The days of the week.‘Planets, Gods and Weekdays’: A Poem by Isabella Bethe The Society May 4, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 11 Comments . Planets, Gods and Weekdays Alarms are snoozed, and Monday’s born. A few more snores as dreams are shorn, And sleep is corked by clanging horn; __The moon’s bereft, Her silver day now dimmed and worn __By weekly theft. A remnant fire of Mars appears, Now Tuesday steers earth’s working gears. Electric hums replacing spears __Of war-drunk men; Impatience pushing pioneers __To win again. Emails are tapped with flying speeds, Winged Mercury is Wednesday’s seeds. Caduceus in hand, he leads __The letters sent From keyboard texts and Twitter feeds __That blow and vent. With Jupiter the giant next, It’s Thursday with a hammer flexed. Expanding buildings unperplexed __To raze the small, While thunder booms when Thor is vexed __Inside his hall. But Friday has a loving hold, In arms that Venus warms from cold. A sister planet shining gold, __She sweetens heads To evening walks and sheets unrolled __On feather beds. Abundant cupboards, fridges stocked, It’s Saturday, and roads are blocked With shoppers spending wages clocked, __And Saturn grins On party feasts while floors are rocked __By dancing spins. The hours have ticked to sunny ends, And Sunday’s rest, to drift with friends, As bells are rung, a hymn ascends, __And folk are free; Until the working week descends, __There’s time for tea. . . Isabella Bethe is a British musician and piano teacher living in London. NOTE TO READERS: If you enjoyed this poem or other content, please consider making a donation to the Society of Classical Poets. The Society of Classical Poets does not endorse any views expressed in individual poems or commentary. CODEC Stories:Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) 11 Responses Cynthia Erlandson May 4, 2023 I love the way you’ve woven the three themes together! And the form you’ve used is musically lovely. Reply Paddy Raghunathan May 4, 2023 Gentle, simple, and reads like a breath of fresh air. Reply Joseph S. Salemi May 4, 2023 Wow! This is really fantastically good stuff. The perfect rhyme scheme, the small dimeter sub-lines, the easy mix of contemporary details with a solid etymological link to both the classical and Germanic roots of the names of the week… there is so much achievement here that it dazzles. The connection of Mercury and his caduceus with e-mails and Twitter — it’s both striking and unexpected, and every stanza has that same force. Reply Joshua C. Frank May 4, 2023 I love the form and the interplay between the three themes. I see this is your first poem published here; welcome! I look forward to reading more of your work. Joseph Salemi is a professor of the humanities at a major university, so if he likes it that much, that’s high praise. Reply Paul Freeman May 4, 2023 Great stuff, Isabella, and since I’m laid low with the lurgy, that’ll be all for now. I look forward to hearing more from you. Reply Norma Pain May 4, 2023 Beautiful. I read it a few times and got into the lovely swing of it. Thank you Isabella. Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant May 4, 2023 Isabella, this is truly beautiful for its admirably crafted rhyme, rhythm, and rich content. Its wonder has my toes tapping and my face smiling… it’s a poem I’ll be returning to regularly… thank you! Reply C.B. Anderson May 4, 2023 The form you’ve created, Isabella, is so striking that you should give it a name. And the content you have invested in it is really really great. I often think about the days of the week, why they have the names they have, and how come we no longer experience the shades of difference they should have from one another. But maybe, in a way, we do acknowledge some of these differences. A long time ago a teacher told my class that work-related accidents were most likely to occur on Wednesdays, or Mittwoch, midweek in German. And we have “Thank God it’s Friday.” Reply Mary Gardner May 5, 2023 Isabella, your poem is like piano music, relaxing. Like waves on the beach, the penultimate line of each stanza holds the reader momentarily before gently releasing, with the last line bringing closure. I hope you will share more of your poetry with us. Reply Alan May 5, 2023 A nice poem combining old and new. It was written in Burns stanzas. Robert Burns popularized this type of stanza, which I once used for one of my own poems. It is not an easy stanza to use. Reply Sally Cook May 5, 2023 One swings through the week in such an easy, cosmic pattern, and comes out ready for another go-round. Accomplished work ! Reply Leave a Reply Cancel ReplyYour email address will not be published.CommentName* Email* Website Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. Δ This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Cynthia Erlandson May 4, 2023 I love the way you’ve woven the three themes together! And the form you’ve used is musically lovely. Reply
Joseph S. Salemi May 4, 2023 Wow! This is really fantastically good stuff. The perfect rhyme scheme, the small dimeter sub-lines, the easy mix of contemporary details with a solid etymological link to both the classical and Germanic roots of the names of the week… there is so much achievement here that it dazzles. The connection of Mercury and his caduceus with e-mails and Twitter — it’s both striking and unexpected, and every stanza has that same force. Reply
Joshua C. Frank May 4, 2023 I love the form and the interplay between the three themes. I see this is your first poem published here; welcome! I look forward to reading more of your work. Joseph Salemi is a professor of the humanities at a major university, so if he likes it that much, that’s high praise. Reply
Paul Freeman May 4, 2023 Great stuff, Isabella, and since I’m laid low with the lurgy, that’ll be all for now. I look forward to hearing more from you. Reply
Norma Pain May 4, 2023 Beautiful. I read it a few times and got into the lovely swing of it. Thank you Isabella. Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant May 4, 2023 Isabella, this is truly beautiful for its admirably crafted rhyme, rhythm, and rich content. Its wonder has my toes tapping and my face smiling… it’s a poem I’ll be returning to regularly… thank you! Reply
C.B. Anderson May 4, 2023 The form you’ve created, Isabella, is so striking that you should give it a name. And the content you have invested in it is really really great. I often think about the days of the week, why they have the names they have, and how come we no longer experience the shades of difference they should have from one another. But maybe, in a way, we do acknowledge some of these differences. A long time ago a teacher told my class that work-related accidents were most likely to occur on Wednesdays, or Mittwoch, midweek in German. And we have “Thank God it’s Friday.” Reply
Mary Gardner May 5, 2023 Isabella, your poem is like piano music, relaxing. Like waves on the beach, the penultimate line of each stanza holds the reader momentarily before gently releasing, with the last line bringing closure. I hope you will share more of your poetry with us. Reply
Alan May 5, 2023 A nice poem combining old and new. It was written in Burns stanzas. Robert Burns popularized this type of stanza, which I once used for one of my own poems. It is not an easy stanza to use. Reply
Sally Cook May 5, 2023 One swings through the week in such an easy, cosmic pattern, and comes out ready for another go-round. Accomplished work ! Reply
