A Poem for Labor Day and Others by Christine de Pisan, Translated by Margaret Coats The Society September 2, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Translation 20 Comments . For All Who Labor by Christine de Pisan (1364-c. 1430) Lady, fair branch where God’s grace blooms,Our labors, Saint Bernard assumes,Are benefited...
‘August Foraging’: A Poem by Margaret Coats The Society August 26, 2024 Culture, Poetry 27 Comments . August Foraging “It’s hot, it’s dry. No fun outdoors; No fungi, flowers, foliage, fruit For us to eat where Nature stores Wild food. The...
‘Sicilian Samurai’: A Poem on Giovanni Battista Sidotti, by Margaret Coats The Society August 10, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 36 Comments . Sicilian Samurai circa 1700 He made a startling, militant request To journey to Japan—strange land long closed To foreign influence. The Pope’s...
‘Festal Flourish’: Translation of a Poem by Tibullus, by Margaret Coats The Society July 27, 2024 Beauty, Poetry, Translation 22 Comments . Festal Flourish ---on a country festival, by Roman poet Tibullus (55-19 BC), translated by Margaret Coats All here may help to cleanse these fruits...
‘Fire Lurks’: A Poem by Margaret Coats The Society July 15, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 30 Comments . Fire Lurks I recognize, while watching ghastly nightEncircle statesmanship revoltingly,Bright bursts of a spangled pyrotechnic star.America! No...
‘Storming the Bastille’: A Poem by Margaret Coats The Society July 13, 2024 Culture, Poetry 25 Comments . Storming the Bastille from eyewitness accounts July the twelfth, the City of Light was filled With brigands bought by dimes and dismal speech; How...
‘Three Views of Venus’: A Poem from Houghton Hall, by Margaret Coats The Society June 30, 2024 Beauty, Ekphrastic, Poetry 20 Comments . Three Views of Venus "When you’ve got a goddess, make good use of her. —local guide, Green Velvet Bedchamber at Houghton Hall, Norfolk “Ah,...
Poetry from and about Xu Zhimo, by Margaret Coats The Society June 13, 2024 Beauty, Poetry, Translation 30 Comments . Meeting Xu Zhimo by Margaret Coats Three Chinese girls behind me in the line Escape King’s College Chapel evensong; They show a phone, ask where,...
On the Meeting of Poets James A. Tweedie, Jeff Eardley, Peter Hartley, and Margaret Coats in the UK: Poems and Other Writings The Society June 8, 2024 Culture, Essays, Poetry 19 Comments . In Spring 2024, UK poets Jeff Eardley and Peter Hartley crossed paths with American poets James A. Tweedie and Margaret coats in...
‘Out Walking’: A Poem by Margaret Coats The Society May 30, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 30 Comments . Out Walking I hear the heath alive to free A heart from hearthside reverie, _And with my rambling feet __Start out in stealth, Intent on...
‘Herman the Cripple’: A Poem by Margaret Coats The Society May 16, 2024 Culture, Music, Poetry 44 Comments . Herman the Cripple A body helpless in deformity Was mine, though loving parents carried me Full seven years in sick infirmity, Then placed me in...
May Songs from Miracle Plays, Translated by Margaret Coats The Society May 1, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Song Lyrics, Translation 19 Comments . May Songs . I. Where does loyalty take its rest? Where is charity’s portraiture, Except in you, sweet virgin pure? Where has virginity...
‘A Shakespeare Garden Stroll’: A Poem by Margaret Coats The Society April 23, 2024 Beauty, Poetry, Shakespeare 22 Comments . A Shakespeare Garden Stroll Of all the blooms, I like the lily best. Might you prefer a deep vermilion rose? Well, each to earth some special good...
‘Snowy Egret’ and ‘Dusky Seaside Sparrow’: Two Bird Poems by Margaret Coats The Society April 17, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 37 Comments . Snowy Egret Here where sunlight sparkle rinses Cypresses whose balding branches Shoulder epiphytic orchids (Cowhorn, spider, ghost, or...
Nazi Death Songs: Poems on Rudolf Hess and Rudolf Höss by Margaret Coats The Society April 3, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 34 Comments . Rudolf Hess Deputy Führer found strangled at Spandau Prison, August 17, 1987 Odd winter whirlwinds occupy my brain With telepathic messages I...
‘Queen Esther’s Lot’: A Poem for Purim, by Margaret Coats The Society March 22, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 20 Comments . Queen Esther's Lot for the Jewish holiday of Purim (“Lots”) Oh, to be taken from home’s holy ways, Delivered to a king uncircumcized, And...
‘Serenade’ and ‘Serenity’: Poems by Margaret Coats The Society March 15, 2024 Beauty, Epigrams and Proverbs, Poetry 28 Comments . Serenade Down dash the splashlets of rain to the ground; Streams from the eaves full and fluent resound. Guests gaily chatter, and clatter their...
On Black History Hero ‘Captain Francisco Menendez’: A Poem by Margaret Coats The Society February 22, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 17 Comments . Captain Francisco Menendez Born a Mandinga, on Africa’s west coast, Where farm and hunting toil supported most, But tribal spats and small jihads...
‘Ash Wednesday Valentines’: Poems by Charles d’Orléans, Translated by Margaret Coats The Society February 13, 2024 Culture, Love Poems, Poetry, Translation 27 Comments . Ash Wednesday Valentines by Charles d’Orléans (1394-1465), translated by Margaret Coats . I. Who’s there? Who comes so early, who? “It’s I...
