this is truth the poet sings (deciphering codes 3)

Winter quarter came to an end, as all things do. This quarter was especially challenging for me. I was taking three science courses (physics, chemistry, biology) and I discovered how time consuming (and draining) it is to constantly balance the work load for these courses. Spring break officially began for me on the 23rd. I'm trying to fill my days with rest, books, family and the things I love: things I didn't find time for during winter quarter.

This month's poem is Alfred Tennyson's Locksley Hall. I know I say this every time I come across a poem that I enjoyed- but this, this, is most certainly my favorite poem of all time. The poem starts as a story, and then wisdom starts to seep into his words. Here are some of my favorite stanzas:


"When the centuries behind me like a fruitful land reposed; 
When I clung to all the present for the promise that it closed" 


"Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers, and I linger on the shore, 
And the individual withers, and the world is more and more."

I have felt this very line in so many instances in my life- every time I learn something new, I find that some part of me grows and yet the world grows more in equal proportion. And though time drives me  to my end, the world remains forever firm in standing. Isn't it a wonder to know this, that no matter how much we learn about this world of ours, we can't ever own it or control it. We are ourselves withering and the world is more and more.

"This is truth the poet sings, 
That a sorrow's crown of sorrow is remembering happier things"

There was a post on instagram that I captioned "Everyday I have lived seems perfect in comparison to the days I live now". I think Tennyson captured what I truly felt, and with so much more grace. Isn't this the truth we all live? Every cause that lends to our happiness in time turns into the very root of our sorrows. We are so far down the timeline of life that it seems nearly impossible to feel or write anything that has not before been expressed by someone else. It's reassuring to know that we humans are unified in thought and emotion no matter the centuries that separate us.   

"Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will 
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield" 

- From Ulysses