As readers of this blog will know, I like the Poems on the Underground series - short poems or extracts from longer poems on various themes throughout the year. Rather than staring at adverts on the way to work you can read a poem. I received this lovely book for Christmas that collects many of the poems as part of the London Underground 150th anniversary celebrations.The poems are collected by themes such as love, London, the natural world, families and dreams. I've decided to read one poem each day and the first section is about love. Poem number 5 caught my eye as one I'd like to share:
What He Said
What could my mother be
to yours? What kin is my father
to yours anyway? And how
did you and I ever meet?
But in love
our hearts have mingled
like red earth and pouring rain.
Translated by A.K. Ramanujan
Apparently Cempulappeyanirar wrote 2000 years ago in Tamil and 'red earth and pouring rain' was his trademark phrase.
There's a lovely extract from 'As You Like It' by Shakespeare at the front of the book that states: 'There is a man haunts the forest, that hangs odes upon hawthorns, and elegies on brambles...'. I like the sound of that so I'll keep my eyes open for more poems to share.
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