Ronnie McGinn's Poetry Page

Admittedly I'm a lover of lyrical poetry but one of the difficulties in thinking about lyrical poetry is that the varieties of lyrics are virtually infinite - or at least as infinite as the varieties of mood and feeling to be experienced by human beings.

One of the pleasures arising from a knowledge of` lyric poetry is that it gives the reader scope for contemplating the expression of one mood by one poet, another by another, a feeling expressed in this way by one poet, in that way by another.

There is no form of art or expression which gives wider range to our thoughts and feelings. Consider, for instance, the emotion of love. There is a sense in which all love is the same - a compound of admiration, desire, and the wish to serve. But the varieties of love, as expressed in all the human relationships that can be named by this word, are infinite.

So too are the varieties of lyric poetry inspired by love. It would need at least a book to describe all these varieties. Here is my attempt at capturing an autumn feeling

The Catskill Hills

Slow walking thru the Catskill Hills,
On such a ripe Autumnal day,
All green and bronze these golden seas
Of late October pave the way
And life's own sweet forever song,
Warms up my veins and I feel tall,
As thoughts of other times now gone,
Cast shadows on this wondrous Fall.
God's falling leaves caress my heart,
Lost thoughts awaken in my soul,
Ah life what really is our part?
In which direction lies our goal?
In dreams last night the stars all cried,
With falling tears they sung their song,
Confused, I thought that I had died,
Then I awoke, and all was gone.
And now the beauty of these leaves,
Falling from God's clear blue sky,
Has somehow helped me to believe,
It must be beautiful to die!

© Ronnie McGinn