#worldpoetryday

I've loved poetry since I was a kid. My family had some old collection of children's poems and songs, some of which were common and most of which weren't. I got a collection of "Best Loved Poetry" from my grandparents pretty young from their much larger collection of classic books with matching bindings. At every point in my life there's been at least one book of poems on my bookshelves, usually more than one.

Love of poetry also led me into a love of quotations and I used to build notebooks full of quotes based on songs and stories and poems. Eventually I started writing my own poetry, like any teenager full of emotion they're inept at showing outwardly. I still have most of it, though it is admittedly horrible and full of conservative Christian beliefs and symbology because that's the world I grew up in. It's funny, I didn't believe the godly stuff I added to my poems but the more people reading my poems, the more I added because I thought I had to.

In high school I also did speech competitions in the poetry category. I would memorize a poem every year to take to competition -- my favorite to memorize was The Walrus and the Carpenter, which was just fun. The bitch to memorize and compete with was the one I did my senior year which was a good-sized portion from Paradise Lost. I never won anything, but I always really enjoyed picking out a new poem and memorizing it.

In my senior year I also did a special poetry project for extra credit (yeah, I know) that was a personally curated collection of poems. Basically it was a matter of curating poems that fit specific patterns, metres, genres. My teacher gave me a list of poem types to pick from and I ended up going over the top and picking a poem (sometimes two) for every genre or type listed. Mostly, I loved the internet rabbit holes that searching for poetry led me down. I also really enjoyed design work, so I specially designed the pages the poems went on in ways that matched the words.

It was during that project that I fell in love with the poem: "When We Two Parted" by George Gordon. Or for many years it was only attributed to a George Gordon. The full attribution is of course, George Gordon Byron, also known as Lord Byron.

When We Two Parted  George Gordon Byron, 1788 - 1824   When we two parted   In silence and tears,  Half broken-hearted   To sever for years,  Pale grew thy cheek and cold,   Colder thy kiss;  Truly that hour foretold   Sorrow to this.  The dew of the morning   Sunk chill on my brow--   It felt like the warning   Of what I feel now.  Thy vows are all broken,   And light is thy fame;  I hear thy name spoken,   And share in its shame.   They name thee before me,   A knell to mine ear;  A shudder comes o’er me--   Why wert thou so dear?  They know not I knew thee,   Who knew thee too well--  Long, long shall I rue thee,   Too deeply to tell.   In secret we met--   In silence I grieve,  That thy heart could forget,   Thy spirit deceive.  If I should meet thee   After long years,  How should I greet thee?--   With silence and tears.
I'm still not sure what it was about this poem that really struck me the way it did. It's not particularly complex and it's not difficult to understand. What it does however is strike at the heart of what it's like to have to see someone again that you're not supposed to know anymore, let alone love. It's worth noting that not long after this I feel in love with a country song "I'm Not Supposed to Love You Anymore" by Bryan White. Which as the title might suggest, has a similar sentiment. I think... looking back with the self-knowledge I have now, these works meant something to me not so much because of a specific person in my life but because of the nature of going to a very conservative, fundamental Christian school/church. I no longer knew anyone that wasn't part of that church or school, but I still lived in the same town I'd always lived in. So I knew very well what it was like to see people you couldn't associate with anymore. My tastes have shifted over the years, but this poem will always hold a place in my heart.