maggie and milly and molly and may

E. E. Cummings, 1894 - 1962

              10

maggie and milly and molly and may 
went down to the beach(to play one day)

and maggie discovered a shell that sang 
so sweetly she couldn’t remember her troubles,and

milly befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing 
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:and

may came home with a smooth round stone 
as small as a world and as large as alone.

For whatever we lose(like a you or a me) 
it’s always ourselves we find in the sea

from

https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/maggie-and-milly-and-molly-and-may

Copyright © 1956, 1984, 1991 by the Trustees for the E. E. Cummings Trust 

from The Complete Poems: 1904-1962 by E. E. Cummings, 

Edited by George J. Firmage. 

Reprinted by permission of Liveright Publishing Corporation. 

All rights reserved.

Building Of The Ship

From My Mother’s Poetry Notebook: Longfellow’s Building Of The Ship

MARY LOUISE HOOLEY-CARLISLE·FRIDAY, APRIL 1, 2016

From “The Building of the Ship”

“Like unto ships far off at sea,
Outward or homeward bound are we.
Before, behind, and all around,
Floats and swings the horizon’s hound,
Seems at its distant rim to rise
And climb the crystal wall of skies,
And then again to turn and sink,
As if we could slide from its outer brink.
Ah! it is not the sea;
It is not the sea that sinks and shelves,
But ourselves
That rock and rise
With endless and uneasy motion,
Now touching the very skies,
Now sinking into the depths of the ocean.
Ah! if our souls but poise and swing
Like the compass in its brazen ring,
Ever level and ever true
To the toil and task we have to do,
We shall sail securely, and safely reach
The Fortune Isles, on whose shining beach
The sights we see and the sounds we hear,
Will be those of joy and not of fear!”

~Longfellow

I remember Mom loved Longfellow’s poetry. Especially his “The Song of Hiawatha.”

New Year's Day

From My Mother’s Poetry Notebook: Oxenham’s New Year’s Day

MARY LOUISE HOOLEY-CARLISLE·FRIDAY, APRIL 1, 2016

Each man is captain of his soul,

And chooses his own crew;

But the Pilot knows the unknown seas,

And he will bring us through.

~ John Oxenham

Mom typed out only the above verse, but I thought I had heard this before so I looked it up. Oxenham wrote a longer poem which can be found here: http://www.readbookonline.net/readO...

But it also reminded me of another poet’s exploration/interpretation of a similar theme. William Ernest Henley wrote “Invictus” which uses similar imagery but really gives a message rather opposite to Oxenham’s. Text and background info can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invic...

I remember one of Mom’s brother’s reciting both these poems. I wonder if she shared with him or him with her, or if Grandma or Grandpa Troyer enjoyed poetry and this was a family favorite? I think it’s most likely Mom shared with Uncle Omar.