<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It occurred to me the other day that after two months of this challenge, I’ve yet to feature a poetry collection as a daily helping. I’ve done spoken word poetry<\/a>, but I haven’t sat down to read a collection of poems myself. And I will admit that this is not entirely a coincidence. I’ve often struggled to connect with poetry in the past, especially when reading it on my own. When I don’t have the benefit of listening to the poet read their own work, I tend to not engage with the words. And I have no idea why this happens. All I know is that of all the art forms out there, poetry is the least easily accessible for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the Daily Hart is all about pushing myself to experience new things outside of my comfort zone, so today’s helping is a poetry collection by Sara Teasdale. Love Songs<\/a><\/em> is billed as poems about love, which is frankly something we all need more of after the year we’ve had. Unfortunately, I didn’t read the fine print, as Love Songs<\/em> is mostly about the heartbreak and weariness of love. After reading this collection, I’m going to guess that Sara Teasdale didn’t have the smoothest track record when it came to love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While this collection wasn’t exactly the uplifting boost I was looking for, it did contain many beautiful musings on love. Both the good and the bad. The joyous and the melancholy. Some favourites include “A Prayer<\/a>“, “Faults<\/a>“, and “Peace<\/a>“, but there are dozens more to choose from. For now, I will leave you with one that struck particularly close to home. This is “May Wind”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I said, “I have shut my heart
\u2060As one shuts an open door,
That Love may starve therein
\u2060And trouble me no more.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But over the roofs there came
\u2060The wet new wind of May,
And a tune blew up from the curb
\u2060Where the street-pianos play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My room was white with the sun
\u2060And Love cried out in me,
“I am strong, I will break your heart
\u2060Unless you set me free.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n