50+ Lifestyles

Max’s Musings

By Max Molleston

I  bring some sweetness into our lives this month in my column/essay activity.  Both of us know some of the sweetest poems for Valentine’s Day. In past February efforts, I have moved through the price of the cards and the values in their messages, proceeding to bouquets and boxed candies. You may recall poems you liked or didn’t because a teacher or college instructor  assigned reading of a poem or two composed by this poet or that one. Logic is seldom, if ever, the poet’s bent. Could clever rhyming bring it off?

William Blake, a poet born in 1757, was sent out of his home to apprentice for an engraver. He grew in excellence and began to beautify, using the art called illumination on books and other documents. Most of us associate the special color  use with monks selected to decorate, in Latin, first letters, then phrases, embellishing old and new testaments of the Holy Bible as  their contribution. You will note how cleverly these  short  poems  rhyme. I promised some sweetness and present it in his poem.

The Shepherd

How sweet is the shepherd’s sweet lot!
From the morn to the evening he strays;
He shall follow his sheep all the day
And his tongue shall be filled with praise.
For he hears the lambs innocent call,
And  he  hears  the  ewes  tender reply.
He  is  watchful  when  they  are  in  peace,
For they know that their shepherd is nigh.

Unless your teacher or college instructor demanded the study of Blake’s works in Milton, followed by Jerusalem, to express the fullness of  his  abilities, few of us will push into those long poems, plays and other prose.  Here is another Blake short poem,  a lesson he learned and one most of us have, as well.

If you trap  the moment before it’s ripe
The tears of repentance you’ll certainly wipe;
But if once you let the ripe moment go
You can never wipe off the tears of woe.

Not long ago my muse prompted an untitled short poem.

Love triumphs over
Sadness and despair,
Rests our realities and
peacefully relies on us.

All of us have pathways.  Make a decision, or, let it go. Many of us know an outcome we desire.  William Blake was a trained artist who took to writing and to poetry. Some so talented can and do. My friend Ted Kooser,  a proclaimed poet, is also a talented artist with brush and canvas. I attended one of his readings but was too late for a chance to purchase a painting from those he offered in  Ames,  Iowa a few years ago.

We  did  get  the word sweet into this February rendition, and I hope you will return for more windy days in  March.