poetry reflection

Wonder ~ A Poem by Robert W. Service

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Not all treasure is gold—some of it sparkles behind your eyes.

Wonder

Robert W. Service

For failure I was well equipped
      And should have come to grief,
By atavism grimly gripped,
      A fool beyond belief.
But lo! the Lord was good to me,
      And with a heart to sing,
He gave me to a rare degree
      The Gift of Wondering.

I could not play a stalwart part
      My shoddy soul to save,
And should have gone with broken heart
      A begger to the grave;
But praise to my anointed sight
      As wandering I went,
I sang of living with delight
      In terms of Wonderment.

Aye, starry-eyed did I rejoice
      With marvel of a child,
And there were those who heard my voice
      Although my words were wild:
So as I go my wistful way,
      With worship let me sing,
A treasure to my farewell day
      God’s Gift of Wondering.

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Best Things Dwell Out of Sight ~ A Poem by Emily Dickinson

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The most sacred treasures—truth, beauty, justice—don’t advertise themselves. You won’t find them in the spotlight. They live quietly, like pearls tucked deep in the ocean’s heart.

Best Things Dwell Out of Sight

Emily Dickinson

Best Things dwell out of Sight
The Pearl — the Just — Our Thought.

Most shun the Public Air
Legitimate, and Rare —

The Capsule of the Wind
The Capsule of the Mind

Exhibit here, as doth a Burr —
Germ’s Germ be where?

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Reflection

Emily Dickinson invites us to reconsider where the real treasures of life are found—not in loud declarations or glittering surfaces, but in the hushed places of the soul. The poem suggests that the truest pearls—like thought, justice, and spiritual insight—prefer the shadows to the spotlight. Like seeds hidden inside a burr, they carry the germ of something miraculous, waiting to be discovered by those who slow down and pay attention. In a world obsessed with visibility and validation, Dickinson reminds us that mystery, privacy, and contemplation are not signs of weakness—they’re the starting points of wonder.

🤔 Three Questions to Dive Deeper

  1. What personal “pearls” or quiet truths have you discovered in solitude or silence?
  2. How does Dickinson’s poem challenge the way we measure value in today’s public, image-driven culture?
  3. What might “Germ’s Germ be where?” suggest about the origin of inspiration or the soul’s deeper stirrings?

Touch Me ~ A Poem by Stanley Kunitz

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When the heart grows quiet, desire still whispers. Touch Me is a love song to memory, longing, and the brave music that still plays within.

Touch Me

Stanley Kunita

Summer is late, my heart.
Words plucked out of the air
some forty years ago
when I was wild with love
and torn almost in two
scatter like leaves this night
of whistling wind and rain.
It is my heart that’s late,
it is my song that’s flown.
Outdoors all afternoon
under a gunmetal sky
staking my garden down,
I kneeled to the crickets trilling
underfoot as if about
to burst from their crusty shells;
and like a child again
marveled to hear so clear
and brave a music pour
from such a small machine.
What makes the engine go?
Desire, desire, desire.
The longing for the dance
stirs in the buried life.
One season only,
and it’s done.
So let the battered old willow
thrash against the windowpanes
and the house timbers creak.
Darling, do you remember
the man you married? Touch me,
remind me who I am.

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Reflection:

In Touch Me, Stanley Kunitz stands at the edge of summer and the threshold of old age. The poem blends the beauty of the natural world with the vulnerability of human emotion—desire, longing, the bittersweet ache of memory. Even as the seasons shift and the body slows, the heart remains wild and yearning. Kunitz reminds us that within the quiet, we still carry the music of youth and love. The line “remind me who I am” is not just a plea to a spouse—it’s a universal cry to be seen, to be touched, to still matter. This is a poem not of fading, but of fierce inner life. In the creaking of the timbers and the willow’s thrashing, life pulses. Memory may flutter like leaves in wind, but love—love remains.

Three Questions to Dive Deeper:

  1. What moments or memories from your own life echo the emotional shift between summer and fall in this poem?
  2. How does Kunitz use nature—the crickets, the willow, the storm—to mirror inner feelings of desire and aging?
  3. Who or what helps you remember who you truly are when life becomes quiet, uncertain, or overwhelming?

