Welcome back to A Poem For Your Thoughts! I hope you have all enjoyed your short week and are looking forward to your long weekend! Seniors, congratulations, we made it. What better ways to celebrate than to read some fantastic poetry! Each edition will include two poems, the first being a featured piece written by a famous poet that will be analyzed and interpreted according to my point of view. Of course, everyone’s interpretation is different and valid, and the comment section will be open for any further discussion. The second piece is written by yours truly and will be open to complete interpretation and analysis. Go forth, enjoy, and as you read, remember: “It is not what you look at that matters, it is what you see.” – Henry David Thoreau

Poem One: A Simile for her Smile by Richard Wilbur

Your smiling, of the hope, the thought of it,

Makes in my mind such pause and abrupt ease

As when the highway bridgegates fall,

Balking the hasty traffic, which must sit

On each side massed and staring, while

Deliberately the drawbridge starts to rise:

The horns are hushed, the oilsmoke rareflies,

Above the idling motors one can tell

The packet’s smooth approach, the slip,

Slip of the silken river past the sides,

The ringing of the clear bells, the dip

And slow cascading of the paddle wheel.

Thoughts: Richard Wilbur tackles describing the smile of his lover or some other special woman in this poem; his mission is a beautiful success. A simple two-stanza poem, A Simile for her Smile is able to capture the subtleties of a woman’s smile and the deeper meaning of her happiness based on her expression. The speaker describes the progression of her smile in comparison to “drawbridges start[ing] to rise.” In addition, the speaker uses the halted traffic to further emphasize the beauty and rarity of the woman’s smile, as they are “massed and staring” because they cannot help but look. The “horns are hushed, the oilsmoke rareflies,” because the traffic is trapped in the beauty of the woman’s smile, and the simple sound of the packet approaching the bridge can be heard. Wilbur uses the packet (ship) to substitute for the sounds of nature in the city, emphasizing the tranquil tone of the poem and extenuate the loveliness that is found in the woman’s smile. A beautiful poem of appreciation and an extended simile which expertly conveys Wilbur’s emotions.

Poem Two: Love Makes Your Soul Crawl Out of its Hiding Place by D.C.

He hid himself away in the musky depths of the cavern in shame.

The pain was far too great to conquer, after so many years…

Rejection, ridicule, misdirection, suffering: all nails in his hands.

The black of night seemed enough to veil his melancholy,

But the stars shined through all his iniquities and agony.

She was the brightest star of all, a blazing sun in a sea of moonbeams.

The icy waters of the cave began to warm with sunshine,

Dark crevices and hiding places were doors thrown open on a spring morning.

No longer would he slumber in the deep, for his first step was before him.

A blinding light met his irises as he stared into her own, a shimmering angel in the dead of night.

All past jealousies and mistreatments were stones turned to rubble,

Each passionate fall from grace was but an insignificant misstep.

No longer would he crawl from the light and the warmth of beauty.

Her blossoming affection was a shining beacon in the fog,

His lips were teased with the hint of vanilla, his nose filled with the sweetness of honeysuckle.

The swan had spread its wings to fly, unafraid of the coming years.

So too was his soul, awakened from painful slumber to immaculate beauty; a vision from God himself that Lady Love was here to stay.

-D.C

I hope you all enjoyed this edition of A Poem for Your Thoughts! Stay tuned for more fantastic poetry on The Uproar every Friday!