My Epiphany or Yours?

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Different Journeys – Same Star – Epiphany

Walking through the woods with soft decay under my feet,
winter trees bare and silent stand as they have for centuries,
lean labrador snuffles in the undergrowth loving new smells,
fallen branches lay like bones stripped bare by hungry deer.

Three men travel across the desert with the cold of night
deep within their bones, they do not notice as they lift their
eyes to the sky assiduously following the star that has led them
from their books and reckonings, their homes and comfort.

I look to the stars for life’s meaning, the often drab and
dreary places wherein we try to find a reason for so much
that is unexplained and often inexplicable to me in my
lack of understanding, I so want the story to be true!

Yet long ago those three wise and mysterious men thought
that they knew the meaning and went through danger to
find the answers to a myriad questions and worship at the feet
of one so small, but who brought Light to their existence.

Do the trees know what we do not? Does my dog suspect
the truth? Do we have to know what we cannot prove?
Is not feeling the Spirit enough? Can the Light not shine
brightly so that we shield our eyes and just trust and believe?

I wonder!

The Magi journeyed to find their King;
My journey too is within my own imagining;
But wherever we find the Truth and the Light
It is our reality and that is all we need to know.

Denny Bradbury©2016

Winter Haiku

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Once more from my beautiful book of Haiku come two evocative winter Haiku: please enjoy them – so much from so little.

no escaping it –
I must step on fallen leaves
to take this path

Suzuki Masajo

This next one was written by the poet at the tower of London

into the ranks
of the suits of armour
deep winter

Arima Akito

Take care in the cold
keeping all hope alive with
the promise of spring

Denny Bradbury

With Shelley on National Poetry Day

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I don’t have a favourite poem as so many poems speak to me in my varying moods.  Happy or sad, reflective or buzzing there are poems for every situation.  On National Poetry Day I decided that the world needs love so have chosen ‘Love’s philosophy’ by Percy Bysshe Shelley:

The fountains mingle with the river
And the rivers with the Ocean,
The winds of Heaven mix for ever
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single;
All things by a law divine
In one spirit meet and mingle.
Why not I with thine?-

See the mountains kiss high Heaven
And the waves clasp one another;
No sister-flower would be forgiven
If it disdained its brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth
And the moonbeams kiss the sea:
What is all this sweet work worth
If thou kiss not me?

If we spread love then hate has less chance of gaining hold.
With best wishes – Denny Bradbury

The Beautiful Periwinkle

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Much folklore surrounds our plants and in this technologically advanced age many of the old sayings have been lost.  I love researching the meaning and use of plants.  If they are then linked to poetry all the better.  The periwinkle flower is one such plant. Traditionally the flower enhances the bond between husband and wife if they eat the leaves together. It was also used to help staunch bleeding.  In some places it was known as ‘cutfinger’ for its healing properties. Chewing the leaves was also said to prevent nightmares.

As the autumn draws on here in England my mind turns to spring and one of my favourite poems is: Lines written in early spring by William Wordsworth.  it is in this poem that he acknowledges that plants may have an appreciation of their surroundings:

To her fair works did Nature link
The human soul that through me ran;
And much it grieved my heart to think
What man has made of man.

Through primrose tufts, in that green bower,
The periwinkle trailed its wreaths;
And ’tis my faith that every flower
Enjoys the air it breathes.

Enjoy the air and revel in Nature’s bounty. Best wishes Denny Bradbury

Giving your heart to a dog – Kipling Style

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My ancient labrador has just had an operation, dangerous at any age to have an anaesthetic but more so when old. Thankfully he is through it and recovering but my sister sent me this poem by Rudyard Kipling which makes me moist eyed every time I read it. So for all you dog lovers out there, here it is.

The Power of the Dog – Kipling

THERE is sorrow enough in the natural way
From men and women to fill our day;
And when we are certain of sorrow in store,
Why do we always arrange for more?
Brothers and sisters, I bid you beware
Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.
Buy a pup and your money will buy
Love unflinching that cannot lie
Perfect passion and worship fed
By a kick in the ribs or a pat on the head.
Nevertheless it is hardly fair
To risk your heart for a dog to tear.

When the fourteen years which Nature permits
Are closing in asthma, or tumour, or fits,
And the vet’s unspoken prescription runs
To lethal chambers or loaded guns,
Then you will find – it’s your own affair, –
But … you’ve given your heart to a dog to tear.

When the body that lived at your single will,
With its whimper of welcome, is stilled (how still!),
When the spirit that answered your every mood
Is gone – wherever it goes – for good,
You will discover how much you care,
And will give your heart to a dog to tear!

We’ve sorrow enough in the natural way,
When it comes to burying Christian clay.
Our loves are not given, but only lent,
At compound interest of cent per cent,
Though it is not always the case, I believe,
That the longer we’ve kept ’em, the more do we grieve;
For, when debts are payable, right or wrong,
A short-time loan is as bad as a long –
So why in – Heaven (before we are there)
Should we give our hearts to a dog to tear?

Enjoy your pet –  tomorrow I will blog a more light hearted poem about dogs – just for balance. Best wishes Denny Bradbury