Infant Joy by William Blake
"I have no name;
I am but two days old."
What shall I call thee?
"I happy am,
Joy is my name."
Sweet joy befall thee!
Pretty joy!
Sweet joy, but two days old.
Sweet Joy I call thee:
Thou dost smile,
I sing the while;
Sweet joy befall thee!
*I first heard this poem when I was was in a class at BYU. It was a class on literature during the Romantic Era. It didn't mean that much to me then, but now after having children--it means so much more. It's hard to express exactly how much my children mean to me. They really are joy. (Of course, if you know William Blake, his "Songs of Experience" are a hard hit of reality on the flip side. Not my cup of tea really.)
If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.
by Emily Dickinson
*This one--I can tell you the exact day I read it because I wrote in my journal. It was August 23, 1999. It was a couple of months before Brett and I got married. It was a hard time for me because, sometimes I felt my identity slipping. This poem always brought me back.
Sorry E! I couldn't choose between the two.
3 comments:
Thanks for playing along! I have the same problem narrowing down my favorites, I could have posted 3 or 4. Emily Dickinson isn't often one of my favorites (too much mushy stuff), but I do like this one of hers. And I'd never heard Infant Joy before, thanks for sharing!
Love them!
I love YOU and the POEMS!
You are an example lived by the philosophy of Emily Dickinson's poem. So many hundreds of people you have loved and encouraged (I am one of them!).
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