All right,
Yeah,
Welcome once again Nick Hammond.
And this week I'm going to be picking up on the subject of poetry,
A poem once again,
And Yeah,
This one is an old poem.
And probably one of the most famous poems,
Possibly the most well-known love poem in the English language.
Written in the late 1500s.
By William Shakespeare and part of his collection of sonnets.
And possibly Yeah,
His most famous sonnet,
Number 18.
And yeah,
So really I wanted just to read this poem and then share a few reflections on why I think that is helpful.
In terms of what we tend to discuss on this.
In these sessions that of mindfulness,
Of being present,
Of staying.
Aware of what is going on in the present moment,
How words,
How poetry broadly can help with that,
But also how specific poems more than others perhaps.
Can do that and yeah and so yeah so as many of you will know Sonnet is 14 lines long.
Has alternate rhyming lines apart from the final two lines which rhyme with each other.
And not with the rest of the poem and each line has 10 syllables and has a very a steady rhythmic pace to it.
Throughout when alternate syllables are kind of stressed.
There are five kind of key syllables stressed in each line,
Although there are ten.
In each line overall.
Yeah,
So that's just a little bit about sonnets.
And as a form of poetry.
Shakespeare made the Shakespearean sonnet perhaps one of the most famous,
If not the most famous form.
Of poetry in the English language.
Yeah and so yeah i'd like to just read this poem and again of course the opportunity to if you like if you prefer perhaps close your eyes or your gaze lower your gaze soften your gaze if that helps to,
Yeah,
Sort of connect in this present moment.
And are with each other in this session.
Shall I compare thee to summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often in his gold complexion dim.
And every fair from fair sometime declines by chance.
Or nature's changing course untrimmed.
But thy eternal summer shall not fade.
Nor lose possession of that fair thou oust.
Nor shall death.
Brag thou wanderest in his shade.
When in eternal lines to time thou grost.
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see.
So long lives this.
And this give lives to thee.
Yeah,
So it's really wonderful.
Poem about love,
Really.
Um but it's also a poem about nature of course and the connection between love and nature and you know there's a lot of discussions and conversations around that and about that and the power that that has if we can access that kind of outside green natural world and it's not always easy for many of us if we're you know perhaps living in big cities.
Center of big cities and not able to get into that space but and understanding that,
Of course,
But if there is an opportunity for us to do this,
To connect with nature,
It is something that can be tremendously resourcing.
And of course,
Reading this on a summer's day certainly is here,
Middle of July.
Where I am and not quite as hot as it has been,
But still pretty hot.
But the comparison between an individual and their how they are.
The personality.
About being lovely and temperate.
And the brevity of course of summer and the changing nature of the seasons.
And how nothing stays the same.
But there's kind of a hope in here as well isn't there then?
In a kind of situation where we know all things are going to change and everything will end.
And there's a kind of a hope and yeah there's a hope really in some of these lives that actually some things something will remain will Yeah,
We'll stay.
We'll be retained.
The final two lines,
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this,
And this gives life to thee.
Yes there's a kind of a sense that these words are driven by love,
Driven by the sense of energy of connection.
But also give a sense of energy and connection back as a kind of a circle.
Um a positive kind of circle and I think that's true isn't it you know if we have real relationships we may have whether they're people we love or people we like you know if we are able to connect to them in a positive way then that kind of connection often very often comes back in a kind of a powerful circular kind of way.
Yeah,
So a song about love,
A song about nature,
Perhaps a song about feeling slightly hot.
Warm.
Yeah,
And so yeah,
So just taking a moment really to.
.
.
We are paused.
And however that is for you,
However that feels best for you.
And perhaps it's closing the eyes,
Softening the gaze.
And the kind of words.
Yeah,
How they've landed with you,
For you.
Yeah,
They're right or wrong really.
But yeah perhaps just taking a few moments i'm going to close my eyes and Yeah.
See what comes up.
Noticing what may be here for you.
Yeah,
Maybe it's sensual.
Yeah emotions,
Feelings sensations in the body It may help to take a couple of deeper breaths.
Perhaps noticing your feet on the floor or bum on the seat,
Your hands resting.
Contact points.
Connecting.
Connecting you,
Connecting us with this present moment.
As always,
Know to sing.
When your mind wanders off and if it's okay to notice that and be as kind as you can be with that noticing.
Yeah,
That's kind of what we always do,
Isn't it?
Our minds wander and that's completely fine.
But if we can take a few moments,
Maybe this is one of them.
Just to be more present,
To be more here.
To be more aware of what's going on.
Right here,
Right now.
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot,
The eye of heaven shines,
And often in his gold complexion dimmed.
And every fare from fare sometimes declines by chance.
Or nature's changing course untrimmed.
But thy eternal summer shall not fade.
Nor lose possession of that fair thou hast.
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade.
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st.
So long as men can breathe.
Or eyes can see.
So long is this.
And this gives life to thee.
Just bringing this practice to a close.
In your own time.
Any movements that feel good,
Perhaps some stretching.
Feel free,
Of course,
If you'd like to,
To stay in the moment as this recording comes to a close.
And done.
Thank you for joining.
I hope you find that supportive and helpful.
Look forward to seeing you next week.
Bye for now.
