August 6, 2011

Reflections on a Missed Day and Alfred Lord Tennyson

As I reflect on a missed blog post day
I come upon the fact that it's Tennyson's birthday
I don't usually start with rhyme
Not because I don't have the time
But as you quickly have figured out
Poetry is a subject in which I have no clout

OR

I appreciate poetry, but really am not good at it. So on with my post...

I missed posting yesterday. Did the world stop spinning? No. My day started with a six-hour car drive to North Carolina. Every year since my kids were born, I spend two weeks with my parents in the summer. One week at their home and one week in the Outer Banks. I love this time. But after a long car drive and a belated birthday celebration (yeah!), the blog sat empty.

I was surprised how many times yesterday I thought of the blog and wondered if I should just throw something up, a quote or a quick apology for a day off. I again thank Michelle Rafter's Blogathon for lighting the blog fire.

This blog is a little piece of me
Made available for the world to see.

Sorry. Don't know why the rhyming bug has bitten today. I promise to leave the poetry to Mom in the future.

Now to Alfred Lord Tennyson. He was born on August 6, 1809 and was Poet Laureate of the UK during much of Queen Victoria's reign. As much as I'd like to report my lifelong love of Tennyson, I can't. But I do appreciate some of his most famous lines.

1869 Carbon print from Wikipedia
"Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all."

"Knowledge comes but wisdom lingers."

"Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die."

"I am a part of all that I have met."

"Men at most differ as Heaven and Earth, but women, worst and best, as Heaven and Hell."

"Sin is too stupid to see beyond itself."

Any one of these quotes could be the jumping off point for a story. But the one that most inspired me... thinking I'm part of all that I have met. I may say it over and over in front of the mirror. We all touch people whether we know it or not. I post from desire with the hope it touches someone out there from time to time.

Which one of these quotes speaks to you, and why?

3 comments:

Lisa Carter said...

Hey Tia,

It's amazing once the blogging bug has bitten, isn't it? Time is very slim for me over the next couple of weeks but I would feel very guilty if I didn't post *something*. ;-)

As for the Tennyson quotes, I agree with the one you chose about being part of all that we have met. It's a lovely thought and feeling.

I also like the quote about wisdom lingering... Something I strive for.

PeggyLee Hanson said...

"I am part of all I have met."
This is the quote that speaks to me the most.

Like you, Tia, I have been bitten by the blog bug and hate to miss a day. What's more I hate to see the number of visitors to my page dip below 100. (may not be a lot to some, but to me it's a LOT!)

I like the lilting of your poetry in this post; it made for fun reading and it lightened my heart. It also brought up the memory of how I used to write in prose the tasks that needed completion by my team while in the corporate world.

Thank you for lifting me up and putting a smile on my face.

Tia Bach said...

Lisa, I definitely have the bug, which I love. And I like the wisdome one as well.

Peggy Lee, You made my day. My mom's the poet, and I only tinker. Smile on my face now, too.

Thanks ladies for taking the time to visit and comment. Hope you both had a lovely Saturday.