Suitcases and Poems

So more of the My Freedom blogging prompts tonight.



The prompt for Day 3 was "Play a game of ‘What’s in your suitcase?’ on your blog by listing your necessities for travel, then ask your blog readers to comment with their own list. You can include pictures or links for items you consider must-haves."



And the Prompt for Day 4 was "Have you ever been inspired by the words of a poem? Share the poem with your blog readers and tell them how you came to value its words."



Hence the title of today's post! I still feel a little behind because prompt 5 is already out but I have decided to ponder that some more before blogging about it.

(The yellow suitcase is one of the bags I own that I use for travelling)

So...in my suitcase...there is always so much more then I will ever need but I am one of those people that has to pack heaps of things because you never know if you will need them or not!

In the last 18 months I have begun travelling for work. The regularity of trips away from home has taught me that I don't need quite as much as I think I do. Anyone who knows me well will know I am a HUGE list-writer and packing lists is right up there on my lists of lists I make!

I tend to just note down things on an index card when going away overnight or for a few days but when we are going further afield the mother of all lists comes out to help keep me organised! The list is a take on Flylady's suggestion and features different sections for things to do before I pack, things to do when I get home as well as items to be packed by category and bag they will go on (I know this seems insane and extremely scary to some people but it works for me and helps keep me calm when I have pre-travel nerves). The list becomes more important then what actually gets packed in the end!

Here is a brief list of what I would normally pack regardless of length of time away from home:

• iPod
• purse/keys/phone + charger
• notepad and pen
• book for reading (and in most cases a magazine too)
• lollies (especially when travelling on a plane when my ears feel like they will burst and I need something to crunch to take my mind off it)
• pyjamas
• clean clothes
• spare plastic carrier bag (because they have so many uses!)
• camera
• paracetamol

And on to poems...I enjoy poetry and always have. I love studying the flow of words and reading the words in my head to try and work out the rythym the author intended. I studied poetry a fair bit at school and English was one of my favourite subjects so most of the poems I remember are ones I originally studied at school.

I have always enjoyed 'To Autumn' by John Keats...maybe because I was originally an Autumn baby...the words he uses are just beautiful and Autumn is probably my favourite season:

SEASON of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap’d furrow sound asleep,
Drows’d with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

And reading that back has also reminded me of my favourite hymn - another Autumn theme:

Autumn days, when the grass is jewelled
And the silk in a chestnut shell
Jet planes meeting in the air to be refuelled
All these things I love so well
So I mustn't forget
No, I mustn't forget
To say a great big thank you
No, I mustn't forget.

(rest of words can be found here)

I'm also a fan of How Do I Love Thee? by Elizabeth Barrett Browning:

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love with a passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

And finally - when you need to smile you can't beat a bit of Spike Milligan - this one has always been a favourite of my Mum's...

Today I saw a little work
Wriggling on his belly.
Perhaps he'd like to come inside
And see what's on the telly.

Phew - that's more then enough blogging for today I think! But I'm hoping to be back tomorrow with some thoughts on Prompt 5.