Category Archives: Poem

A New Year is Upon Us!

Tonight’s December thirty-first,
Something is about to burst.
The clock is crouching, dark and small,
Like a time bomb in the hall.
Hark, it’s midnight, children dear.
Duck! Here comes another year!

Frederic Ogden Nash

from poetrytheater.org

from poetrytheater.org

 Born August 19, 1902, died May 19, 1971

An American poet known for his humorous, light verse.

It’s Elizabeth’s Birthday today

It’s Elizabeth Barret Browning’s Birthday today.

She was born in 1806 in England. She was the eldest of 12 children and went by the nickname “Ba”. Before she married her full name was Elizabeth Barrett Moulton Barrett. (Her father was Edward Barrett Moulton Barrett, her mother, Mary Graham Clarke). Apparently the family was very well off, mainly from land and business they owned in Jamaica. As a teen Elizabeth developed a painful disease that was never successfully diagnosed. She was put on addictive opiate drugs and morphine, which she became dependent on. I’m sure there was little else to do in the early 1800’s!

She married Robert Browning in secret in 1846 because she knew her father would not approve, and they moved to Italy, where despite her age (43) and frailty, she had a son (shown in the picture).

Elizabeth with her son Pen (Robert)

Here are a few quotes from Elizabeth that I particularly like:

“No man can be called friendless who has God and the companionship of good books.”

* * *

“Earth’s crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God,
But only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round and pluck blackberries.”

* * *

“With stammering lips and insufficient sound I strive and struggle to deliver right the music of my nature.”

* * *

“The little cares that fretted me,
I lost them yesterday
Among the fields above the sea,
Among the winds at play.”

To Be Near Me, I’ll Be

My Pop - somewhere in Europe

To Be Near Me, I’ll Be

I’ll be

In a starry night

In broad day light

In tinkling brooks

In fish and hooks,

With hunters on the trail,

With wind and bellowing sail,

In friendly smiles,

In memories of the past;

That’s where I’ll be –

Just remember.

By Staff Sargent Lloyd J. Keleny (my father)

written somewhere in France – 1943

Thanks Dad, and all the other service men and women who gave their service and their lives for all of us and for our country.