Summer Adventures
Hello Friends,
The end of my university years in Montreal coincided with my parents and siblings’ permanent move to Canada. Before the start of each summer, we would eagerly look forward to the arrival of June after months of a long and frozen winter. With it came a stretch of beautiful weather and long sunny days. The flowers would unfurl themselves and nature would be abundant as though nature had woken up from a deep slumber and was ready to be embraced by the sunrays.
June continues to represent hope for me and the feeling of the start of an adventure. Each new season bring a new beginning with it. We are reminded that the cycle of life continues despite what we may be going through in our lives. Does this idea give you comfort or perhaps it does the opposite?
June is generous and giving, from its nature to its oceans to its lazy days and short nights. How would it be apply the same generosity of spirit to ourselves and can we see that as a source of strength and love.
What are your plans for this season? Perhaps it involves reading more? Or spending more time in nature? I’d like to do both.
Just as plants are a miracle from the earth, poetry is a creative art as well as a miracle. We have no defences against a language that stems from the heart and spirit. It’s already in each of us because we were born hearing words and languages. We learned their power from a young age. Children may need to be taught to draw or to play a musical instrument, but they instinctively learn how to speak and to form sentences.
We can feel something within us when we speak that’s intimately linked to our emotions. Most of us are not able to separate our speech from our feelings. So how can we live far from poetry when it’s already part of us? Poetry allows us to speak the unspeakable.
When I’m in a deep connection with poetry I feel as though the inner and outer worlds merge, moving in the same ocean without separation. What in your life makes you feel this way?
Many cultures and civilisations view poetry as a source of comfort from everyday life as did the Abassid poet known as alKhibz Arzi (d – 939AD), who lived in what is Iraq today. He was illiterate without the ability to read or write, a baker by trade and a well-known and respected poet who people flocked to hear. A true example that a person does not need to be educated in order to be cultured or a poet.
In his poem below, he links love of a woman with a seagull on trial for being in love:
The beauty of your eyes disrupted the seagull
Until he was tried, circling before the council
He glimpsed your eyes buckling in shame
Crossing lines of modesty he looked down
If he was able to speak he would say so
He would have but his tongue is mute
alKhibz Arzi translated by Ruba Abughaida
If you’ve enjoyed reading it, you are welcome to share it with someone who might like to join us.
