h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Summer heralds...
A time of rebirth
Acceptance of misunderstanding
In this world of mirth.

Summer heralds...
New growth and new hope
When dreams become reality
And life gives us scope.

Summer heralds...
All these things and more
But only if welcomed
And put in the store!

xxx Lethe

... or not!

I apologise for not having responded sooner, Lethe.

I was rather preoccupied and did not have time to formulate a proper response, because I take time, when I respond to poetry, to do so meaningfully.

I am still preoccupied and rather entangled in some things. Thank you for the poem. I shan't say something insipid like 'it's lovely', because that is insipid. I'll try to get round to having a long and serious look in today or tomorrow.

I didn't mean to give the impression I had not noticed. I just did not want to send you a 'thank you for the lovely poem have a nice life' post.

Arpeggio, for LeKZ

Thank you for your reply

I very much appreciate it.

my,some people sure have gotten hypersensative round here ,maybe it's the summer heat .no need to reply.

The Summer has not arrived here yet buggsy!

Nor here!
It's rained cats & dogs for two days straight.
Yesterday it thundered and lightened, you had to be really quick to unplug the modem from the phone line, or else it would be frazzled modem time.
Oh, just because I posted that, the sun has come out!

That was a coincidence!

Just before you posted I had written another poem about a Storm... which is raging as I type.

Luckily my connection cable runs underground so I do not really need to worry about my computer.

Dear Lethe,

Thank you for the lovely poem, it was fraffly sweet of you to leave it here, have a nice life.

No, seriously, it was both thoughtful and kind of you to have left the poem here. It was a gentle and non-intrusive way of saying 'hello', and of being kind without showing any pity or offering advice. The kindness was and is very much appreciated, as was and is your choice to leave a poem, instead of 'helpful' comments. Thank you for your consideration.

Not to say we have not appreciated the genuinely constructive comments and observations people have taken the time to think about, and offer civilly. We have. This was a *different* touch, and all the more appreciated for that. You dropped a on our page and went your way, quietly.

We looked at it a number of times, just to enjoy the imagery, and to remember that someone had simply left something pretty for us , and asked nothing in return... which was deeply moving. We looked at it every time we were hurt, or angry, or upset by someone else's comments. It helped us, to use the jargon, *centre* ourself. That is more meaningful than any amount of advice, and yet serves as advice at the same time.



The poem itself is not something for us to parse, critique, or comment upon. It is a whole, and the imagery is well-crafted. We appreciate the substance of its meaning, for itself, as well as it being the poem you chose for your gesture of kindness. This is not a poem we have any interest in analysing, except to ourself.

The latter, we have done repeatedly, probably reading things in (because the words themselves are not very loaded) because of the mixed and complex emotions we have been experiencing. That is okay, so far as we are concerned, art is meant to evoke feeling in the reader/viewer/listener. What feeling, and how interpreted, is as changeable as light and shadow on a cathedral, as the sun moves across the sky from dawn to dusk*.

It is sometimes a problem, for poets, that people see things in their work that they did not put there. We've had so many arguments on the Meaning of Art, specifically about that question. We hope you don't mind that your small poem has a kaleidoscope of meanings for us. If it were just a nice bit of rhyme about Summer, it would not have been relevant to anything, and your posting of it would not have been for any reason, and would have had no effect.

We thank you for the , for the spirit in which it was given, and for the delicate way you chose to approach us. As we said before, it felt as though someone had dropped by just to leave us a , only more meaningful, because this particular speaks.

Very touched,

Arpeggio, for LeKZ (many of whom are very serious about poetry)

*Nice Moderator, that is not an unattributed quotation. I just came up with the image all by myself, this minute. It's the . It brings out the rhapsodic in me.

Dear Arpeggio... and anyone else who is there at this time...


Thank you so much for accepting my poem and perceiving it in exactly the way that I hoped you would.

I am more of a musician than a poet, although I have spent a lifetime partaking in both. My music I cannot send you over the internet, nor would I really want to because it is often far too personal and can be as much an escape from feelings of anger as of joy.

My poems, although never quite as would like them (I have a tendancy to actually like rhyme... although I have also tried prose) I write as an answer or as a question when I find it hard to put ideas into everyday writing.

They tend to be simple, deliberately so, but try to convey an idea.
I thank you for not taking it apart and analysing it... that was never my intention when I posted it to you. I am just glad to bring a little solace in hard times.

I love your imagery of the cathedral and the sun.

I won't take any more of your time... I am not often here on h2g2, but I will certainly attempt to write more now I have found the courage.

*Quietly drops a for all the LeKZ*

Lethe
xxx

for Lethe
for LeKZ*

I believe that I am allowed to quote one line so:

~Gather ye Rosebuds while ye may~

*Collects 's and places them carefully in a vase*

A simple word,
A simple thought
Is often enough
When one is fraught.

A gentle drop
On a turbulent sea,
Is often enough
To heal and set free.



Lethe
xxx

That is dainty, sensitive, and very evocative.

again.

Thank you for this . We shall return to it a few times and feel it more and more.

Arpeggio, for LeKZ

When the path is dim
And living hard to bear
There are those who pray
And those who care.



Lethe

Hi, Lethe.

This is just my opinion, but I think that Arpeggio and all of LeKZ would probably understand and appreciate this.

David Conway, Arpeggio's RL life partner

A few small tears
Can an ocean swell
A few kind words
A whole story can tell



Lethe
xxx