gifts of foreign gold.
Let her have laughter with her little one;
Teach her the endless, tuneless songs to sing;
Grant her the right to whisper to her son
The foolish names one dare not call a king
Keep from her dreams the rumble of a crowd,
The smell of rough-cut wood, the trail of red,
The thick and chilly whiteness of the shroud,
That wraps the strange new body of the dead.
Ah, let her go, kind Lord, where mothers go
And boast his pretty words and ways, and plan
The proud and happy years that they shall know
Together, when her son is grown a man.
Dorothy Parker, from her 'Complete Poems'
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karena
New member
Aniseteph if you want to help keep it up, swing on over the other very similarly titled thread. There are people with duplicates who will be more than happy to give you a date
Lovely poem Zurah :clap: Reminds me of (in a slightly indirect way) Carol Ann Duffy's World's Wife collection. I remember Queen Herod makes me cry.
And yes dates of titles, great idea. Can't do it for mine as first post though.
Aniseteph
New member
I'm already scheduled for the 15th!
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