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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 6/30/2009
Posts: 1,457
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ME
As long as I live
I shall always be
My Self - and no other,
Just me.
Like a tree.
Like a willow or elder,
An aspen a thorn,
Or a cypress forlorn.
Like a flower,
For its hour
A primrose, a pink,
Or a violet -
Sunned by the sun, And with dewdrops wet.
Always just me.
- Walter de la Mare -
Is the above the "correct" version of this poem?
I have been searching quite a while and come up with slight variations...
Also, does anyone know if there is a later, revised & extended version?I had a copy once and cannot find it... but the poem continued with something like..."and when the day comes on that I no longer (inhabit this body?)....
Any information?
Thanks!
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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 8/11/2011
Posts: 2,079
Points: 6,244
Location: United States, FL
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Apparently at one time you owned a copy of The Random House book of poetry for children By Jack Prelutsky, Arnold Lobel. http://books.google.com/books?id=zLF_sKMUYS8C&pg=PA118&lpg=PA118Quote:ME
As long as I live
I shall always be
My Self - and no other,
Just me.
Like a tree -
Willow, elder,
Aspen, thorn,
Or cypress forlorn.
Like a flower,
For its hour -
Primrose, or pink,
Or a violet -
Sunned by the sun,
And with dewdrops wet.
Always just me.
Till the day comes on
When I leave this body,
It's all then done,
And the spirit within it
Is gone.
- Walter de la Mare - The previous page might be of interest to you as well. ;-) http://books.google.com/books?id=zLF_sKMUYS8C&pg=PA117Quote:ME I AM!
I am the only Me I Am
Who qualifies as me,
no Me I AM has been before,
and none will ever be
No other Me I Am can feel
the feelings I' ve within,
no other Me I Am can fit
precisely in my skin
There is no other Me I Am
who thinks the thoughts I do,
the world contains one Me I Am
there is no room for two.
I am the only Me I Am
this earth shall ever see,
that Me I Am I always am
is no one else but ME!
- Jack Prelutsky -
"Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits." - Satchel Paige
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Rank: Advanced Member
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Thanks so much, leonAzul...
That is the version I remember-- my father picked up that book(?)* years ago to add to his library and read that poem many, many times to my niece.
The book is lost-- but my father's quiet reading voice is not.
*not sure if that is the book... it doesn't matter, the poem is found.
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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 8/11/2011
Posts: 2,079
Points: 6,244
Location: United States, FL
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RubyMoon wrote:
Is the above the "correct" version of this poem?
I have been searching quite a while and come up with slight variations...
Also, does anyone know if there is a later, revised & extended version?I had a copy once and cannot find it... but the poem continued with something like..."and when the day comes on that I no longer (inhabit this body?)....
Any information?
Thanks!
You're welcome. I, too, came across a number of versions, most of them quotations without citation of a particular edition, all of them with differing punctuation. This one has both a citation and includes the ending you remembered. All that plus the fact that the version in GoogleBooks is the facsimile of an actual edition leads me to believe that the others are redacted from memory and do not represent differing developments by the poet.
"Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits." - Satchel Paige
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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 6/15/2011
Posts: 774
Points: 2,093
Location: Earth
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Dr. Seuss followed up with something similar in 1959 in Happy Birthday to You, 'Today you are you! That is truer than true! There is no one alive who is you-er than you!'
Forgiving is Love, Love is For Giving.
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Rank: Advanced Member
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Posts: 1,457
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leonAzul-- I thought that must be the case: from memory as you state... I memorized parts me own self, but couldn't piece enough together to fish it out of the websites...very grateful, thanks again.
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nowherenothere wrote:
Dr. Seuss followed up with something similar in 1959 in Happy Birthday to You, 'Today you are you! That is truer than true! There is no one alive who is you-er than you!'
...and it's a good thing, nowherenothere...lol! one of me is enough... am heavy company for myself sometimes (Dickens). Even had a little dog once that I named Mellon Collie. Thank you for the "Happy Birthday"... I'll make believe it really is *today*!
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Location: Spain
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...
May the rusting harvest hedgerow
Still the Traveller's Joy entwine,
And as happy children gather
Posies once mine.
...
(Fare Well - Walter de la Mare)
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Rank: Advanced Member
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Gracias, esto es bello.
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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 6/30/2009
Posts: 1,457
Points: 4,228
Location: United States
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nowherenothere wrote:
Dr. Seuss followed up with something similar in 1959 in Happy Birthday to You, 'Today you are you! That is truer than true! There is no one alive who is you-er than you!'
I just figured this out, nowherenothere.... now here not here or no where no there. Please don't tell me I'm all wet.
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