Hope and Courage

It's been quite a few days since my last blog post, but I'm going to start having more frequent posts. The second section of Poems  to Live By: In Troubling Times is called "A Comfort Spell: Hope and Courage. "Healing" by D.H. Lawrence has a really good message. The speaker is saying that he's not some machine or robot, but a living, breathing being. He also says that as a human, he is wounded, something that will take time to heal. I think this poem is very relevant for the current generation. We often tend to think we're invincible and we can keep chugging on; nothing can bring us down. However, sooner or later we all realize this isn't true. Lawrence's bio: http://www.online-literature.com/dh_lawrence/.

Also in this section is a poem by Mary Oliver, "The Sun." I think she does an excellent job of describing the sun in a unique way. For example, Oliver says in the morning it streams "upward on its heavenly oils..." The entire first half of this poem is just speaking about the gloriousness of the sun, but the last section begins to ask if we've been blinded by the search for power and can no longer appreciate the sun. Here is a brief biography on Oliver: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/mary-oliver . A few interesting facts about her include that she attended two colleges, receiving degrees from neither and it has been said Oliver is an "indefatigable guide to the natural world."