They live on in dreams Friends who once enriched my life Ghosts of Christmas Past
Ghosts of Christmas Now Fill my days and haunt my nights Bring both joy and fear
Loves I’ll leave behind Ghosts of Christmas Yet To Come They are my future
Senryū
Form of poetry
Description
Senryū is a Japanese form of short poetry similar to haiku in construction: three lines with 17 morae. Senryū tend to be about human foibles while haiku tend to be about nature, and senryū are often cynical or darkly humorous while haiku are more serious. Wikipedia
The souls of the dead are out for the night; Relieved of life’s burdens, no cares in their world. They’ve cast off their dresses, their suits and their coats. They’ve shed their repressions, their shrouds now unfurled.
Yes, the souls of the dead are alive in this graveyard They relish their freedom from exigent life. It’s a long time since spirits were body and flesh, And bound by a lifetime’s perpetual strife.
Their skulls and their cross-bones – now symbols of joy; No more are they bound up by sinews and flesh. At last they are free to enjoy independence, Instead of entangled in life’s viscous mesh.
The gravestones that tumble aren’t suffering from age, But signs that life’s shadows from death have arisen, And now are quite free to enjoy their repose; No longer locked up in Life’s sepulchral prison.
‘Tis weird to think that those re-incarnated Are liking their life in the desolate grave. They’re loving their freedom to scare and to haunt To curdle the blood and to panic the brave.
The ghosts of the past are there in the air And hugely enjoying their spirited life Their terminal death has brought to an end Their fear of the gun, the rope and the knife.
They’re dancing on graves where their bodies were buried Carousing as though not a netherworld care ‘Tis different from life all bedevilled with worries Less urgent and pressing than work to be fair.
They hide when the day comes of course, as you know, They do need to re-charge their unworldly spirits To ready the next bout of haunting and mirth For them now there aren’t any rational limits.
Crepuscular light is enough for their congress With help from the thunder, the wind, and the lightning, They frolic and haunt, enjoying the moment; The wraiths, spooks and demons intent on their frightening.
The banshees and devils all join in the fun, The shades and the vampires, the ghouls and the phantoms, The wraiths with the zombies, kelpies and ghosts Give vent to their passions in furious tantrums.
So do not despair when you‘re laid in the ground A new life will certainly sprout from your ashes A life full of spirit, of new spectral bliss A bonus when mortal life finally passes.
The photographs used to illustrate this poem were all taken by me over a period of several years at churchyards in Surrey and in Devon, U.K.
I am led to consider
where it is
that my dreams take me
for when I dream
my world I find
has changed
become condensed
circumscribed by boundaries
which pulse with uncertainty
suppressing perspective
and thereby
concentrating my actions
in broken sequence
now vague somehow
contrary to what is natural
purposeful
yet without intent
and I remain
closeted in an oppressive world
one of vague
and indeterminate outcomes
part hopeful
part fearful
never resolved
always shattered by that rude awakening
which abruptly
without asking
returns my life to a real world
wherein
ill-defined ghosts
stumble into meaning
They live on in dreams Friends who once enriched my life Ghosts of Christmas Past
Ghosts of Christmas Now Fill my days and haunt my nights Bring both joy and fear
Loves I’ll leave behind Ghosts of Christmas Yet To Come They are my future
NOTE: Senryū is a Japanese form of short poetry, similar to haiku in construction: three lines with 17 syllables, usually arranged as 5/7/5. Senryū tend to be about human foibles, while haiku tend to be about nature. (Adapted from Wikipedia)
This Sonnet is by Edna St. Vincent Millay, an American poet and playwright who was born in Rockland, Maine, in 1892. I find it a moving and poignant poem looking back on her more youthful days with regret and intense longing. Her sonnet is written in the Italian form, divided into two parts – an eight-lined octet, followed by a six-line sestet, here presented as just two sentences. It is both reflective and filled with remorse.
Millay’s first published poem, ‘Renascence‘ was particularly well received and launched her on her writing career. For a large part of her life Millay lived and worked among her Bohemian friends in New York’s Greenwich Village milieu. Known to her friends as Vincent, she was openly bisexual, and gradually accrued both fame and some notoriety. In 1923, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for ‘The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver’. Edna St Vincent Millay died in 1950.
“What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why”
By Edna St. Vincent Millay
What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why,
Roland's Ragbag 