Poetry Friday, and a Thought from Thomas Carlyle

Welcome to Poetry Friday! This is my first time hosting and have looked forward to it. I’ve been away from my blog for month and my thoughts have been with teachers who are returning to their students.

There are madmen running the country but still I managed to write. Being away from my blog has confirmed what I knew, that being part of this group inspires me to write and learn.

I have added Mister Linky to my blog so I hope he does his job. Fingers crossed. If he doesn’t, just place your address in the comments section.

Seasons are changing, so a few photos to celebrate Fall. In Upstate New York, it’s a time of contrasts. Lots of gold, yellow and red on my walks. Even pink.

And Halloween is almost here. I have to figure out how I will greet trick or treaters this year when they come to my door. My pumpkin door hanging and my little scarecrow have returned:

It struck me that the sky yesterday was showing a concern for others:

There have been many quiet, lovely mornings this summer, and I wish somehow I could keep them with me, freeze a moment, make it last. Maybe because I am apprehensive of the solitude that will come with frigid weather, I treasured each summer and fall moment. That’s what inspired this short poem.

AT EIGHT O'CLOCK

I wish for time  
to slow and stop
on a Thursday morning
at eight o’clock

when rays of sunshine
ignite chartreuse trees,

and maple leaves wave 
their hands in the breeze,
while cardinals chattering
on perches, be.

For this singular moment
each second will steal,
as the day rolls on
like a movie reel.

© Janice Scully 2020

I’ll end with a quote that seems relevant, by nineteenth century writer Thomas Carlyle, about what I might be listening for in quiet moments. I discovered the quote in a wonderful book, The Discovery of Poetry by Frances Mayes, who is a poetry professor and author of Under the Tuscan Sun.

All deep things are Song. It seems somehow the very
central essence of us, Song; as if all the rest were
but wrappers and hulls! . . . See deep enough,
and you see musically; the heart of Nature being
everywhere music, if you can only reach it.

Thomas Carlyle

Have a wonderful week and my best to you in your writing and in your classrooms.