Remembering
Jill Lyman, guest host at d’Verse~Poetry Pub, challenged us to write a response poem to a poem of our choosing. I chose With Music by Helen Hay Whitney.
My sister sent me this poem a while back, and as I read it I thought, “How sad that her memories of love were faded into some dim yesterday that she could barley remember.”
I remember my own experience 48 years later like it was yesterday. So, I rewrote my version of the poem and sent it back to her.
With Music
By Helen Hay Whitney
Dear, did we meet in some dim yesterday?
I half remember how the birds were mute
Among green leaves and tulip-tinted fruit,
And on the grass, beside a stream, we lay
In early twilight; faintly, far away,
Came lovely sounds adrift from silver lute,
With answered echoes of an airy flute,
While Twilight waited tiptoe, fain to stay.
*
Her violet eyes were sweet with mystery.
You looked in mine, the music rose and fell
Like little, lisping laughter of the sea;
Our souls were barks, wind-wafted from the shore-
Gold cup, a rose, a ruby, who can tell?
Soft-music ceases-I recall no more.
**************************
Public Domain
“With Music” was published in “Sonnets and Songs”
(Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1905).
Found on the web site:
https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/blogs/educationitself/2015/09/18/music-helen-hay-whitney/72409238/
Under the Ziegler Oak
Dwight L. Roth
Yes dear, we did meet in some clear yesterday?
I distinctly remember how the cool breezes blew
Among green grass and shade of our oak,
And on the grass, beside the tree, we lay
In early twilight; faintly, overhead,
Came lovely sounds adrift from the mocking bird above,
With answered echoes of a scolding blue jay,
While Twilight waited tiptoe, fain to stay.
*
Her Brown eyes were sweet with innocent mystery.
You looked in mine, as the music rose and fell
Like little, lisping melodies of the sea;
Our souls were joined, our voices in harmony rose—
Golden words, a note, a line, who can tell?
Soft—music rising—I recall it all.
***********************************
Check out d’Verse at: https://dversepoets.com/
Photo: Jim Bowman Photography
Advertisements Share this:
