Reading Together A poetry reading group Designed by David Chamberlain October 2019 Contents Introduction Halloween/ Ghosts 31/10 - I felt a funeral - The ghost - The ghosts are walking again - The listeners - All Hallows Eve - The hour and the ghost - Alone War poems 7/11 - In Flanders fields - Not to keep - We lived happily during the war - The evacuee - Now to be still and rest - Joining the colours Autumn 14/11 - A slash of blue - To autumn - Your dresses - Autumn - To Autumn - Fall leaves fall - Autumn fires Time 21/11 - A time to talk - Things men have made - Time - Everything changes - I had no time to hate - The road not taken - Time: real and imaginary Childhood 28/11 - My heart leaps up - I remember, I remember - It was long ago - Walking away - Second childhood - I remember I remember (Larkin) Love 5/12 - Love and friendship - Twilight night - Meeting at night - Let me not – Sonnet 116 - How Do I Love Thee? - Touched by an angel - Habitation Water 12/12 - Maggie and Milly and Molly and May - Sea fever - The lake Isle of Innisfree - Dover beach - Going for water - All day I hear the noise of waters - With ships the sea was sprinkled Christmas 19/12 - Christmas bells - Ring out, wild bells - The oxen - Mistletoe - Good will to man – now give us your money - Twas the night before Christmas - Before the ice is in the pools New beginnings 9/1 - To The origins of birds - Up hill - Caged bird - Blossom - Do not go gently into that good night - Sonnet 29 - I am Winter 16/1 - Stopping by the woods - Those winter Sundays - The cold earth slept below - The Darkling Thrush - Horses - Winter song - A winter night Introduction Bibliotherapy is the beneficial act of reading together in a group. There are many archetypes and themes we all share as we experience life. Reading together has been shown to have a therapeutic effect. In the light of this Nursing and Library staff have worked together to set up a reading group for an in-patient ward. There will be 10 x 1 hour sessions based on 10 themes. There will be two staff members (including a Librarian) at each meeting. Attendees are encouraged to stay for the session but an open group policy is adopted. Time is flexible – but the session will last an hour at its longest. Initially staff will read a poem and open the group to discuss using the following structure: - what is happening in the text (in terms of themes, descriptions, language) – “What was the poem about?” - what may be happening within themselves as individuals (in terms of reflection about personal experiences, feelings and thoughts) – - “Did you like it?” Reading aloud and open ended discussion is encouraged. Support is available after the meeting if anyone would wish to discuss any issues the session raises. Halloween and Ghosts I felt a Funeral, in my Brain by Emily Dickinson I felt a Funeral, in my Brain, And Mourners to and fro Kept treading - treading - till it seemed That Sense was breaking through - And when they all were seated, A Service, like a Drum - Kept beating - beating - till I thought My mind was going numb - And then I heard them lift a Box And creak across my Soul With those same Boots of Lead, again, Then Space - began to toll, As all the Heavens were a Bell, And Being, but an Ear, And I, and Silence, some strange Race, Wrecked, solitary, here - And then a Plank in Reason, broke, And I dropped down, and down - And hit a World, at every plunge, And Finished knowing - then - The Ghost by Sara Teasdale I went back to the clanging city, I went back where my old loves stayed, But my heart was full of my new love's glory, My eyes were laughing and unafraid. I met one who had loved me madly And told his love for all to hear -- But we talked of a thousand things together, The past was buried too deep to fear. I met the other, whose love was given With never a kiss and scarcely a word -- Oh, it was then the terror took me Of words unuttered that breathed and stirred. Oh, love that lives its life with laughter Or love that lives its life with tears Can die -- but love that is never spoken Goes like a ghost through the winding years. I went back to the clanging city, I went back where my old loves stayed, My heart was full of my new love's glory, -- But my eyes were suddenly afraid. The ghosts are walking again by Susan Williams the ghosts are walking again walking and talking in the night again sorrow is eating my bones again the fog is creeping again creeping and seeping through the cracks again fear is fracturing my bones again the shadows are whispering again whispering and weeping by my bed again despair is sundering my bones again the ghosts are walking again the fog is creeping again the shadows are whispering again ..............and I? ..............I'm feeling like dust again ..............the unknown is leaching the marrow out of my bones again The Listeners by Walter De La Mare ‘Is there anybody there?’ said the Traveller, Knocking on the moonlit door; And his horse in the silence champed the grasses Of the forest’s ferny floor: And a bird flew up out of the turret, Above the Traveller’s head: And he smote upon the door again a second time; ‘Is there anybody there?’ he said. But no one descended to the Traveller; No head from the leaf-fringed sill Leaned over and looked into his grey eyes, Where he stood perplexed and still. But only a host of phantom listeners That dwelt in the lone house then Stood listening in the quiet of the moonlight To that voice from the world of men: Stood thronging the faint moonbeams on the dark stair, That goes down to the empty hall, Hearkening in an air stirred and shaken By the lonely Traveller’s call. And he felt in his heart their strangeness, Their stillness answering his cry, While his horse moved, cropping the dark turf, ’Neath the starred and leafy sky; For he suddenly smote on the door, even Louder, and lifted his head:— ‘Tell them I came, and no one answered, That I kept my word,’ he said. Never the least stir made the listeners, Though every word he spake Fell echoing through the shadowiness of the still house From the one man left awake: Ay, they heard his foot upon the stirrup, And the sound of iron on stone, And how the silence surged softly backward, When the plunging hoofs were gone. All Hallows Eve by Michael R. Burch In the ruins of the dreams and the schemes of men; when the moon begets the tide and the wide sea sighs; when a star appears in heaven and the raven cries; we will dance and we will revel in the devil’s fen ... if nevermore again. The Hour and the Ghost by Christina Rossetti - 1830-1894 O love, love, hold me fast, He draws me away from thee; I cannot stem the blast, Nor the cold strong sea: Far away a light shines Beyond the hills and pines; It is lit for me. Bridegroom I have thee close, my dear, No terror can come near; Only far off the northern light shines clear. Ghost Come with me, fair and false, To our home, come home. It is my voice that calls: Once thou wast not afraid When I woo’d, and said, ‘Come, our nest is newly made’— Now cross the tossing foam. Bride Hold me one moment longer! He taunts me with the past, His clutch is waxing stronger; Hold me fast, hold me fast. He draws me from thy heart, And I cannot withhold: He bids my spirit depart With him into the cold:— Oh bitter vows of old! Bridegroom Lean on me, hide thine eyes: Only ourselves, earth and skies, Are present here: be wise. Ghost Lean on me, come away, I will guide and steady: Come, for I will not stay: Come, for house and bed are ready. Ah sure bed and house, For better and worse, for life and death, Goal won with shortened breath! Come, crown our vows. Bride One moment, one more word, While my heart beats still, While my breath is stirred By my fainting will. O friend, forsake me not, Forget not as I forgot: But keep thy heart for me, Keep thy faith true and bright; Through the lone cold winter night Perhaps I may come to thee. Bridegroom Nay peace, my darling, peace: Let these dreams and terrors cease: Who spoke of death or change or aught but ease? Ghost O fair frail sin, O poor harvest gathered in! Thou shalt visit him again To watch his heart grow cold: To know the gnawing pain I knew of old; To see one much more fair Fill up the vacant chair, Fill his heart, his children bear; While thou and I together, In the outcast weather, Toss and howl and spin. Alone by Edgar Alan Poe From childhood's hour I have not been As others were; I have not seen As others saw; I could not bring My passions from a common spring. From the same source I have not taken My sorrow; I could not awaken My heart to joy at the same tone; And all I loved, I loved alone. Then—in my childhood, in the dawn Of a most stormy life—was drawn From every depth of good and ill The mystery which binds me still: From the torrent, or the fountain, From the red cliff of the mountain, From the sun that round me rolled In its autumn tint of gold, From the lightning in the sky As it passed me flying by, From the thunder and the storm, And the cloud that took the form (When the rest of Heaven was blue) Of a demon in my view.