I'm happy to have my voice back after being sick this past week! I am now able to read a little holiday poetry to you guys. I also received a new microphone for Christmas, so this will be my first time trying it out.
Chris was nice enough to send me a poem to read for Christmas. I was too sick to read it then so I saved it for this New Year's post. I think his poem still fits the holiday theme, and since there's a ghost involved, it fits with my blog year-round. I'm going to post both Chris' poem and the poem I found so you can read them along with me.
Cindy Turner's Post-Mortem Christmas Tradition
by Chris Hewson
Cindy Turner was a waifish young woman torn from the world too soon,
She loved all things festive, Christmas too, and often did she croon,
When Pneumonia took her life, her spirit somehow remained,
And every Christmas, she'd dance in the abandoned house full of candy canes,
Her home was grand and Victorian, classic and modern, with decorative vines,
And once her ethereal decorations were all over, the dwelling did shine,
Cindy's beautiful voice rang through the halls, and lasted for hours,
And made sure the empty abode was never dour,
And made sure the empty abode was never dour,
Despite her circumstances, her happiness was untouched by death's head,
The inhabitants of the house could have found joy in the ghostly celebrations had they not fled,
Cindy was annoyed that her ghostly presence drove them away,
But she liked to spend time alone anyway...
I also searched for some Victorian New Year's poems to read. Wow, were those depressing for the most part! They were mostly dwelling on the death of the old year, and in great detail. I did find one poem that was hopeful and inspiring, but it was written a little after the Victorian era. Ella Wheeler Wilcox wrote this in 1909. She's worth reading about, especially for those interested in Spiritualism, The New Thought Movement, and optimism in general. She sounds like she was a positive person, judging by many of her ideas and poetry. The poem of hers I chose may be over a century old, but the message still holds true.
The poem reads as a conversation and reminds me a bit of "The Raven" in the beginning. At least there's something better at the door here!
New Year: A Dialogue
by Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1909)
Mortal:
"The night is cold, the hour is late, the world is bleak and drear; Who is it knocking at my door?"
The New Year:
"I am Good Cheer."
Mortal:
"Your voice is strange; I know you not; in shadows dark I grope. What seek you here?"
The New Year:
"Friend, let me in; my name is Hope."
Mortal:
"And mine is Failure; you but mock the life you seek to bless. Pass on."
The New Year:
"Nay, open wide the door; I am Success."
Mortal:
"But I am ill and spent with pain; too late has come your wealth. I cannot use it."
The New Year:
"Listen, friend; I am Good Health."
Mortal:
"Now, wide I fling my door. Come in, and your fair statements prove."
The New Year:
"But you must open, too, your heart, for I am Love."
Isn't that hopeful? My interpretation of the poem is that you can have all the good things in the world waiting for you, but you have to be open to them for anything to happen. I hope you all have these offerings at your door in 2015 and let them in!
...and now I will read these poems to you:
Isn't that hopeful? My interpretation of the poem is that you can have all the good things in the world waiting for you, but you have to be open to them for anything to happen. I hope you all have these offerings at your door in 2015 and let them in!
...and now I will read these poems to you:
