OVER the shoulders and slopes of the dune
I saw the white daisies go down to the sea,
A host in the sunshine, an army in June,
The people God sends us to set our hearts free.
The bobolinks rallied them up from the dell,
The orioles whistled them out of the wood;
And all of their singing was, “Earth, it is well!”
And all of their dancing was, “Life, thou art good!”
–Bliss Carman
April 15, 1861 – June 8, 1929
According to Wikipedia, Mr. Carman was a preeminent Canadian poet. He was born William Bliss Carman, but liked to publish under his mother’s maiden name of Bliss. I like that. We all need a little more bliss in our lives. One of the most wonderful things about Muse Day is that I’ve greatly expanded my knowledge of poetry. I’ve discovered poets I’ve never read, and that includes Mr. Carman. Thank you Carolyn Gail.
I know this poem mentions June, but it’s late in that month before my daisies bloom, so I’m including it for July. Happy Muse Day everyone!
This poem brought back memories. I remember memorising Bliss Carmen’s, A Song Before Sailing, in high school. It would nearly bring me to tears … he was an incredible poet and well loved by many Canadians.
And you’ve helped to expand my knowledge of poetry too – thanks Dee for that and your comment over at my place 🙂
I like your Green Leaf post too – it was great fun to do wasn’t it?
VP, thanks, it was very fun.~~Dee
Dee,
I’m catching up on replying to posts and just wanted to say thanks for your recent comment on my blog and how much it means to me. I’ll be back.
Mr. Brown Thumb, it’s nice to have you back.~~Dee
Lovely flower, lovely words.
Thank you, Cindy.~~Dee
Very lovely poem, Dee. Thank you for sharing it with us.I can almost hear it sung! I can understand his desire to include both the maternal and paternal sides in his offerings by including his mother’s name,Bliss. I once considered doing same, but Kathryn Christensen Hall was just a bit long…
Yes, Kathryn, too long indeed. I’m glad you liked this month’s offering.~~Dee
Love the photo and the poem. My sister had daisies at her July wedding so I always associate them.
Thanks for visiting my site 🙂
Cindy, what a lovely remembrance. They are a great wedding flower.~~Dee
I’m an “old” English major, too, and I’d never heard of
this poet before. Thanks for introducing him to us;
lovely poem
Thanks, Rose. There’s a lot of English majors on here, aren’t there? I better bring my “A” game. I’m just a J-school major (journalism.)~~Dee
Oh that was a wonderful poem. AS is your post. Daisies are my favorite flower, I have Shasta daisies growing in my garden. They look so pretty right now. Again thank you for the poem. Have a most wonderful week.
Hugs;
Alaura
Hi Alaura, thanks for the kinds words. I hope your week is wonderful too.~~Dee
You are right about this being a great way to expand one’s knowledge of poets. I love this poem by the way. It is very blissful.
Yes, Lisa, it is.~~Dee
The Shasta daisies are done here but daisy-types like coreopsis are still setting our hearts free.
Thanks for the links, Dee – I like it that Bliss Carman even looks the way nature poets are supposed to look ;-]
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Annie, he does, doesn’t he?~~Dee
This is wonderful. I could stand some expansion of my poetry education. Since graduating from college about a hundred years ago as an English major I haven’t done much in the way of reading poetry. Mostly it starts something like “There once was a lady in France…”
Robin at Bumblebee
Robin, you crack me up.~~Dee
“Life, thou art good”… I like the muse and the daisies. I have daisies blooming in my garden, too, and this morning, as I was rushing around to get ready to go to work, I opened the blinds, looked out and saw the daisies and stopped all other prep to go out and cut a bunch to take with me to work, to put in a vase on my desk. “Life, thou art good” when the daises are blooming!
Carol, I think you and I were on the same page with this Muse Day, as our poems spoke of the same eternal things. Love my daisies.~~Dee
love the daisy pic as well as the poem!
Thank you so much, Muum.~~Dee
It works for me. I woke up this morning & discovered it was July.
MMD, I often do that too. It seems that the days, weeks & month go by quicker now.~~Dee