Sometimes

In spite of this delightful little person (my granddaughter, Lux) dancing in my kitchen…

I was feeling disheartened tonight, so I turned to this poem, which I always find encouraging.

Sometimes

Sometimes things don't go, after all, from bad to

worse. Some years, muscadel faces down frost;

green thrives; the crops don't fail, sometimes a man

aims high, and all goes well.

A people sometimes will step back from war; elect

an honest man; decide they care enough, that they

can't leave some stranger poor. Some men become

what they were born for.

Sometimes our best efforts do not go amiss;

sometimes we do as we meant to. The sun will

sometimes melt a field of sorrow that seemed hard

frozen: may it happen for you.

I don’t usually quote a living poet’s work on my blog, as I don’t approve of stealing copyright (I don’t subscribe to the current common view that artistic content should be free – how are writers supposed to eat?) but the poet specifically says it is all right to quote this poem on a personal blog.She does, however, prefer not to have her name quoted along with the poem, as she says she hates the poem.

It was fascinating to read on her website what she has to say about it, how people frequently abuse it in all kinds of ways, and how incensed she feels when people change the words. Oh how I agree with you – unnamed poet.