Happy Shakespeare Day

Happy Thursday, my friends. I hope you are enjoying Poetry month here. It has been a treat to share poems that I love and new ones that delighted me. Today is also Shakespeare Day aka Shakespeare's Birthday.

I have talked about good old Will before here. And how I adore his sonnets. Today, I'm going to share not one of poems, one of his pieces from one of his most famous plays: Romeo and Juliet. I love Juliet's speech .

It is a beautiful piece full of longing, desire and love. This is from Act 3, scene 2. Here is Juliet's speech read by me. I know some of Juliet's speech, not all of it. I did this spontaneously, I hope you all enjoy it.



Here is the text below to follow along.


Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds,
Towards Phoebus’ lodging: such a wagoner
As Phaethon would whip you to the west,
And bring in cloudy night immediately.
Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night,
That runaway’s eyes may wink and Romeo
Leap to these arms, untalk’d of and unseen.
Lovers can see to do their amorous rites
By their own beauties; or, if love be blind,
It best agrees with night. Come, civil night,
Thou sober-suited matron, all in black,
And learn me how to lose a winning match,
Play’d for a pair of stainless maidenhoods:
Hood my unmann’d blood, bating in my cheeks,
With thy black mantle; till strange love, grown bold,
Think true love acted simple modesty.
Come, night; come, Romeo; come, thou day in night;
For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night
Whiter than new snow on a raven’s back.
Come, gentle night, come, loving, black-brow’d night,
Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.
O, I have bought the mansion of a love,
But not possess’d it, and, though I am sold,
Not yet enjoy’d: so tedious is this day
As is the night before some festival
To an impatient child that hath new robes
And may not wear them. O, here comes my nurse,
And she brings news; and every tongue that speaks
But Romeo’s name speaks heavenly eloquence.

PS. I know some people are having trouble hearing the audio, click on the word Juliet here. This should work hopefully

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! Here is a reposting from 2008 of me
reading Twas The Night Before Christmas. Enjoy!

Stars

I found a new poem to learn.
Enjoy

Stars by Emily Bronte

Ah! why, because the dazzling sun
Restored our earth to joy
Have you departed, every one,
And left a desert sky?

All through the night, your glorious eyes
Were gazing down in mine,
And with a full heart's thankful sighs
I blessed that watch divine!

I was at peace, and drank your beams
As they were life to me
And revelled in my changeful dreams
Like petrel on the sea.

Thought followed thought star followed star
Through boundless regions on,
While one sweet influence, near and far,
Thrilled through and proved us one.

Why did the morning dawn to break
So great, so pure a spell,
And scorch with fire the tranquil cheek
Where your cool radiance fell?

Blood-red he rose, and arrow-straight
His fierce beams struck my brow:
The soul of Nature sprang elate,
But mine sank sad and low!

My lids closed down, yet through their veil
I saw him blazing still;
And steep in gold the misty dale
And flash upon the hill.

I turned me to the pillow then
To call back Night, and see
Your worlds of solemn light, again
Throb with my heart and me!

It would not do the pillow glowed
And glowed both roof and floor,
And birds sang loudly in the wood,
And fresh winds shook the door.

The curtains waved, the wakened flies
Were murmuring round my room,
Imprisoned there, till I should rise
And give them leave to roam.

O Stars and Dreams and Gentle Night;
O Night and Stars return!
And hide me from the hostile light
That does not warm, but burn

That drains the blood of suffering men;
Drinks tears, instead of dew:
Let me sleep through his blinding reign,
And only wake with you!

Merry Christmas

I had a great day. Finally, saw New Moon
which I enjoyed immensely. Go Team Jacob!

I want to wish everyone a beautiful,
magical and wonderful Christmas.

For all of you, I am reposting my
reading of Twas The Night Before Christmas
from last year.

Enjoy.

Wild Nights, Wild Nights

I was feeling spontaneous and wanted to do a video. Hope you enjoy my interpretation of Wild Nights, Wild Nights by Emily Dickinson. This is one of my favorite poems by Emily. Enjoy

Haiku Festival

I'm joining in on the magic, beauty and power of Haiku with the Haiku Festival hosted by Tracy and Elizabeth. Please go on and visit all my fellow Haiku lovers. Maybe you'll try some Haiku yourself. Just remember the simple 5-7-5 syllable rule.

I jump in Ocean
Dolphins ride the waves with me
We swim till sunset


I wait for Midnight
When I dive into dreams
He is there waiting


We race to sea’s edge
Watch and count the stars in sky
Hold hands till dawn


Moon hangs low in sky
Wind kisses my bare shoulders
I wish you were here


I Haiku. Hope you all enjoyed. Have a wonderful Monday.

As always, Sweet Dreams to you all.

Rainy Monday

Hallmark moments so far in April:

1) Reconciling with my Dark Knight.

2) Going to see the play Mary Stuart on Broadway. Inspiring my own work on my monologue of Queen Margaret from Shakespeare's Henry 6.

3) Jumping in and taking on my first Drama Tutor gig.

Today has been busy for me. I decided to leave you with a small video that I whipped up on the spur of the moment. The poem is Acquainted with The Night by Robert Frost. It is read by the talented Ron Perlman from the album Love and Hope. If your a Beauty and Beast Fan or love to hear poetry read, it is must get cd.





As always, Sweet Dreams to you all.

Phillis and Emily

Happy March! Even though it's cold here in The Bronx, I am dreaming of Spring. Finally, I have another audio post. This one has the poetry of the first African American female published poet, Phillis Wheatley and my old friend, Emily Dickinson. I am reading the poems: On Being Brought from Africa to America and A Hymn to The Evening by Phillis; also, I taste a liquor never brewed and Adrift! A little boat adrift by Emily.

Please be aware that the text I'm reading Emily from may be slightly different from the links to her poetry. I don't know why editors feel the need to edit her work! Even the version I have does not have Emily's dashes which I love. So eventually I want to get her poetry with her dashes left intact. Also, Phillis isn't the first African American poet as I stated in the video. (I just discovered this today!) That honor goes to Jupiter Hammond; nevertheless, she is still the first sistah poet to be published in this country.

I hope you all enjoy. Please send me requests of poetry or prose you like to be read. I am happy to do so. As always, sweet dreams to you all.


PS. My last audiopost was lost when I changed my youtube account. I'm going to go back and redo it.

Emily and Nikki

Happy Thursday everyone. I'm back with another audiopost with me reading the poetry of Emily Dickinson and Nikki Giovanni. Here you can check out the texts of the poems here: Because I could Not Stop for Death, A Summer Love Poem and Wild Nights. The audio is very wabi sabi. I record from my mp3 player. I'm looking into getting a microphone so the sound can be cleaner. I hope you all enjoy.

P.S. This video is an updated version of the original one I lost. (3/4/09)

Twas The Night Before Christmas

This is from me to all of you: My reading of Twas The Night Before Christmas. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

Something Different

I decided to do something different on Swanofdreamers. This is my second video and my first time actually with audio. It is a bit rough. I am now nervous about posting it. Sometimes you have to stretch out of your comfort zone. So here I go. Play the video.