An Irish Airman Foresees His Death by William Butler Yeats I know that I shall meet my fate Somewhere among the clouds above; Those that I fight I do not hate Those that I guard I do not love; My country is Kiltartan Cross, My countrymen Kiltartan’s poor, No likely end could bring them loss Or leave them happier than before. Nor law, nor duty bade me fight, Nor public man, nor cheering crowds, A lonely impulse of delight Drove to this tumult in the clouds; I balanced all, brought all to mind, The years to come seemed waste of breath, A waste of breath the years behind In balance with this life, this death. ----- Prosodia is a daily podcast dedicated to historical notes and poems, hosted by Karim El Azhari. Welcome! All show notes are heavily recycled from old The Writer’s Almanac archives. May that podcast rest in peace (it was Karim’s favorite). All poems are public domain or submitted by the author for use on the show. Intro and outro music by Chillhop Records. They are amazing! And remember, tell beauty you think so.

Prosodia

2018-02-10 - An Irish Airman Foresees His Death by William Butler Yeats

Submarine Mountains by Cale Young Rice Under the sea, which is their sky, they rise To watery altitudes as vast as those Of far Himalayan peaks impent in snows And veils of cloud and sacred deep repose. Under the sea, their flowing firmament, More dark than any ray of sun can pierce, The earthquake thrust them up with mighty tierce And left them to be seen but by the eyes Of awed imagination inward bent. Their vegetation is the viscid ooze, Whose mysteries are past belief or thought. Creation seems around them devil-wrought, Or by some cosmic urgence gone distraught. Adown their precipices chill and dense With the dank midnight creep or crawl or climb Such tentacled and eyeless things of slime, Such monster shapes as tempt us to accuse Life of a miscreative impotence. About their peaks the shark, their eagle, floats, In the thick azure far beneath the air, Or downward sweeps upon what prey may dare Set forth from any silent weedy lair. But one desire on all their slopes is found, Desire of food, the awful hunger strife, Yet here, it may be, was begun our life, Here all the dreams on which our vision dotes In unevolved obscurity were bound. Too strange it is, too terrible! And yet It matters not how we were wrought or whence Life came to us with all its throb intense, If in it is a Godly Immanence. It matters not,—if haply we are more Than creatures half-conceived by a blind force That sweeps the universe in a chance course: For only in Unmeaning Might is met The intolerable thought none can ignore. ----- Prosodia is a daily podcast dedicated to historical notes and poems, hosted by Karim El Azhari. Welcome! All show notes are heavily recycled from old The Writer’s Almanac archives. May that podcast rest in peace (it was Karim’s favorite). All poems are public domain or submitted by the author for use on the show. Intro and outro music by Chillhop Records. They are amazing! And remember, tell beauty you think so.

2018-02-09 - Submarine Mountains by Cale Young Rice

Passers-By by Carl Sandburg Passers-by, Out of your many faces Flash memories to me Now at the day end Away from the sidewalks Where your shoe soles traveled And your voices rose and blent To form the city’s afternoon roar Hindering an old silence. Passers-by, I remember lean ones among you, Throats in the clutch of a hope, Lips written over with strivings, Mouths that kiss only for love, Records of great wishes slept with, Held long And prayed and toiled for: Yes, Written on Your mouths And your throats I read them When you passed by. ----- Prosodia is a daily podcast dedicated to historical notes and poems, hosted by Karim El Azhari. Welcome! All show notes are heavily recycled from old The Writer’s Almanac archives. May that podcast rest in peace (it was Karim’s favorite). All poems are public domain or submitted by the author for use on the show. Intro and outro music by Chillhop Records. They are amazing! And remember, tell beauty you think so.

2018-02-08 - Passers-By by Carl Sandburg

Serenity by Edward Rowland Sill Brook, Be still,—be still! Midnight’s arch is broken In thy ceaseless ripples. Dark and cold below them Runs the troubled water,— Only on its bosom, Shimmering and trembling, Doth the glinted star-shine Sparkle and cease. Life, Be still,—be still! Boundless truth is shattered On thy hurrying current. Rest, with face uplifted, Calm, serenely quiet; Drink the deathless beauty— Thrills of love and wonder Sinking, shining, star-like; Till the mirrored heaven Hollow down within thee Holy deeps unfathomed, Where far thoughts go floating, And low voices wander Whispering peace. ----- Prosodia is a daily podcast dedicated to historical notes and poems, hosted by Karim El Azhari. Welcome! All show notes are heavily recycled from old The Writer’s Almanac archives. May that podcast rest in peace (it was Karim’s favorite). All poems are public domain or submitted by the author for use on the show. Intro and outro music by Chillhop Records. They are amazing! And remember, tell beauty you think so.

