Showing posts with label Jaques. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jaques. Show all posts

24 December 2020

'Old Lady Christmas Shopping' by Edna Jaques



Edna Jaques, Poet Laureate of the Home, as captured by J.W. Tetlow for the 1 September 1951 issue of Maclean's magazine. This poem comes from Back-Door Neighbors (Toronto: Thomas Allen, 1946).


11 November 2019

Remembrance Day



Verse by Edna Jaques written the year after the Armistice.

IN FLANDERS NOW
             We have kept faith, ye Flanders' dead,
                  Sleep well beneath those poppies red,
                  That mark your place.
             The torch your dying hands did throw,
             We've held it high before the foe,
             And answered bitter blow for blow,
                  In Flanders' fields. 
             And where your heroes' blood was spilled,
                  The guns are now forever stilled,
                  And silent grown.
             There is no moaning of the slain,
             There is no cry of tortured pain,
             And blood will never flow again
                  In Flanders' fields. 
             Forever holy in our sight,
                  Shall be those crosses gleaming white,
                  That guard your sleep.
             Rest you in peace, the task is done,
             The fight you left us we have won.
             And "Peace on Earth" has just begun,
                  In Flanders now.

08 October 2017

Edna Jaques' Award-Winning Thanksgiving Verse



For this Thanksgiving weekend, verse from Canada's beloved Poet Laureate of the Home. First published in 1932, "Thankful for What?" was named New York Times Outstanding Poem of the Year. She received twenty American dollars.
Thankful for What? 

     Not for the mighty world, O Lord, tonight,
          Nations and kingdoms in their fearful might —
     Let me be glad the kettle gently sings,
          Let me be thankful just for the little things. 
     Thankful for simple food and supper spread,
          Thankful for shelter and a warm, clean bed,
     For little joyful feet that gladly run
          To welcome me when my day's work is done. 
     Thankful for friends who share my woe or mirth,
          Glad for the warm, sweet fragrance of the earth,
     For golden pools of sunlight on the floor,
          For love that sheds its peace about my door. 
     For little friendly days that slip away,
          With only meals and bed, and work and play,
     A rocking-chair and kindly firelight —
          For little things let me be glad tonight.

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