Who Knew?

Who knew?

Who knew that poetry can have such impact on your day?  Who knew that when you read a certain poem, you are there, in the words, witnessing the unfolding of a masterpiece – right before your eyes.

I’m not sure about you guys…but for me, this poem just brightened my day.  (I’d better add it to the list…)   🙂

The Cities Inside Us

By Alberto Rios

“We live in secret cities

And we travel unmapped roads.

We speak words between us that we recognize

But which cannot be looked up.

They are our words.

They come from very far inside our mouths.

You and I, we are the secret citizens of the city

Inside us, and inside us

There go all the cars we have driven

And seen, there are all the people

We know and have known, there

Are all the places that are

But which used to be as well. This is where

They went. They did not disappear.

We each take a piece

Through the eye and through the ear.

It’s loud inside us, in here, and when we speak

In the outside world

We have to hope that some of that sound

Does not come out, that an arm

Does not reach out

In place of the tongue.”

So what do you think?  I think we are all in one big place, but in that place are a bunch of many little places.  All of these “little places” are each of us.  But when we all come together, it is like we are one big city – we are porductive, creative, and we grow stronger every day.  We represent something greater.  I’m not quite sure what that something is, but I know it is there.

But hey, I’m just rambling.  But some of the best ramblers come up with the best ideas.  🙂

Your Own Wonderland to Live in

I remembered that poems always have a deeper meaning than what is portrayed on the surface.  No meaning is ever the same; one may be similar, but never the same.  I like to read poems aloud, and if I smile, cry, laugh, or frown, these emotions came from across on the page.  The written word means so much, yet we speak of it so little.

My all-time favorite poem:

A Boat Beneath  a Sunny Sky

By Lewis Carroll

A boat beneath a sunny sky,

Lingering onward dreamily

In an evening of July —

Children three that nestle near,

Eager eye and willing ear,

Pleased a simple tale to hear —

Long has paled that sunny sky:

Echoes fade and memories die:

Autumn frosts have slain July.

Still she haunts me, phantomwise,

Alice moving under skies

Never seen by waking eyes.

Children yet, the tale to hear,

Eager eye and willing ear,

Lovingly shall nestle near.

In a Wonderland they lie,

Dreaming as the days go by,

Dreaming as the summers die:

Ever drifting down the stream —

Lingering in the golden gleam —

Life, what is it but a dream?

You know, who knows whether or not this poem was really meant to be read as a real-life version of a fairy-tale.  But I think that dreaming of our own Wonderland takes no meaning.  We have to create our world and mold it to shape our hearts; and if that doesn’t quite work, then it is time to read another poem.