The Writer's Almanac

There are days I clamor for a piece of poetry to lift my spirits and express the feelings living inside of my being.  While my days are spent caring for those in childhood there are moments when I long to be feel well-read and a bit more connected to adulthood.  Searching for Valentine's poems I sought out Garrison Keillor's advice, albeit anonymously in cyberspace via The Writer's Almanac.  Where have I been?  I am from Minnesota and didn't know I could hear a new poem everyday read by a national treasure.  Hooray!  It's my new grown-up guilty pleasure and I wanted to pass it along.  Not only are there new poems everyday but you can even peek ahead.  It's like getting a horoscope in advance.  This week, in honor of Valentine's Day, they are featuring love letters from literary greats!  Hope others are as tickled as I.  "Be well, do good work, and stay in touch" are the words of Mr. Keillor and that phrase warms my soul with Midwestern comfort.  I love Valentine's Day, the scissors, paper, glue, handcrafted mailboxes, the love, and of course the chocolate.  This Holiday reminds me what long, cold, snowy winters are for. . . spreading warmth and love one handcrafted, handwritten Valentine at a time!  And now for today's poem:

Sonnet 30: When to the sessions of sweet silent thought

by William Shakespeare

When to the sessions of sweet silent thought

I summon up remembrance of things past,

I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought,

And with old woes new wail my dear times' waste:

Then can I drown an eye, unus'd to flow,

For precious friends hid in death's dateless night,

And weep afresh love's long since cancell'd woe,

And moan the expense of many a vanish'd sight:

Then can I grieve at grievances foregone,

And heavily from woe to woe tell o'er

The sad account of fore-bemoaned moan,

Which I new pay as if not paid before.

   But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,

   All losses are restor'd and sorrows end.

"Sonnet XXX" by William Shakespeare. Public domain.