Little Hyacinth
by Amy LV
Students - Yesterday was my mom's birthday. And the one thing she said she wanted as a gift was a white hyacinth. I brought her two little ones and of course thought about this beautiful old favorite poem.
If of thy mortal goods thou art bereft
And from thy slender store
Two loaves alone to thee are left,
Sell one, and with the dole,
Buy hyacinths to feed thy soul.
~ Saadi (1184-?1283), Persian Poet
And from thy slender store
Two loaves alone to thee are left,
Sell one, and with the dole,
Buy hyacinths to feed thy soul.
~ Saadi (1184-?1283), Persian Poet
We need bread, yes. And we need beauty too.
As I paid for my mom's small flowers, still in bud, the cashier and I talked about the delightful fragrance of hyacinths, how one plant can fill a whole living room with its springy scent. She told me that she could not figure out why there does not exist a hyacinth perfume, "I have a rose perfume, and a lavender perfume...." I agreed, but just now looked online and see that hyacinth perfumes do exist! If I could find her again, I would tell her this. If you have never smelled a hyacinth, do make this your spring goal! They are magical.
So today is a celebration of a plant and it is a celebration of something humble. What plant do you care for? What small item makes your heart sing right now?
Too, you will notice that today's poem is titled after a place name...and the poem is about something that happened at this place. If you do not know where to begin, perhaps try with "At the..." or "In the..." and see what journey your words take...
Sweet Dreams!
And in last fall's book news, I am excited to share a new podcast that just went up at Heinemann! It's between Valerie Bang-Jensen and Mark Lubkowitz, authors of one of my favorite new books, TALKING BOOKS, SHARING SCIENCE...and me! We had a blast discussing the connections between poetry and science, and I learned so much from their book and from our conversation.
Michelle is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup at Today's Little Ditty with a fog poem and a whole collection of poetry teaching tips from a whole lot of folks. Each week, we gather our posts together at one blog, so if you visit Renée this week...you will be introduced to many new poets and blogs and books.
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