annual poem day

 way back in the early days of the blogosphere, there was a tradition of sharing a poem every February 2nd, in celebration of either Candlemas, St. Brigid's Day, or Groundhog Day (depending on your background and interests) (There may be another holiday in there I'm forgetting? Imbolc, maybe?)

Gradually as blogging evolved and eventually withered, fewer and fewer people did it.

I like it, I still do it, I feel like I'm keeping a tiny flame lit as one who remembers those days and wants to keep some of the good traditions. So I spent much of the day today (which actually ended with us going home early; classes are canceled tomorrow and Friday out of an excess of caution. I mainly hope I don't lose power; it's hard to tell just how much ice we will get) thinking about what poem I might quote.

I contemplated, I admit, "The Second Coming" by Yeats - very famous poem, I can (mostly) recite it from memory. But it's also pretty dark - and while these often feel like dark times, what with (gestures at the world) everything, I wanted something more hopeful.

I also like Auden's "The More Loving One," (That link is Auden himself reading the poem), with the idea of loving something utterly indifferent to oneself and the challenge therein. But then again - not quite cheery, that poem.

But there's another poem, one that makes the rounds regularly on Twitter, one that seems like mostly pure untrammeled joy - a poem written by a child, who was in the first grade when they wrote it. And yes, there is a childlike glee to it, a glee I might like to feel some times:

The Tiger.

by Nael, Age Six

The tiger
He destroyed his cage
Yes
YES
The tiger is out

 

And yes, of course, this week is also the Lunar New Year, and in the Chinese zodiac (which maybe some other cultures use, the tiger is this year's symbol? The Doki Doki crate I got from Japan  in January had tiger-themed merchandise in it, including a little "lucky plaque" (an ema) with a tiger on it, that I hung up in my kitchen):

And anyway, can't we all use a little luck right now?