Spirit Lake
You can hear me read this poem over the You Tube video. However, several readers who cannot access You Tube on their own computers for some reason and have seen the video on someone else’s have asked me to reinstate it on the blog. (See video below). Many thanks, by the way, for their kind comments regarding my blogs.
The original You Tube video is available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUShMVosnFs
OR access my You Tube channel and search by title:
http://www.youtube.com/rogerNtaber
The lake at Stourhead (NB ‘Spirit Lake’ is simply the title I have given to the poem that I read here and video footage) is artificially created. Following a path around the lake is meant to evoke a journey similar to that of Aeneas's descent in to the underworld; passages telling of Aeneas's journey are quoted in the temples surrounding the lake.
Read more about Stourhead on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stourhead
This poem is a villanelle:
SPIRIT LAKE
World of peace and tranquility
(looking out for its own);
Earth Mother’s greater legacy
Time playing games with history
(myth into maturity grown);
world of peace and tranquility
Dreamland lake in all its serenity
(solitude, yet not alone);
Earth Mother’s greater legacy
The very best of prose and poetry
(open minds freely shown);
world of peace and tranquility
Watch ripples pausing at eternity
(life force unknown)
Earth Mother’s greater legacy
Each heart, wing, flower and tree
(life arts, ever windblown);
world of peace and tranquility,
Earth Mother’s greater legacy
Copyright R. N. Taber 2014
Labels: Aeneas, England, estate, Greek, history, lake, mind-body-spirit, mythology, National Trust, nature, past-present-future, personal space, poetry, posthumous consciousness, Stourhead, Wiltshire