Homage to Life ~ A Poem by Jules Supervielle

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What does it mean to truly live? Jules Supervielle’s quiet masterpiece whispers answers to those who pause long enough to hear them.

Homage to Life

Jules Supervielle

It’s good to have chosen
A living home
And housed time
In a ceaseless heart
And seen my hands
Alight on the world,
As on an apple
In a little garden,
To have loved the earth,
The moon and the sun
Like old friends
Who have no equals,
And to have committed
The world to memory
Like a bright horseman
To his black steed,
To have given a face
To these words — woman, children,
And to have been a shore
For the wandering continents
And to have come upon the soul
With tiny strokes of the oars,
For it is scared away
By a brusque approach.
It is beautiful to have known
The shade under the leaves,
And to have felt age
Creep over the naked body,
And have accompanied pain
Of black blood in our veins,
And gilded its silence
With the star, Patience,
And to have all these words
Moving around in the head,
To choose the least beautiful of them
And let them have a ball,
To have felt life,
Hurried and ill loved,
And locked it up
In this poetry.

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Reflection:

Jules Supervielle’s Homage to Life reads like a soft-spoken farewell kissed with wonder. It’s the gratitude of someone who lived not only through time but with it—touching the world gently, storing its beauty with reverence. From the “ceaseless heart” to the tender encounter with the soul, the poem is a reminder that to live fully is to observe quietly, to love deeply, and to remember faithfully. Even pain, age, and silence are given their due—gilded not with denial, but with Patience, the poem’s shining star. In a rush-hungry world, this is a quiet trumpet call to presence, to poetry, and to the poetry of presence.

❓ Dive-Deeper Questions:

  1. Which image in the poem—“apple in a garden,” “wandering continents,” “tiny strokes of the oars”—spoke to you most, and why?
  2. How does the poem invite us to approach life differently, especially in how we engage with time and memory?
  3. What does the poem suggest about how to treat the soul—and by extension, each other?

Life ~ A Poem by Edgar Albert Guest

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Life’s No Dress Rehearsal—So Belt Out the Ballad, Dance Through the Drama, and Frost Your Cake With Joy. Dive into Edgar Albert Guest’s stirring poem Life, a timeless reminder that while grief may knock, joy still sings. This post explores how laughter, perseverance, and soulful choices shape the lives we live.

Life

Edgar Albert Guest

Life is a jest;
  Take the delight of it.
Laughter is best;
  Sing through the night of it.
Swiftly the tear
  And the hurt and the ache of it
Find us down here;
  Life must be what we make of it.

Life is a song;
  Let us dance to the thrill of it.
Grief’s hours are long,
  And cold is the chill of it.
Joy is man’s need;
  Let us smile for the sake of it.
This be our creed:
  Life must be what we make of it.

Life is a soul;
  The virtue and vice of it.
Strife for a goal,
  And man’s strength is the price of it.
Your life and mine,
  The bare bread and the cake of it,
End in this line:
  Life must be what we make of it.

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Reflection:

Edgar Guest invites us into life’s full theater—where comedy, tragedy, and soulful striving share the same stage. In just three stanzas, he reminds us that tears are real, but so is laughter, and while pain can linger, joy is essential. His refrain, “Life must be what we make of it,” isn’t just advice—it’s a challenge to create meaning, to choose beauty, and to craft a life that sings even in minor chords.

🧐 Three Questions to Deepen the Reader’s Experience:

  1. Which line from the poem echoes your current stage of life—the laughter, the ache, the goal, or the creed?
  2. If “life must be what we make of it,” what’s one deliberate change you could make today to shape your life more intentionally?
  3. How does the interplay between joy and grief in the poem mirror your own experience of resilience?

My Heart Leaps Up ~ A Poem by William Wordsworth

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When Your Heart Still Leaps: What a Rainbow Can Teach Us About Staying Young Forever

My Heart Leaps Up

William Wordsworth

My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
The Child is father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.

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Reflection

Wordsworth’s My Heart Leaps Up invites us to pause and cherish the moments that make our hearts leap, just as a rainbow does. He reminds us that wonder isn’t just for the young—it’s the golden thread binding all stages of our life. To lose that wonder is, in a way, to stop truly living.

