borrowed words.

April 5, 2018

Curious Silas and an excerpt from the loveliest springtime poem, in honor of National Poetry Month:

Every few minutes, he wants
to march the trail of flattened rye grass
back to the house of muttering
hens. He too could make
a bed in hay. Yesterday the egg so fresh
it felt hot in his hand and he pressed it
to his ear while the other children
laughed and ran with a ball, leaving him,
so little yet, too forgetful in games,
ready to cry if the ball brushed him,
riveted to the secret of birds…

– From Boy and Egg by Naomi Shihab Nye

In the introduction to her book of poetry for young girls, A Maze Me, Nye writes of her own adolescence, “I stared at tiny children with envy and a sense of loss. They still had cozy, comfortable days ahead of them. I was plummeting into the dark void of adulthood against my will. I stared into the faces of fretful, workaholic parents, thinking condescendingly, You have traveled too far from the source. Can’t you remember what it felt like to be fresh, waking up to the world, discovering new surprises every day? Adulthood is cluttered and pathetic. I will never forget. …If I wrote things down, I had a better chance of saving them.” 

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11 Comments

  • Reply Linda April 5, 2018 at 9:17 am

    What a beautiful poem!!!

  • Reply Laura April 5, 2018 at 9:54 am

    <3

  • Reply Ashley April 5, 2018 at 10:20 am

    <3

  • Reply Liv April 5, 2018 at 10:37 am

    Wow- these are the loveliest words. Thank you.

  • Reply Rebecca April 5, 2018 at 2:06 pm

    She is my all time favorite poet.

  • Reply Coreen April 5, 2018 at 6:06 pm

    Nye’s words about her adolescent brought me sharply back to my own. I had the same thoughts at the time, though I wrote less down. What a beautiful reminder.

  • Reply Beth April 5, 2018 at 6:46 pm

    Stunning

  • Reply chloe April 5, 2018 at 7:32 pm

    gorgeous. thanks for the reminder. x

  • Reply Samantha April 6, 2018 at 10:11 am

    I copied this down and saved it for a letter to my seven month-old son. Thank you for being such a lovely spot on the interwebs!

  • Reply Kizzy April 6, 2018 at 2:57 pm

    What beautiful words, I need to get this book and read more. Thanks for sharing

  • Reply KT April 8, 2018 at 8:15 pm

    Lovely poem. Your photographs are beautiful.

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