Live, grow, through the greys
hope for, golden rays
that give
life some bright displays
and love some pathways
to live
without them and they,
without risk, some day
grow tall, through the frays,
tell a tale that sways,
outlives
hate, instead to blaze
in unforeseen ways–
forgives?
Hope for golden rays,
live, grow, through the greys.
Grace is hosting Open Link Night at dVerse. This is another attempt at a lai noveau.
I walked by the Holocaust Memorial in Philadelphia yesterday, and I was happy to see the Theresienstadt Tree has grown since the last time I saw it.
Yesterday and today: Merril's historical musings 
A beautiful attempt Merril, with a strong message. Well done!
Thank you very much!
A powerful symbol that is and I love how you captured the hope and life of outliving greys. A positive message written in a wonderful lai nouveau.
Thank you very much, Grace.
Lovely, Merril. I hope your mother is doing better.
Thank you, Jill. She’s improved a bit. Thank you for asking.
A great topic and a successful Lai Nouveau. If the form goes through next week, I want to try the nouveau. Inspiring.
Thank you, Glenn. I’m pleased my poem inspired you to try one. I haven’t been all that thrilled with the form.
I believe the lai form goes until next Thursday, when there will be a new form introduced.
This is absolutely splendid! ❤️ And yes I agree with Glenn 🙂 you inspire us to try the Lai Nouveau form.
Aww–thank you so much! 🙂
Pleasing sound and I like the two focal links of this lai nouveau.
Thank you, Frank!
Pretty good Lai Merrill! I struggle with the Lai, but you did well hold me in the read…
Thank you, Rob. I’m pleased this one held your attention.
I’m not terribly excited by this form either, but I thought I’d give it another try. Some of the lai poems just seem stilted and too rhyme-y.
I marvel at your prowess. I’ve been working on a personal poem for days (was challenged to NOT write one following a challenge but to do it on my own). Dunno when (if) I’ll ever git ‘er done 😉
Thank you, Dale. I appreciate your kind words.
Challenged to not write is a new one. 🙂 Sometimes when I get stuck, I visit the Oracle, just to get some words? Or just set it aside for a bit and come back to it another time.
My pleasure.
No, no..not challenged to not write, challenged to write a poem NOT based on someone else’s prompt…
Oh. . .well. . .never mind. 🙂
Hahaha!
Beautiful, powerful, and rhythmic. Thumbs up!
Thank you, Frank. It’s always good to get a thumbs up. 🙂
A great reminder that we need to grow beyond hate and find that place of forgiveness and peace! Well done!
Thank you very much, Dwight!
Good one, Merril. It flows without hiccups and has a clear and very beautiful message. Out of interest, I notice that you write ‘greys’ not ‘grays’. Is there a reason? I thought in the US it took an a.
Thank you, Jane! I was pleased with how this lai turned out.
I think either spelling is acceptable, though gray is more common here. I don’t know. I like the way it looks with an “e.” I think I see it so often in your poems that I’ve started writing it that way all the time. (And daughters and I love the show “Grey’s Anatomy.) 🙂
I always think gray looks colder than grey. Not sure why 🙂
Hmm. . .I think maybe grey looks colder, but also much more interesting. Gray looks blander to me. I’m telling my husband this, and he has no idea what I’m talking about. 🙂
Bland, that’s right. If Gray was a style I’d say military rain cape, and grey a smart suit. Ask your husband what he thinks 🙂
Hmm. . .I think it gray is kind of a dull middle-management outfit, and grey, yes, a smart suit. My husband has no idea what I’m talking about. 🙂
Tell him he ought to have an opinion. Words get upset if we don’t look at them as individuals. There are words like armour, that when I see them written minus the u I think it’s a foreign language. And plow instead of plough!
Yeah–he just doesn’t get it at all. Did you ever read Anne of Green Gables? She wanted everyone to spell her name with an “e.” I understood perfectly. But sorry that I write plow and armor–and color, not colour. The added “u” does make it more elegant. I think colour is kind of iridescent, and color is just kind of ordinary. Nothing wrong with it though.
I know of Anne of Green Gables but have never read it. I wonder why the u dropped out of all those words? Or maybe the earlier spelling didn’t have a u? It’s what we’re used to I suppose.
I think the earlier spelling did have the u, from the French, but here Noah Webster “simplified” and standardized spellings in his dictionary. At least, that’s what I’ve read.
That would figure for plow too, though he thought though and enough (and thought) were okay.
Yes, it makes no sense. He probably should have visited the Oracle, but oh well. 🙂
Do men listen to the Oracle? I wonder sometimes.
Some do, but not enough.
Hence the mess.
Exactly!
🙂
This is an interesting conversation. I’m always reminding myself to write it with an “a” because I tend to go the other way. I agree with your assessment of colder, and Merril’s of blander.
Much of it is what you’re used to seeing, but some words look stranger than others with a different spelling.
Some spellings though seem to have their own personalities. Katharine and Catherine always seemed to be very different to me. 🙂
Funny you should mention Catherine. We called our second Catherine and the number of people who asked (hopefully) if we spelled it with a K. Maybe because it’s with a C in French so they were thinking it was more exotic with a K. I think C is always softer than K.
Hmm. . .French Catherine might be different from Anglo Catherine. I think C is softer. But I think of Katherine as taller and sort of aristocratic. 🙂 One of our daughters is Sheryl–much better than Cheryl. 🙂
It’s a softer sound 🙂 The French don’t have the ‘th’ sound, so it’s pronounced Caterine and they slide over the first e so you get Cat’rine which I don’t like. I think Katherine Hepburn and Eleanor of Aquitaine 🙂 Aristocratic, yes.
Yes, exactly the image I get with Katherine. So funny!
The Lion in Winter is one of my favourite films 🙂
I love it, too! I love that scene where Eleanor and Henry are walking down the aisle insulting each other.
From what I’ve read, they were like that in real life. She ended up walking out on him. Can you imagine? Walking out on a king, packing your bags, the kids and going home?
I think she must have been a remarkable woman–smart and strong-willed. Her marriage to her first husband was annulled. And wasn’t that at her instigation? It’s been a while since I’ve read anything about her.
Yes, she asked for an annullment twice. I think she realised Louis wasn’t going to give her a son, that he was a klutz and she just wanted out. She also demanded that Henry marry her because she had decided he was the monarch most likely to look after her and her children.
I guess it worked for a bit. 🙂
Must have been quite an exciting household. They were lousy parents though.
I agree with both your comments. 🙂
🙂
I’m glad you get it, Ken. 🙂
An apt memorial
Thank you, Derrick.
A wonderful beacon of hope. We have to hold on to it. (K)
Thank you, Kerfe. Yes, we do.
I love that the tree still find strength… we need such growth
Thank you. It always inspires me.
First time hearing of the camp and those who live on from it. Devastating. Your lai nouveau in honor of those from before and those going onward is appreciated. This part in particular: “tell a tale that sways, outlives hate,”
Thank you, Jade. I’m glad I was able to give you a bit of knowledge about that camp. It was the so-called “model” camp, where they let Red Cross observers in and tried to make it look not so horrible. There were a lot of artists and musicians there, and children. There was a children’s opera performed there, too. It’s all so horrible. I look at that little tree every time I pass by.
I think the tree appreciates your understanding and compassion.
Thank you, Ken. That’s a nice thought.
Iive each day https://havenreverie.wordpress.com/
Thank you.