This was a tough choice for me. I debated for some time before finally making my decision.
With an excellent selection of poetry combined with wonderful commentary, I felt this one was a cut above the rest.
Coming in the top five were Annejb, A Blog to Pass the Time, Volleyball14, and Ninjadrock. All were excellent reads for me.
Dry your eyes and quietly bear this pain with pride
For heaven shall remember the silent and the brave
And promise me they will never see, the fear within our eyes
(my eyes are closed)
We will give strength to those who still remain
So bury fear, for fate draws near
And hide the signs of pain
With noble acts, the bravest souls
Endure the heart’s remains
Discard regret, that in this debt
A better world is made
That children of a newer day might remember
And avoid our fate
(I’ve waited all day in the pouring rain, but nobody came, no, nobody came)
And in the fury of this darkest hour
We will be your light
You’ve asked me for my sacrifice
And I am Winter born
Without denying, a faith is come
That I have never known
I hear the angels call my name
And I am Winter born
Hold your head up high-for there is no greater love
Think of the faces of the people you defend
(you defend)
And promise me, they will never see the tears within our eyes
(my eyes are closed)
Although we are men, with mortal sins, angels never cry
So bury fear, for fate draws near
And hide the signs of pain
With noble acts, the bravest souls
Endure the heart’s remains
Discard regret, that in this debt
A better world is made
That children of a newer day might remember
And avoid our fate
And in the fury of this darkest hour
We will be your light
You’ve asked me for my sacrifice
And I am Winter born
Without denying, a faith in God
That I have never known
I hear the angels call my name
And I am Winter born
And in the fury of this darkest hour
I will be your light
A lifetime for this destiny
For I am Winter born
And in this moment..I will not run
It is my place to stand
We few shall carry hope
Within our bloodied hands
(bloodied hands)
And in our Dying, we’re more alive-than we have ever been
I’ve lived for these few seconds
For I am Winter born
And in the fury of this darkest hour
We will be the light
You’ve asked me for my sacrifice
And I am Winter born
Without denying, a faith in man
That I have never known
I hear the angels call my name
And I am Winter born
Within this moment now
I am for you, though better men have failed
I will give my life for love
For I am Winter born
And in my dying
I’m more alive, than I have ever been
I will make this sacrifice
For I am Winter born
The Cruxshadows
I picked my last poem only after seeing that other people had done songs for their posts. This let me realize I could pick a song as well.
The main reason I picked this particular song is the fact that almost no one appears to understand what it is about. One of the most common interpertations of the song is that it relates to the fall of the city of Troy, as many of the songs on the album it comes from are about that same thing. But would someone from ancient Greece make references to “mortal sins” or speak about how “angels never cry”? No. Those are inferrences towards Christian themes. And if one looks at the lyrics with an eye towards those themes, it becomes apparent that this song is about the death of the most famous person who allegedly was born in the winter (even if they were not born then, we celebrate their birth on Christmas day regardless).
Just reading the words is not good enough in my eyes, I wish I had a way to get others to listen to the song as it is performed. That would make it even easier to comprehend, in my opinion.
For the first time, on the road north of Tampico,
I felt the life sliding out of me,
a drum in the desert, harder and harder to hear.
I was seven, I lay in the car
watching palm trees swirl a sickening pattern past the glass.
My stomach was a melon split wide inside my skin.
“How do you know if you are going to die?”
I begged my mother.
We had been traveling for days.
With strange confidence she answered,
“When you can no longer make a fist.”
Years later I smile to think of that journey,
the borders we must cross separately,
stamped with our unanswerable woes.
I who did not die, who am still living,
still lying in the backseat behind all my questions,
clenching and opening one small hand.
Naomi Shihab Nye
Poetry does not need to rhyme. This seems like a fairly obvious idea, but nine times out of ten when you get an example of poetry put forward, it will involve some kind of rhyme scheme. This poem is a good example of a narrative that does not follow most of the usual conventions. Yes, it may seem harder to write in the standard formats that we associate with poetry, but I tend to think that it is easier to use a template to write poetry. Making a free-verse, non-rhyming poem good is much harder than it seems at first. That is why I like this poem- it manages to be excellent without using any kind of formula.
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This is one of the poems I brought into class to use for the video recording. It wasn’t chosen because another poem that was brought in was a perfect choice, but I wanted to do something with this one in any event.
What I love about this poem is the way it does not need to come out and tell the reader what has happened. Yes, Thomas most likely intended to have the reader figure out what occurred on the anniversary with the lines “The windows pour into their heart/ And the doors burn in their brains”. But there isn’t a desire to come out and bluntly state the facts. I enjoy this approach more than simply having a poet come out and say “Two people died in a fire on their wedding anniversary”. Which one would you rather read?
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