Tuesday, March 17, 2009

In Honor of the Day...More Irish Poetry



After several rainy, cold days, Sun came out today as if he knew I had been feeling rather cloudy. Thank you, Sun! For my brave and oh so talented followers, let me just say that I have experienced a huge wave of both excitement at working on my blog and overwhelming insecurity every time I read one of yours. My work schedule has barely a space for much MeMe activity. (Derrick, that is a term for the many Facts About Me Lists, I presume?) Work with me here as I am often trapped in my own little world from which I am eagerly attempting escape! I have had too many ideas for this post, but Tom's comment helped me settle on one: More Yeats. I was doing a little research on the soon to be extinct species, the redhead, when I came upon this one painted by Sir John Everett Millais in 1871, The Martyr of the Solway. Margaret Wilson was actually Scottish and was drowned for not swearing allegiance to the King's rather than her church. Check out wiki for more details. Her beautiful face made me think of W.B. 's muse, Maud Gonne. As the old rock'n roll song goes, "She put the hurt on him!"

Never Give All the Heart

Never give all the heart, for love
Will hardly seem worth thinking of
To passionate women if it seem
Certain, and they never dream
That it fades out from kiss to kiss;
For everything that's lovely is
But a brief, dreamy, kind delight.
O never give the heart outright,
For they, for all smooth lips can say,
Have given their hearts up to the play.
And who could play it well enough
If deaf and dumb and blind with love?
He that made this knows all the cost,
For he gave all his heart and lost. 1905

7 comments:

Rowan said...

What a wonderful portrait, she is really beautiful. I've often wished that I had that marvellous shade of red glod hair. Yeats' poem is lovely too.

Unknown said...

Hello FireLight,

A very striking portrait indeed! Who wouldn't give all their heart? And a beautiful poem too.

The word 'meme' (as in theme) is well explained in Wikipedia if you like technical jargon! I just think of it simply as picking up an idea or thread from a fellow blogger and seeing how it applies to me but it doesn't have to be personal facts. Some blogger friends, however, do think of it humorously as me me!

And don't for a moment have any feelings of insecurity. I can make up for both of us on that score!

Country Girl said...

My sister has hair exactly like this. It's much shorter now that she's older but what a lovely memory it gave me of my beautiful sibling. Your blog is lovely! It's so wonderfully written and such a pleasure to read. No need to feel insecure around me, that's for sure!

Tom Atkins said...

Trapped in your own little world? Hardly - you are reaching out all over it seems.

Ah, red hair! My mom always wanted red-headed grandbabies. Never got any but the color hair makes me smile.

Delwyn said...

Hello Firelight, I was touched that you made the effort to come my way and leave a message about Kealia. You really have proven what an animal lover you are, and how empathic you are too.
I am going to enjoy reading your postings. We each post differently on different topics so no need to compare. I enjoyed this post and will now read back over the previous ones.
I hope to see you again, thank you again
Happy Days
Delwyn

Virginia said...

You already know how I feel about people given the gift of words. As a very frustrated painter I feel the same way about those who see it in their mind and can place it on the canvas. Right now, photographs are my canvas. Gifts nontheless.
V

Cait O'Connor said...

I wish I had red hair and longed for red haired children but 'twas not to be. (There is red hair in my family though).
I adore Yeats and love that pic, thanks.

About Me

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Recreational scholar, former high school and junior college English teacher. Animal lover (especially horses, dogs, and people), lives in the South, sometimes poet and essayist... "Ireland, Scotland, Britain, and Wales...I can hear those ancient voices calling..." Van Morrison from Celtic Heartbeat