Poetry Hour: W. B. Yeats
Featuring three poems by W. B. Yeats (1865-1939): “When You Are Old,” “The Second Coming,” and “He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven.”
P.S. A few updates:
- You may or may not know that I’ve been quite sick the last few years with several health conditions. It’s been very difficult. In fact, as I recorded this video, I was recovering from COVID (which I’ve had multiple times now). Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers.
- Re: my writing – I think I’d like to try to start working in a more intentional way, concentrating on some longer, more polished pieces and sending them off to various forums (magazines, journals, websites) for possible publication. Because most places require first publication rights, I probably won’t be able to “publish” written work as often to this blog. I still intend to share little scribbles here and there, and if I’m lucky enough to get anything published, I’ll gladly post an excerpt and a link to where you can find the entire piece. We’ll see how things go.
- I’ve been hoping to self-publish a pocket-sized book of poems. I’d love to create a small run of hand-bound copies and maybe even work with an artist to add illustrations. Stay tuned.
Ferma Zitella
A friend introduced me to this unusual song, which is inspired by the traditional music of Salento, Italy, and I quickly became enchanted by it. If you happen to know of any songs with a similar sound, please share in the comments!
Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.
Dalai Lama
The Call to Write
Here’s a reflection for those who feel a call to the writing life – especially those who have been, for one reason or another, ignoring the call. This message can easily be adapted to address, not just writers, but anyone invited into a creative vocation.
…
You thought that you could coop the words up inside you and forget about them. You thought that not writing for a while would be inconsequential. You thought that ignoring the invitation to write – postponing the vocation of writing – wouldn’t really matter. It was important, but not so important that you couldn’t keep putting off the work without much impact to your life.
But you didn’t realize how tied up in the very core of your being this mission might be. You didn’t see, although you knew you had a gift, just how vital the work of expression would prove – to your fate, to your development, to your joy and peace. You didn’t understand, although GOD was telling you, that, by writing, you would be acting as an instrument of His Truth, His Beauty, and His Presence for the people who encounter Him through your words.
It’s not, of course, a question of pride. It’s never been that.
It’s merely the question of a call – a serious call – and the consequences of answering it, or not.
And although it might seem a small matter (for, indeed, sometimes your writing won’t feel important or exciting or grand), this question in fact strikes to the core of who you were created to be. Therefore, saying “yes” – not only with your mouth, but also with your pen – becomes an act of profound importance, influencing the mechanisms of your heart and soul and shaping the very course of this “one wild and precious life” you were given to live.
Brief Thoughts (No. 46)
I write and I contemplate the untested and untried possibilities. To consider “what could have been” is a sword to the heart.
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See –
the look in your eyes
the wind in your hair
the love in your heart
the peace in your prayer.
…
Once you have tried the wonderful life of the brave, you will wonder why you spent so long hiding out, clamoring in a corner, too cautious to really go after the things your heart was longing for you to do.
Brief Thoughts (No. 45)
You are free to examine your conscience in the way that suits you best.
You are free to love even when the one you’re loving doesn’t appear to love you back.
You are free to tell your thoughts to the world and sing of another vision, another way of life, which you have gained in your trials and perseverance and in your clinging to GOD.
Yes, count yourself a fortunate soul to have so many freedoms available to you – ready and waiting for your simple assent.
Brief Thoughts (No. 44)
If only I could reach into the mind of GOD and pull out the answers to my most burning questions – the questions that bring me deep pain and sadness, the questions that consume me from dawn ’til dusk.
How to abandon myself into the Hands of One Who remains so unknown to me? One Whose plans are, at times, altogether hidden?
…
“Yes, I’m having a terrible time,” you said. “Yes, I’m drinking from the pool of tears. Yes, I’m stuck, stagnant, with a desire that never seems to penetrate the heart of GOD, that never seems to move Him, though it moves me to my very core.”
…
I have no philosophies to entertain, no big ideas to untangle.
I’m just a simple soul longing for rest. Don’t give me more than I can take. I didn’t sign up for the difficult way.
…
It’s better to accept the loss, sometimes, than to break yourself down fighting for a win.