Comments on: Photos: before and after https://thenewneo.com/2013/03/14/photos-before-and-after-the-blight-man-was-born-for/ A blog about political change, among other things Fri, 15 Mar 2013 19:44:53 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 By: Jim Nicholas https://thenewneo.com/2013/03/14/photos-before-and-after-the-blight-man-was-born-for/#comment-553370 Fri, 15 Mar 2013 19:44:53 +0000 http://neoneocon.com/?p=25971#comment-553370 JJ,
Thanks.
Jim

]]> By: buddha hat https://thenewneo.com/2013/03/14/photos-before-and-after-the-blight-man-was-born-for/#comment-553302 Fri, 15 Mar 2013 18:28:31 +0000 http://neoneocon.com/?p=25971#comment-553302 Another poem about what time does to all of us, if we’re lucky enough to live that long.

Blue Girls

Twirling your blue skirts, travelling the sward
Under the towers of your seminary,
Go listen to your teachers old and contrary
Without believing a word.

Tie the white fillets then about your hair
And think no more of what will come to pass
Than bluebirds that go walking on the grass
And chattering on the air.

Practice your beauty, blue girls, before it fail;
And I will cry with my loud lips and publish
Beauty which all our power shall never establish,
It is so frail.

For I could tell you a story which is true;
I know a woman with a terrible tongue,
Blear eyes fallen from blue,
All her perfections tarnished — yet it is not long
Since she was lovelier than any of you.

John Crowe Ransom

]]> By: JJ formerly Jimmy J. https://thenewneo.com/2013/03/14/photos-before-and-after-the-blight-man-was-born-for/#comment-553295 Fri, 15 Mar 2013 18:17:44 +0000 http://neoneocon.com/?p=25971#comment-553295 Jim Nicholas asked; “I have spent some time searching for the author of JJ’s poem, without success.”

This is a bit off topic, but an answer as good as I can give you. I don’t think you will find the author – I have looked unsuccessfully myself. When our 20 year old son died in a mountain climbing accident 33 years ago we received a mountain of cards and letters. Some from people we didn’t know and a few came anonymously. This poem was one of the anonymous messages of sympathy. It was a message that resonated for us as our son had lived a life that was very wide and deep for a 20 year old. It was also a message we used to pick ourselves up and carry on in his memory.

I have sent it to many bereaved parents and other grieving souls. As well as to young people who are looking for guidance. Strange that the author never published the poem. IMO, it’s quite good.

]]> By: neo-neocon https://thenewneo.com/2013/03/14/photos-before-and-after-the-blight-man-was-born-for/#comment-553249 Fri, 15 Mar 2013 17:17:56 +0000 http://neoneocon.com/?p=25971#comment-553249 Jamie: also, it might help with your understanding of the poem to learn (if you didn’t already know this) that the word “ghost” in the third line from the bottom means “soul” or “spirit.”

]]> By: neo-neocon https://thenewneo.com/2013/03/14/photos-before-and-after-the-blight-man-was-born-for/#comment-553245 Fri, 15 Mar 2013 17:12:52 +0000 http://neoneocon.com/?p=25971#comment-553245 Jamie: and that’s one of the points of the poem, isn’t it? Margaret doesn’t really understand why she is so moved, but she is, because she intuits the meaning of the fallen leaves and their relevance to her own fate. Just as you sensed the meaning of the poem.

I had the same experience, having come across the poem quite early in life.

]]> By: Mrs Whatsit https://thenewneo.com/2013/03/14/photos-before-and-after-the-blight-man-was-born-for/#comment-553023 Fri, 15 Mar 2013 12:08:55 +0000 http://neoneocon.com/?p=25971#comment-553023 I’ve started and deleted quite a few responses to this post and each time gone back to simply rereading the Hopkins poem, which says everything and then some.

As for my own sags and lines and aches and pains, I’ve taken to reminding myself, when they start to bother me, of all the folks who didn’t make it to this age and would have given anything for the chance to live long enough to see time change their looks. Rightly considered, the signs of age are more a reason to celebrate than to mourn.

And Parker, what wonderful news. Enjoy your trip and your family!

]]> By: Jim Nicholas https://thenewneo.com/2013/03/14/photos-before-and-after-the-blight-man-was-born-for/#comment-553001 Fri, 15 Mar 2013 11:38:46 +0000 http://neoneocon.com/?p=25971#comment-553001 I have spent some time searching for the author of JJ’s poem, without success. Does anyone else know?

]]> By: jamie https://thenewneo.com/2013/03/14/photos-before-and-after-the-blight-man-was-born-for/#comment-552856 Fri, 15 Mar 2013 09:49:48 +0000 http://neoneocon.com/?p=25971#comment-552856 One of my favorite poems. I first learner it when I was about ten and didn’t really understand it; arguably I still don’t “really ” understand it, but now “I am [six-and-forty], and oh, ’tis true, ’tis true!”

]]> By: SCOTTtheBADGER https://thenewneo.com/2013/03/14/photos-before-and-after-the-blight-man-was-born-for/#comment-552641 Fri, 15 Mar 2013 07:33:32 +0000 http://neoneocon.com/?p=25971#comment-552641 Jim Nicholas, I concour, as well. Twenty year olds are girls, not women, I am after other 51 year olds. Women that I have something in common with.

]]> By: JJ formerly Jimmy J. https://thenewneo.com/2013/03/14/photos-before-and-after-the-blight-man-was-born-for/#comment-552396 Fri, 15 Mar 2013 02:50:05 +0000 http://neoneocon.com/?p=25971#comment-552396 Life is a journey which can be long or short. The idea is to make the most of the trip. However, some have to carry larger burdens of sorrow, loss, poverty, and all those things that make the journey more difficult. Many make poor decisions that also make things harder. Nonetheless, we have to put one step in front of the other and see where it all leads.

I’ve always liked this poem. I don’t know the author’s name, but it has always struck me as a pretty good guide to life.

TRUE MEASURE
How long we live is not for us to say.
We may have many years ahead, or but a day.
The length of life is not of our control,
But length is not the measure of the soul…..
Not length, but width and depth define the span
By which the world takes measure of a man.
It matters not how long before we sleep,
But only how wide is our life……..how deep.

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