Accounts Of Summer,2016 Poem by Daniel Brick
Accounts Of Summer,2016
(1)
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
Like to a lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate.
Sonnet 29, Shakespeare
Is it my place to criticize the way
the lark, flying high, sings at dawn,
and render Shakespeare moot?
Is the road open for my journeying
among my peers, or does my path lead
to wilderness? Shall I adopt a foolish
wit to hide my essential caution in humor,
or shall I swell my frame as if in armor
and bluster my way to some absolute power?
Shall I dispose of all this poetic stuff,
call it nonsense, and adopt a prosaic
posture? I could become a reader of popular
novels, the more current the better for me.
Plot will preoccupy my thoughts as never before,
characterization will shrink from its lofty
heights to just a list of names - Dramatis
Personae. And setting, that soil out of which
characters and events flower, will be just places?
(2)
How many creatures who share with us Earth
as home stop and ponder their immediate condition,
rapt into stillness and silence by a thing
of beauty? What other creatures can afford
to sacrifice everything for a moment
of supreme appreciation, a temporary joy
in some eternally renewed beautiful thing?
I sense both naturalist and hunter shake their heads.
Such are my thoughts on an ordinary evening
in midsummer, two days into a heat wave,
after two weeks of hot rains have made
grass and leaf and flower lush and shining
with green brilliance, as if summer's account
were swollen with promises of an extended season.
But who am I but a man among men, assaulted
by grief if I sense how fragile are our fondest joy?
(3)
I am awake early on this first day
of a new season in southern Minnesota.
I am delighted by this greenest air
filtered inside by my unforced breathing.
The male cardinal flies over my reverie
and deposits his song in my heart
the way his female deposits eggs
in their nest and broods over them,
as I brood over the vexed affairs
of humanity. The cardinal pair will hatch
fledglings from their brooding and launch them
into flight. What will my brooding hatch and
nurture? Perhaps it is enough to realize
my actions parallel theirs as the season swells.
At very least we both weave a fabric that will
cover our nakedness in the winter looming ahead.
Tender sadness infiltrates this mind as I read your delicate imagery and feel gently, rhythms stirring within my heart and intellect. Your words create a mysterious magical atmosphere of summer, so starkly real, yet poetically imaginative. Your questioning of what your brooding will hatch and nurture does create a fabric that weaves itself through our thoughts, causing us to question ourselves also, making us wonder what we will inspire in others throughout our writing and lives. Very enticing thoughts through the imagery of nature. Another fantastic thought-provoking poem, Daniel! Absolutely loved it's path through my mind, as I read it! Thank you for sharing. RoseAnn 10++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
You have incorporated so much in this amazing piece of writing. From the lay-out of the poem to the imagery everything enraptures the reader. What will my brooding hatch and nurture? ....it's a very significant question. In the practical world, there's little we poets can do except inspire a few keen individuals to a higher plane of thinking. This is a political world where poets don't have much say. I must say that a combination of Nature n Literature has brought out of you the deepest thoughts on a summer day.10
You are a talented writer, Daniel. I was rapt form the intro until the very end
the poem is so beautiful.But I feel there is some sadness running through it. 'as I brood over the vexed affairs of humanity.The cardinal pairs will hatch fledglings from their broodings and launch them into flight What will my brooding hatch and nurture?
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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5/4/2024 5:55:09 PM # 1.0.0.1119
These scattered images and thoughts on a bright summer day to me are like the exquisite patterns woven on a piece of woolen fabric....! The sight of the cardinal flies over your head mating, laying eggs and hatching make you wonder what your brooding would hatch and nurture....! You find the answer for yourself... 'at very least weave a fabric that will serve to cover the nakedness in the winter looming ahead....! Let me go a step further... and add.......your brooding will serve to knit a beautiful quilt to wrap yourself and feel cozy in the blasts of winter! ! Beautiful......! !