The Love of Poetry

Even when a child fails a grade in school there may be positive things learned that last a lifetime. When I was failing Grade Eight at Maplehurst Public School in Burlington, Ontario, I was introduced to a book of poems called The Grass of Parnassus. Through that book I was introduced to a love of poetry.

Among the poems in this fine collection are the following, and one of my own.

Cherry-Ripe by Robert Herrick (1591–1674)

Cherry-Ripe, ripe, ripe, I cry, 

Full and fair ones; come and buy.      

If so be you ask me where     

They do grow, I answer: There          

Where my Julia’s lips do smile;                  

There’s the land, or cherry-isle,          

Whose plantations fully show

All the year where cherries grow.      

And the following  Cavalier poem by Richard Lovelace (1618–1657).

To Lucasta, Going to the Wars

Tell me not (Sweet) I am unkind,

         That from the nunnery

Of thy chaste breast and quiet mind

         To war and arms I fly.

True, a new mistress now I chase,

         The first foe in the field;

And with a stronger faith embrace

         A sword, a horse, a shield.

Yet this inconstancy is such

         As you too shall adore;

I could not love thee (Dear) so much,

         Lov’d I not Honour more.

If you want to write poetry, read poetry. The following sonnet is one I wrote for my wife Diana.

Desire and Fulfillment by R. Penman Smith. (1939 - )

There is sweet delight hidden in desire.

There is yearning strong each lover knows.

Too easy conquest disappointment sows.

There is yearning that sets the heart on fire,

There is wooing that flows from desire

Enflaming the heart as each lover knows.

It reveals the heart and all its nature shows

Fanning the bright flames of the heart on fire.

Such yearnings and such wooing bear fruition

When both lover and beloved know themselves

As whole, yet each the other gladly serves

Without dissembling or diminution.

Blessed the lovers who belong each to other

And covenant to love one another.