2018-02-07 - Serenity by Edward Rowland Sill

The Wild Common by D.H. Lawrence The quick sparks on the gorse bushes are leaping, Little jets of sunlight-texture imitating flame; Above them, exultant, the pee-wits are sweeping: They are lords of the desolate wastes of sadness their screamings proclaim. Rabbits, handfuls of brown earth, lie Low-rounded on the mournful grass they have bitten down to the quick. Are they asleep?—Are they alive?—Now see, when I Move my arms the hill bursts and heaves under their spurting kick. The common flaunts bravely: but below, from the rushes Crowds of glittering king-cups surge to challenge the blossoming bushes; There the lazy streamlet pushes Its curious course mildly; here it wakes again, leaps, laughs, and gushes. Into a deep pond, an old sheep-dip, Dark, overgrown with willows, cool, with the brook ebbing through so slow, Naked on the steep, soft lip Of the bank I stand watching my own white shadow quivering to and fro. What if the gorse flowers shriveled and kissing were lost? Without the pulsing waters, where were the marigolds and the songs of the brook? If my veins and my breasts with love embossed Withered, my insolent soul would be gone like flowers that the hot wind took. So my soul like a passionate woman turns, Filled with remorseful terror to the man she scorned, and her love For myself in my own eyes’ laughter burns, Runs ecstatic over the pliant folds rippling down to my belly from the breast-lights above. Over my sunlit skin the warm, clinging air, Rich with the songs of seven larks singing at once, goes kissing me glad. And the soul of the wind and my blood compare Their wandering happiness, and the wind, wasted in liberty, drifts on and is sad. Oh but the water loves me and folds me, Plays with me, sways me, lifts me and sinks me as though it were living blood, Blood of a heaving woman who holds me, Owning my supple body a rare glad thing, supremely good. ----- Prosodia is a daily podcast dedicated to historical notes and poems, hosted by Karim El Azhari. Welcome! All show notes are heavily recycled from old The Writer’s Almanac archives. May that podcast rest in peace (it was Karim’s favorite). All poems are public domain or submitted by the author for use on the show. Intro and outro music by Chillhop Records. They are amazing! And remember, tell beauty you think so.

2018-02-06 - The Wild Common by DH Lawrence

The Grass Beneath My Head by FS Flint The grass is beneath my head; and I gaze at the thronging stars in the night. They fall… they fall… I am overwhelmed, and afraid. Each leaf of the aspen is caressed by the wind, and each is crying. And the perfume of invisible roses deepens the anguish. Let a strong mesh of roots feed the crimson of roses upon my heart; and then fold over the hollow where all the pain was. ----- Prosodia is a daily podcast dedicated to historical notes and poems, hosted by Karim El Azhari. Welcome! All show notes are heavily recycled from old The Writer’s Almanac archives. May that podcast rest in peace (it was Karim’s favorite). All poems are public domain or submitted by the author for use on the show. Intro and outro music by Chillhop Records. They are amazing! And remember, tell beauty you think so.

2018-02-05 - The Grass Beneath My Head by FS Flint

Be Still, My Soul by A.E. Housman Be still, my soul, be still; the arms you bear are brittle, Earth and high heaven are fixt of old and founded strong. Think rather,—call to thought, if now you grieve a little, The days when we had rest, O soul, for they were long. Men loved unkindness then, but lightless in the quarry I slept and saw not; tears fell down, I did not mourn; Sweat ran and blood sprang out and I was never sorry: Then it was well with me, in days ere I was born. Now, and I muse for why and never find the reason, I pace the earth, and drink the air, and feel the sun. Be still, be still, my soul; it is but for a season: Let us endure an hour and see injustice done. Ay, look: high heaven and earth ail from the prime foundation; All thoughts to rive the heart are here, and all are vain: Horror and scorn and hate and fear and indignation— Oh why did I awake? when shall I sleep again? ----- Prosodia is a daily podcast dedicated to historical notes and poems, hosted by Karim El Azhari. Welcome! All show notes are heavily recycled from old The Writer’s Almanac archives. May that podcast rest in peace (it was Karim’s favorite). All poems are public domain or submitted by the author for use on the show. Intro and outro music by Chillhop Records. They are amazing! And remember, tell beauty you think so.

