"The Eagle"--Alfred Lord Tennyson

[anomalous-data.livejournal.com]

He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ring'd with the azure world, he stands.

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.

request (birthday poem with a twist) + This Heavy Craft -- P. K. Page

[aimlesswanderer.livejournal.com]

I need a birthday poem (urgently) with a twist. It's for the ex Vice-President (female) of a small country in southern Europe!  I've been told, it should be something inspirational (e.g., "Invictus") but keeping in mind the age (60s) and status of the receiver! I am running out of ideas!

To warm-up your poetry-muscles, one of my old favourites.

 

This Heavy Craft

by P.K. Page

The wax has melted
but the dream of flight
persists.
I, Icarus, though grounded
in my flesh
have one bright section in me
where a bird
night after starry night
while I'm asleep
unfolds its phantom wings
and practices.

'The Housekeeper' by Robert Frost

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

The Housekeeper

I let myself in at the kitchen door.

"It's you," she said. "I can't get up. Forgive me
Not answering your knock. I can no more
Let people in than I can keep them out.
I'm getting too old for my size, I tell them.
My fingers are about all I've the use of
So's to take any comfort. I can sew:
I help out with this beadwork what I can."

"That's a smart pair of pumps you're beading there.
Who are they for?"

"You mean?--oh, for some miss.
I can't keep track of other people's daughters.
Lord, if I were to dream of everyone
Whose shoes I primped to dance in!"

"And where's John?"

"Haven't you seen him? Strange what set you off
To come to his house when he's gone to yours.
You can't have passed each other. I know what:
He must have changed his mind and gone to Garlands.
He won't be long in that case. You can wait.
Though what good you can be, or anyone--
It's gone so far. You've heard? Estelle's run off."

( Yes, what's it all about? When did she go? )