I'm in need of some poetry.

March 20, 2023 7:32 AM

I have a small holiday home that is situated off a quiet lane that is frequented by walkers . I made a wooden bench and placed it outside my gate. It is a nice place to sit on a summer evening. I'd like to attached a small plaque to the back of the seat with a couple of lines of poetry written on it. I want lines that will welcome passersby or encourage them to sit for a while to rest and reflect. I have scoured the few poetry books I have as well as poetryfoundation.org but I'm not finding anything that comes close to what I want. Thanks.
posted by night_train to Media & Arts (15 answers total)

Wendell Berry writes a lot of sit and contemplate in the beauty of nature sort of stuff. My favorite is For The Future but your bench may like The Peace of Wild Things more.
posted by phunniemee at 7:54 AM on March 20, 2023 [5 favorites]

"And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things" (Gerard Manley Hopkins)
posted by praemunire at 8:15 AM on March 20, 2023 [1 favorite]

We dance round in a ring and suppose,
But the Secret sits in the middle and knows.
-Robert Frost
posted by Daily Alice at 8:19 AM on March 20, 2023 [2 favorites]

And never hurry through the world
But walk slowly, and bow often
-Mary Oliver
posted by box at 8:22 AM on March 20, 2023 [17 favorites]

You could make a small adaptation to Leisure by William Henry Davies:

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand sit and stare?

posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 8:32 AM on March 20, 2023 [3 favorites]

Kinda sexist, outdated, but this is what my long-passed father would have chosen.

Jenny Joseph's Warning is so wildly popular that it's hard to find her other poems, but she is quite rewarding, and her books are in the library. Warning is actually quite good, itself, but it's hard to avoid the I shall wear purple hype.

I am the pool of gold
When sunset burns and dies--
You are my deepening skies,
Give me your stars to hold.
Sara Teasdale, Peace, pulled from this listicle
Teasdale is underrated

Come to the woods, for there is rest. john Muir

I started searching quotation poem rest nature and it's an excellent derail to my day. Please update sometime, I'd love to know what you choose.
posted by theora55 at 8:45 AM on March 20, 2023 [3 favorites]

The Muir quote would probably work. It reminds me of my grandmother's favorite poem, Goethe's Wanderer's Nightsong II. There are many many translations. Here is one.
posted by gudrun at 9:21 AM on March 20, 2023 [3 favorites]

Cavafy comes to mind:

As you set out for Ithaka
hope your road is a long one...
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 9:35 AM on March 20, 2023 [2 favorites]

Roses are red
Violets are blue
Rest and reflect
This seat is for you
posted by aniola at 9:51 AM on March 20, 2023 [5 favorites]

Here even the hunger of absence is gone.
Not one single longing reaches this far.

Excerpted from 'Wilderness,' Harry Martinson
(Translated by Robin Fulton and published posthumously)
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 10:08 AM on March 20, 2023 [1 favorite]

John Muir has a lot of good, easily googled quotes.
posted by jeffamaphone at 11:08 AM on March 20, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Small Song

The reeds give
way to the

wind and give
the wind away

A.R. Ammons
posted by Caxton1476 at 1:57 PM on March 20, 2023 [2 favorites]

There are some lovely ones on this list. This one from Patricia Hooper would be lovely for a bench:

"If I sit still enough among the damp trees, sometimes I see the world
without myself in it, and—it always surprises me—
nothing at all is lost."
posted by Threeve at 4:53 PM on March 20, 2023 [4 favorites]

This is technically prose but feels like poetry…

“The answer must be, I think, that beauty and grace are performed whether or not we will or sense them. The least we can do is try to be there.”
—Annie Dillard
posted by farkleberry at 8:37 PM on March 20, 2023 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Many thanks to all who took the trouble to reply. I spent some happy hours exploring the links. It amazes me that reading poetry has such a calming effect on the mind. I picked the A.R. Ammons lines because they're beautiful and say it all in few words. This is important because my wood engraving skills are poor. However I've decided that my next project will be to engrave many of theses examples on to logs which I'll place along the path.

Aniola - I'll treasure the poem you wrote for me. A place will be found for it.
posted by night_train at 4:16 AM on March 21, 2023 [4 favorites]