The other day I read this quote:
"A picture is a poem without words."
Quintus Cornificius
For many who may be somewhat older, we learned of poems in our earlier educational years. As a refresher, one definition of a poem is per Collins Dictionary:
A composition in verse, usually characterized by concentrated and heightened language in which words are chosen for their sound and suggestive power as well as for their sense, and using such techniques as metre, rhyme, and alliteration.
Over the years I have several favorite poems. Now taking the words of Cornificius, I remember some picture or photographs stirring my memory of my favorite poems.
My favorite poem is still by Robert Frost The Road Not Taken. The backyard of our home in Indiana bordered a forest and the family farm in NW WI had forests on two sides. As I have aged, pictures and photos only reinforce my appreciation of Frost’s words.
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Today living here in Golden Valley, AZ my front yard has only one tree. Instead of a forest behind our backyard, we now have mountain views from both the front and back yards. Sometime in the past I came across this poem. Today those views remind me of this poem by Li Po.
All birds have flown up and gone
A lonely cloud floats leisurely by.
We never tire of looking at each other
Only the mountains and I.
Yes a "picture is a poem without word."
Leanne M Smith, The Grit and Gratitude Agent Who Goes the Extra Mile Because Life Begins Where the Pavement Ends.
Feature Photo Courtesy of Leanne M Smith
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