2018-02-04 - Be Still My Soul by AE Housman

As You Like It, Act II - Scene VII by William Shakespeare All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant, Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms. Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel And shining morning face, creeping like snail Unwillingly to school. And then the lover, Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier, Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard, Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel, Seeking the bubble reputation Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice, In fair round belly with good capon lined, With eyes severe and beard of formal cut, Full of wise saws and modern instances; And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts Into the lean and slippered pantaloon, With spectacles on nose and pouch on side; His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice, Turning again toward childish treble, pipes And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all, That ends this strange eventful history, Is second childishness and mere oblivion, Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything. ----- Prosodia is a daily podcast dedicated to historical notes and poems, hosted by Karim El Azhari. Welcome! All show notes are heavily recycled from old The Writer’s Almanac archives. May that podcast rest in peace (it was Karim’s favorite). All poems are public domain or submitted by the author for use on the show. Intro and outro music by Chillhop Records. They are amazing! And remember, tell beauty you think so.

2018-02-03 - As You Like It by William Shakespeare

Such an Arduosly Long Joyous Occasion by Amira Ram Graffar “Ha-nifrah beek” is an Arabic phrase meaning, loosely, “To rejoice for you.” Muttered most often by aunties And uncles presiding over your cousins’ weddings. Though, it often tends to mean much more as, teary-eyed, The line is directed at the yet to graduate, The unmarried, and the consummately childless. It really means “Hurry up, already! We are all Waiting to disapprove and cast new judgments.” So, you smile, weakly, give a big hug, and sputter, With a broken accent, “God-willing—Inshallah.” All kind of charming, until about the thirty-fourth time. ----- Prosodia is a daily podcast dedicated to historical notes and poems, hosted by Karim El Azhari. Welcome! All show notes are heavily recycled from old The Writer’s Almanac archives. May that podcast rest in peace (it was Karim’s favorite). All poems are public domain or submitted by the author for use on the show. Intro and outro music by Chillhop Records. They are amazing! And remember, tell beauty you think so.

2018-02-02 - Such an Arduously Long Joyous Occasion by Amira Ram Graffar

Wonder and Joy by Robinson Jeffers The things that one grows tired of—O, be sure They are only foolish artificial things! Can a bird ever tire of having wings? And I, so long as life and sense endure, (Or brief be they!) shall nevermore inure My heart to the recurrence of the springs, Of gray dawns, the gracious evenings, The infinite wheeling stars. A wonder pure Must ever well within me to behold Venus decline; or great Orion, whose belt Is studded with three nails of burning gold, Ascend the winter heaven. Who never felt This wondering joy may yet be good or great: But envy him not: he is not fortunate. ----- Prosodia is a daily podcast dedicated to historical notes and poems, hosted by Karim El Azhari. Welcome! All show notes are heavily recycled from old The Writer’s Almanac archives. May that podcast rest in peace (it was Karim’s favorite). All poems are public domain or submitted by the author for use on the show. Intro and outro music by Chillhop Records. They are amazing! And remember, tell beauty you think so.

2018-02-01 - Wonder and Joy by Robinson Jeffers

Deep in the Quiet Wood by James Weldon Johnson Are you bowed down in heart? Do you but hear the clashing discords and the din of life? Then come away, come to the peaceful wood, Here bathe your soul in silence. Listen! Now, From out the palpitating solitude Do you not catch, yet faint, elusive strains? They are above, around, within you, everywhere. Silently listen! Clear, and still more clear, they come. They bubble up in rippling notes, and swell in singing tones. Now let your soul run the whole gamut of the wondrous scale Until, responsive to the tonic chord, It touches the diapason of God’s grand cathedral organ, Filling earth for you with heavenly peace And holy harmonies. ----- Prosodia is a daily podcast dedicated to historical notes and poems, hosted by Karim El Azhari. Welcome! All show notes are heavily recycled from old The Writer’s Almanac archives. May that podcast rest in peace (it was Karim’s favorite). All poems are public domain or submitted by the author for use on the show. Intro and outro music by Chillhop Records. They are amazing! And remember, tell beauty you think so.

