Sunday, September 25, 2016

The Lovely Hours

Double Alaskan Rainbow
—Anonymous Photo



LIVE BLINDLY AND UPON THE HOUR
—Trumbull Stickney (1874-1904) 

Live blindly and upon the hour. The Lord,
Who was the Future, died full long ago.
Knowledge which is the Past is folly. Go,
Poor child, and be not to thyself abhorred.
Around thine earth sun-wingèd winds do blow
And planets roll; a meteor draws his sword;
The rainbow breaks his seven-coloured chord
And the long strips of river-silver flow:
Awake! Give thyself to the lovely hours.
Drinking their lips, catch thou the dream in flight
About their fragile hairs’ aërial gold.
Thou art divine, thou livest,—as of old
Apollo springing naked to the light,
And all his island shivered into flowers.

___________________

—Medusa, reminding you that Reyna Grande and Maceo Montoya will read today at the Avid Reader, 1600 Broadway, Sac., 3pm. Scroll down to the blue column (under the green column at the right) for info about this and other upcoming readings in our area—and note that more may be added at the last minute.


For more about Trumbull Stickney, go to www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/trumbull-stickney








Photos in this column can be enlarged by clicking on them once,
then click on the X in the top right corner to come back
to Medusa.
(Do click on this rainbow and let it fill your screen—
it's glorious!)