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Thursday, August 16, 2012

The Sky Reminds Me Fall Is On Its Way

Wonderful poetry and words about poets arrive each Poetry Friday.  This week Mary Lee hosts at her blog, A Year of Reading.  Thanks, Mary Lee!  Come visit!

      Last weekend the Perseid Showers arrived, and when I saw the announcement of their time, I knew school was about to begin and fall was on its way.  In this last week, we've had a little rain and a little cool!  In fact, as I write this, I have closed the windows because I'm chilly.  It is heavenly to have the temperature drop.

     For a number of years my husband and I traveled outside the city to a friend's house with sleeping bags and a few treats to contribute to a Perseid party.  I repeat this line, but for a different reason: it was heavenly.  To snuggle into a sleeping bag on a cool night and watch hundreds of meteors stream across the sky eclipses all the fireworks displays I've ever seen.  It is a terrific memory.  I wasn't able to watch this year, only some pictures on the news, but I won't forget what I've seen.  I found a poem by Rainier Maria Rilke that reminds me of the meteor showers, although it really speaks of stars.



           The title is Falling Stars.  It begins:

                              Do you remember still the falling stars
                              that like swift horses through the heavens raced

                                                          Read the rest here.                 

photo credit: NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center via photo pin cc

9 comments:

  1. Linda, I am enamored of the idea of a Perseid party! An I love the Rilke poem. Thanks so much for sharing!

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  2. I have never seen Perseid Showers! How beautiful. What a lovely tradition to have a Perseid party! Now you've got me thinking about how to study stars and the night sky with young children....
    Thanks for sharing.

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  3. What a lovely memory and the perfect poem to capture all the good feelings associated with it. Did not know about the Perseid Showers. I need to look skyward more often. :)

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  4. Love this, Linda. Good luck with the beginning of school. Here's my link for Poetry Friday: http://wp.me/pG1xR-mw

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  5. Yay for cooler weather! Beautiful poem, Linda. Rilke's poems are in the public domain, aren't they? If you wanted to share the whole thing, I think you can.
    Your Perseid parties sound wonderful. I'm glad you have those memories to visit.

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  6. Unexpected change of plans: the roundup is at A Year of Reading http://readingyear.blogspot.com/2012/08/poetry-friday-roundup-is-here.html Thanks for changing your link!

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  7. I found an app on my iPod that helped me count the meteors in this week's shower. I was up before dawn sitting out in my backyard admiring the sky. I have to say though, unlike Rilke, I didn't see that many stars and I am not feeling particularly safe these days. I am in a rough patch over here, and hoping for better days ahead. Thanks for sharing this poem! I've got you linked now.

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  8. We had clouds this year, so no Perseid. Thanks for the poem in replacement!

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  9. My husband, sister-in-law, nieces and I were at the lake during the Perseid meteor showers this year. We were sending off sky lanterns in honor of my mother-in-law. We hadn't heard about the showers and it was an unexpected wonder-filled surprise to catch the sky show from the pier on such a perfectly clear, still night. The calm in your post and in Rilke's words captures the feeling precisely.

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