2018-01-31 - Deep in the Quiet Wood by James Weldon Johnson

If by Rudyard Kipling If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies, Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating, And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise; If you can dream—and not make dreams your master; If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with triumph and disaster And treat those two impostors just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to broken, And stoop and build ‘em up with wornout tools; If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breathe a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on”; If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with kings—nor lose the common touch; If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you; If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run— Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it, And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son! ----- Prosodia is a daily podcast dedicated to historical notes and poems, hosted by Karim El Azhari. Welcome! All show notes are heavily recycled from old The Writer’s Almanac archives. May that podcast rest in peace (it was Karim’s favorite). All poems are public domain or submitted by the author for use on the show. Intro and outro music by Chillhop Records. They are amazing!

2018-01-30 - If by Rudyard Kipling

Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat by Thomas Gray Twas on a lofty vase’s side, Where China’s gayest art had dyed The azure flowers that blow; Demurest of the tabby kind, The pensive Selima, reclined, Gazed on the lake below. Her conscious tail her joy declared; The fair round face, the snowy beard, The velvet of her paws, Her coat, that with the tortoise vies, Her ears of jet, and emerald eyes, She saw; and purred applause. Still had she gazed; but ‘midst the tide Two angel forms were seen to glide, The genii of the stream: Their scaly armor’s Tyrian hue Through richest purple to the view Betrayed a golden gleam. The hapless nymph with wonder saw: A whisker first and then a claw, With many an ardent wish, She stretched in vain to reach the prize. What female heart can gold despise? What cat’s averse to fish? Presumptuous maid! with looks intent Again she stretched, again she bent, Nor knew the gulf between. (Malignant Fate sat by and smiled) The slippery verge her feet beguiled, She tumbled headlong in. Eight times emerging from the flood She mewed to every watery god, Some speedy aid to send. No dolphin came, no Nereid stirred; Nor cruel Tom, nor Susan heard; A favorite has no friend! From hence, ye beauties, undeceived, Know, one false step is ne’er retrieved, And be with caution bold. Not all that tempts your wandering eyes And heedless hearts, is lawful prize; Nor all that glisters, gold. ----- Prosodia is a daily podcast dedicated to historical notes and poems, hosted by Karim El Azhari. Welcome! All show notes are heavily recycled from old The Writer’s Almanac archives. May that podcast rest in peace (it was Karim’s favorite). All poems are public domain or submitted by the author for use on the show. Intro and outro music by Chillhop Records. They are amazing!

2018-01-29 - Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat by Thomas Gray

The Soul Selects Her Own Society by Emily Dickinson The Soul selects her own Society — Then — shuts the Door — To her divine Majority — Present no more — Unmoved — she notes the Chariots — pausing — At her low Gate — Unmoved — an Emperor be kneeling Upon her Mat — I’ve known her — from an ample nation — Choose One — Then — close the Valves of her attention — Like Stone — ----- Prosodia is a daily podcast dedicated to historical notes and poems, hosted by Karim El Azhari. Welcome! All show notes are heavily recycled from old The Writer’s Almanac archives. May that podcast rest in peace (it was Karim’s favorite). All poems are public domain or submitted by the author for use on the show. Intro and outro music by Chillhop Records. They are amazing!

2018-01-28 - The Soul Selects Her Own Society by Emily Dickinson

Old Houses by Lizette Woodworth Reese Old loveliness, set in the country wind, Or down some vain town road the careless tread, Like hush of candles lighted for the dead, That look of yours, half seeing and half blind. Still do you strain at door, but we come not, The little maids, the lads, bone of your bone; In some sad wise, you keep the dusk alone, Old loveliness, a many a day forgot. But no; behind each weather do you pass, The garnered poignancies of all the springs: At some girl’s belt in Lent the jonquils start;— But, oh, their like in your old windy grass! Then are we quick with tears, rememberings; Once more, once more, are gathered to your heart! ----- Prosodia is a daily podcast dedicated to historical notes and poems, hosted by Karim El Azhari. Welcome! All show notes are heavily recycled from old The Writer’s Almanac archives. May that podcast rest in peace (it was Karim’s favorite). All poems are public domain or submitted by the author for use on the show. Intro and outro music by Chillhop Records. They are amazing!

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