A Poem on Paisley, and Other Poetry by Margaret Coats The Society January 26, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 39 Comments . Windjam Dry leaves abruptly fell that day— Whirled weathervane communiqué Proposing a quick stroll away Along a narrow inlaid path To venture...
‘Puffins’: A Poem by Margaret Coats The Society January 8, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 45 Comments . Puffins The puffin’s beak is bright: Quince yellow stripes contrast With chests of fluffy white And wings of satin black, But suit dense orange...
‘Anniversary Pastoral for Benedict XVI’ by Margaret Coats The Society December 30, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 21 Comments . Anniversary Pastoral for Benedict XVI Trustworthy Shepherd of all shepherds, hear Today’s renewed appeal in concord made For Benedict, departed...
‘Moon Before Yule’: A Poem by Margaret Coats The Society December 12, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 37 Comments . Moon Before Yule The ashen lantern leavening the skyBegins in languor to proclaim sublimeFestivity to winter’s weather eye. The dome of heaven...
‘Voyage to Scotland’: Poems by Margaret Coats The Society December 1, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 22 Comments . Voyage to Scotland Constantius II, son of Constantine and emperor from 337 to 361, hoped to glorify Constantinople by collecting relics of all...
‘Love Songs for Malcolm’: Poetry by Margaret Coats The Society November 17, 2023 Culture, Love Poems, Poetry 35 Comments . . Love Songs for Malcolm . I. Quickly you approach, King Malcolm, Firm and steady is your tread, Predetermined on defeating Faint reluctance in the...
A Poem for Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, by Margaret Coats The Society November 12, 2023 Culture, Poetry 96 Comments . Superior Pontiff for Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, deposed November 11, 2023 Our Father in heaven gives the Bread On which the need of...
‘All Saints Day’ and Other Spiritual Sonnets by Coignard, Translated by Margaret Coats The Society November 1, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Translation 19 Comments . All Saints' Day by Gabrielle de Coignard (c.1550–1586), translated by Margaret Coats O Saints, you have your heritage in hand Because you battled...
‘Salome’s Soliloquy’: A Poem by Margaret Coats The Society October 19, 2023 Culture, Poetry 38 Comments . Salome's Soliloquy John the Baptist rebuked Herod Antipas, ruler of Galilee, for an incestuous and adulterous union with his brother’s wife,...
‘With a Smile of the Heart’ (Circa 1200), Translated by Margaret Coats The Society October 5, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Translation 18 Comments . Introduction This long lyric of short lines has pairs of stanzas linked in rhyme. It is a sequence honoring Gilbert of Sempringham (1083–1189,...
‘The Battle of Athelstaneford’: A Poem by Margaret Coats The Society September 21, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 36 Comments . The Battle of Athelstaneford King Angus clapperclawed NorthumbriansIn combat close enough to hammer faces;His Pictish troops enacted brutal plansTo...
‘Pilgrimage’: A Poem by Margaret Coats The Society September 7, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 28 Comments . Pilgrimage The strong will long to go on pilgrimage, Assembling to reclaim their heritage Of sanctity and stable permanence Embezzled by debased...
Wandering Songs by Joseph von Eichendorff, Translated by Margaret Coats The Society August 24, 2023 Beauty, Poetry, Translation 38 Comments . The Merry Wanderer When God wills man to know His favor, He sends him where the wide world gleams And makes him wonder at the splendor Of...
A Poem in Memory of Father Peter Carota, by Margaret Coats The Society August 10, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 67 Comments . Facing a Famine of Fatherhood in memory of Father Peter Carota They say a country road or city street, The pavement, stones, and dirt pressed by...
‘Seaside Retreat’: A Poem by Margaret Coats The Society July 27, 2023 Beauty, Poetry 32 Comments . Seaside Retreat Footsteps move slow through shifting sand; A weather-beaten picket fence Encloses beach verbena fanned By sea oats where the...
A Poem on Japanese Suiseki Stones, by Margaret Coats The Society July 13, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Shape Poems 40 Comments . Suiseki Rainfall has stopped; it’s the best time for hunting a stone. Drizzle still dampens debris; Trees put forth roots unobtrusively; mosses...
A Poem on Saint Margaret’s Gospels: ‘Miracle of the Book’ by Margaret Coats The Society June 29, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 31 Comments . Miracle of the Book Distance was short, but porters would be needed, And sacks were packed with small necessities. I wrapped the Gospel book and...
‘The Moselle’: A Poem on the European River, by Margaret Coats The Society June 14, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 28 Comments . The Moselle Tranquil meandering alluvion, From Vosges pink sandstone hills it percolates In rillets past rich vines in echelon To cradle villages...
‘Remorseless’: A Poem by Margaret Coats The Society May 25, 2023 Blank Verse, Culture, Poetry 51 Comments . Remorseless Back on 19, returning from the lake, Where she had stowed sling chairs for next week’s meet, Her car broke down. She checked out what...
‘On the Divine Mercy’: A Poem by Eustache Deschamps, Translated by Margaret Coats The Society May 11, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Translation 29 Comments . On the Divine Mercy Seven times the just man falls, and rises again. ---Proverbs 24:16 by Eustache Deschamps (1346-1406) translated by Margaret...
‘Delightfully Mine’: A Poem by Margaret Coats The Society April 27, 2023 Beauty, Poetry 32 Comments . Delightfully Mine Of handsome landscapes I admire, How few were planned to please my sight. High skies of which I never tire Are gifts of light,...