Three Questions to Dive Deeper

  1. When was the last time something in nature made your heart leap, and how did it affect your mood or thoughts that day?
  2. How do you interpret the line, “The Child is father of the Man” in your own journey through life?
  3. What does natural piety mean to you, and how might it guide your daily choices or relationships?

I Am Not Alone ~ A Poem by Gabriela Mistral

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💫 The Power of Embrace: Why We’re Never Truly Alone

I Am Not Alone

Gabriela Mistral

The night, it is deserted
from the mountains to the sea.
But I, the one who rocks you,
I am not alone!

The sky, it is deserted
for the moon falls to the sea.
But I, the one who holds you,
I am not alone !

The world, it is deserted.
All flesh is sad you see.
But I, the one who hugs you,
I am not alone!

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Reflection:

Mistral’s words invite us into a world where despair dissolves in the warmth of human touch. Even when the sky, night, or world feel empty, the act of holding another brings light and meaning. Her poem is a timeless reminder that connection is our greatest defense against isolation.

Three Questions for the Reader:

1️⃣ When have you felt the transformative power of a simple hug or touch?

2️⃣ How do you offer presence to someone who feels alone?

3️⃣ What does “not alone” mean to you in moments of grief or sadness?

Water ~ A Poem by Pablo Neruda

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When the Flower Falls, Water Rises: Let Pablo Neruda Wash Over You

Water

Pablo Neruda

Everything on the earth bristled, the bramble
pricked and the green thread
nibbled away, the petal fell, falling
until the only flower was the falling itself.
Water is another matter,
has no direction but its own bright grace,
runs through all imaginable colors,
takes limpid lessons
from stone,
and in those functionings plays out
the unrealized ambitions of the foam.

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Reflection:

Neruda transforms water into a metaphor for motion, purpose, and grace that resists confinement. While everything else withers or falls, water finds its own way—fluid yet determined, reflecting lessons it gathers along the journey. It reminds us that there’s dignity in adapting, power in persistence, and beauty in being shaped by the world without losing our essence.

Three Questions to Dive Deeper:

  1. What might Neruda mean by “the unrealized ambitions of the foam”?
  2. How does the contrast between the falling flower and the flowing water reflect the human experience?
  3. In what ways can water’s lack of direction be seen not as aimlessness, but as wisdom?

since feeling is first ~ A Poem by e. e. cummings

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Grammar can’t kiss you goodnight—and life doesn’t fit neatly between parentheses.

since feeling is first

e. e. cummings

since feeling is first
who pays any attention
to the syntax of things
will never wholly kiss you;

wholly to be a fool
while Spring is in the world

my blood approves,
and kisses are a better fate
than wisdom
lady i swear by all the flowers. Don’t cry
– the best gesture of my brain is less than
your eyelids’ flutter which says

we are for each other: then
laugh, leaning back in my arms
for life’s not a paragraph

and death i think is no parenthesis

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Reflection:

Cummings tosses out the rulebook—literally—arguing that love, emotion, and surrender are more vital than logic or structure. His poem invites us to live and love boldly, even foolishly, because wisdom without passion is hollow. In a world obsessed with control and correctness, he reminds us that the flutter of an eyelid can speak more truth than a thousand well-ordered sentences.

❓ Three Questions for Deeper Reflection:

  1. What does this poem suggest about the limits of intellect when it comes to love or connection?
  2. Have you ever been held back by overthinking when your heart was trying to lead?
  3. What does it mean to “wholly kiss” someone—and how is that different from loving with restraint?

Light for the Journey: Why Poetry Listens and Rhetoric Shouts: A Truth from Robert Hass

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Ever notice how poetry whispers truths you didn’t know you were holding? That’s because poetry is the mirror we argue with, while rhetoric is the megaphone we aim at someone else.

Poetry is a man arguing with himself; rhetoric is a man arguing with others. ~ Robert Hass


When Robert Hass said, “Poetry is a man arguing with himself; rhetoric is a man arguing with others,” he reminded us why poetry feels so personal—it dares to ask the questions we pretend we’ve already answered. Poetry is raw, unresolved, and beautifully uncertain. It’s not trying to win. It’s trying to understand. And in that internal dialogue, we find not only our truest voice, but also the quiet path toward peace.

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