Blogging in Paris » Poems and stuff

November has come and gone

Claude — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 20:35:43 +0000

Certainly my least favourite month!
I came across this rhyme that I had forgotten on Autolycus’s blog, and shameless copied and pasted it. Just adding one of those November photos, which could very well have been taken in black and white

No sun, no moon!
No morn, no noon!
No dawn, no dusk, no proper time of day,

No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,
No comfortable feel in any member -
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds! -
November!

Taken from a poem by Thomas Hood

Posted in Poems and stuff Tagged: November, rhyme

The rose

Claude — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:29:09 +0000

The Rose Family

Robert Frost (1874-1963)

T he rose is a rose,
And was always a rose.
But the theory now goes
That the apple’s a rose,
And the pear is, and so’s
The plum, I suppose.
The dear only knows
What will next prove a rose.
You, of course, are a rose -
But were always a rose.

Happy birthday, Julie and many happy returns. I love you.

Tears in heaven

Claude — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 13:28:50 +0000

In Heaven

Tears in heaven
Would you know my name if I saw you in Heaven?
Would you feel the same if I saw you in Heaven?
I must be strong and carry on,
‘Cause I know I don’t belong here in Heaven ……

Would you hold my hand if I saw you in Heaven?
Would you help me stand if I saw you in Heaven?
I’ll find my way, through night and day,
‘Cause I know I just can’t stay here in Heaven …..

Time can bring you down, time can bend your knees.
Time can break your heart, have you begging …. please …

Beyond the door, there’s peace I’m sure.
And I know there’ll be no more tears in Heaven …….

Would you know my name if I saw you in Heaven?
Would you feel the same if I saw you in Heaven?
I must be strong and carry on,
‘Cause I know I don’t belong here in Heaven

Eric Clapton

The photo of Eric Clapton was taken by ultomatt who has a fantastic set of photos that he took at one of Eric Clapton’s concerts in August 1975.

I took the photo IN HEAVEN in April 2007 at Great Yarmouth cemetery, where Elly and Leo Reynolds took me when I visited Norwich.
More Great Yarmouth cemetery shots here

Love Autumnal

Claude — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 11:30:16 +0000

Love Autumnal

MY love will come in autumn-time
When leaves go spinning to the ground
And wistful stars in heaven chime
With the leaves’ sound.

Then, we shall walk through dusty lanes
And pause beneath low-hanging boughs,
And there, while soft-hued beauty reigns
We’ll make our vows.

Let others seek in spring for sighs
When love flames forth from every seed;
But love that blooms when nature dies
Is love indeed!

Oliver Jenkins

I have come across this poem several times and like it. Maybe it’s corny, but I like corny. I wish I could have provided a link for Oliver Jenkins, but I haven’t been able to find one!

Shine! shine! shine!

Claude — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 10:30:27 +0000

(…) Shine! shine! shine!

Pour down your warmth, great sun!
While we bask, we two together.

Two together!
Winds blow south, or winds blow north,
Day come white, or night come black,
Home, or rivers and mountains from home,
Singing all time, minding no time,
While we two keep together. (…)

Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking by

I want to thank toli, a long time friend and now a flickrino who blogs at Absolutely Awesome for taking this beautiful photo at Brighton pier and letting me use it.

Technorati Tags: photos, deckchairs, Brighton, toli, poetry, Walt Whitman,

A Red, Red Rose

Claude — Mon, 21 May 2007 20:26:50 +0000

A Red, Red Rose

Robert Burns (1759 – 1796)

O MY Luve ‘s like a red, red rose
That ‘s newly sprung in June:
O my Luve ‘s like the melodie
That’s sweetly play’d in tune!

As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
So deep in luve am I:
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a’ the seas gang dry:

Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi’ the sun;
I will luve thee still, my dear,
While the sands o’ life shall run.

And fare thee weel, my only Luve,
And fare thee weel a while!
And I will come again, my Luve,
Tho’ it were ten thousand mile.

I took the photo of this rose in the beautiful area of Gorges du Tarn, which I visited last week and did use a little photoshop effect on it. More of my photos here, or here as a slideshow

Belated happy Valentine

Claude — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 10:39:05 +0000

I wasn’t going to post anything on Valentine’s Day, this year, I already did in my French blog, and don’t like needless repetitions, but this morning I came across this Canadian blog named Au fil du temps / As Time Goes By –does this ring a bell?–, and there found the song My Funny Valentine sung by Jack Kerouac and thought it was too good not to mention.

More about My Funny Valentine

Belated Happy Valentine

My Funny Valentine by Richard Rodgers andLorenz Hart
My funny valentine
Sweet comic valentine
You make me smile with my heart
Your looks are laughable, unphotographable
Yet you’re my favorite work of art

Is your figure less than greek
Is your mouth a little bit weak
When you open it to speak, are you smart

Don’t, baby don’t
Don’t change you hair for me
Not if you care for me
Stay little valentine stay
Each day is valentine’s
Each day is valentine’s day

Stay little valentine stay, stay, stay
Each day is valentine’s
Each day is valentine’s day
Valentine’s day

What lips my lips have kissed

Claude — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 16:18:16 +0000

Winter trees

Edna Saint Vincent Millay (1892-1950)

What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why, I have forgotten, and what arms have lain
Under my head till morning; but the rain
Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh
Upon the glass and listen for reply,
And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain
For unremembered lads that not again
Will turn to me at midnight with a cry.
Thus in the winter stands the lonely tree,
Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,
Yet knows it boughs more silent than before:
I cannot say what loves have come and gone,
I only know that summer sang in me
A little while, that in me sings no more.

I am reposting this poem, the first one I ever posted on this blog in June 2004 — also one of my favourite poems– with this photo I took a while ago at Luxembourg gardens in Paris.

The Rain

Claude — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 21:30:20 +0000

Rainy Day at Luxembourg Garden

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 – 1894)

The rain is raining all around,
It falls on field and tree,
It rains on the umbrellas here,
And on the ships at sea.

Skyscraper by Carl Sandburg

Claude — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 11:47:08 +0000

Poems

“Photos”

Blogging in Paris

The Chrysler building at dusk

SKYSCRAPER by Carl Sandburg (1878-1967)

BY day the skyscraper looms in the smoke and sun and has a soul.
Prairie and valley, streets of the city, pour people into it and they mingle among its twenty floors and are poured out again back to the streets, prairies and valleys.
It is the men and women, boys and girls so poured in and out all day that give the building a soul of dreams and thoughts and memories.
(Dumped in the sea or fixed in a desert, who would care for the building or speak its name or ask a policeman the way to it?)

Elevators slide on their cables and tubes catch letters and parcels and iron pipes carry gas and water in and sewage out.
Wires climb with secrets, carry light and carry words, and tell terrors and profits and loves — curses of men grappling plans of business and questions of women in plots of love. (…)

Yes, I know, this beautiful poem was written about Chicago…
More of my NewYork City photos here. I’m still uploading.
You will probably think I am crazy, but I’ve just opened a new blog, called Mon Daily Quotidien. I will keep a daily journal there and probably experiment with stuff like videoblogs and podcasts and such.