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On Rumble here: https://rumble.com/vnvehl-a-poem-for-aging-beauties-endless-bloom-society-of-classical-poets.html?mref=iosaf&mc=6b8az
Poet: Angel L. Villanueva of Massachusetts
Audio/Visual Work: Society of Classical Poets
Voice-Over: Evan Mantyk
Photo: Pedro Ribeiro Simões, “A very beautiful old lady II” (used under creative Commons License 2.0)
Music: (1) Victoria, from Chopin’s Ballad No. 4; and (2) Victoria, from Mozart’s Piano Sonata in A-major (KV331) — used with permission
© 2021 Society of Classical Poets
complete poem text:
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Endless Bloom
by Angel L. Villanueva
She worries that her softest bloom is gone,
The beauty that was hers in younger years.
She reminisces days of early dawn,
When flawless skin awoke to gleeful cheers.
She frets her steps have lost their sultry dance,
Her slender figure time has cast away.
She dreads her crown to white will soon advance,
So feels it is in vain to hide her gray.
But I don’t see the years her mirror shows,
Instead I view a bloom’s maturing glow.
Her smile, her lively eyes and button nose,
Are still like early days of long ago.
The mirror only sees her graying years,
But I the graceful bloom beneath the tears.
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Truly beautiful… the poem, of course, the reading, the music, the entire experience.
Beautifully conceived and presented.
Gentlemen, this is absolutely stunning. I love the tender and skilled treatment of the subject. This is a poem of deep compassion which is greatly enhanced by the multimedia experience of Evan’s reading, the music and the visual. Would it be possible for this fine poem to be presented by itself as well so that one can go back and re-read it?
Thank you for this wonderful offering.
Wonderful!
I thought immediately of these lines from John Donne:
“No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace
As I have seen in one autumnal face.”
(from Elegy IX: The Autumnal)
Thank you for reminding me of those lines!
As an older woman this poem seemed especially beautiful to me.
A beautiful poem exquisitely read.
A lovely poem, a lovely reading and a lovely production, so – all-in-all – lovely!!! Well done all.
I add my opinion that this is a lovely poem, and that the reading complements the whole.
The poem is beautiful and the privilege of hearing it read aloud so perfectly enhances the beauty. The entire experience is an absolute treat. Thank you!
Top drawer poem; top drawer reading.
Thank you all for your comments! And thank you, Brian and Mike, for your suggestions. I have taken them. The video production was done by an SCP Member who prefers to remain anonymous. He was the driving force behind this. My thanks to him. Hopefully there will be more!
-Evan
Nice performance art. I like how it’s short and sweet and so peaceful with the music behind it.
The sonnet itself shows some remarkably lovely features. There is the very sharp turn exactly where it is expected in line 9, and then the rhyme sounds of the third quatrain (long “o” and long “o” with “z”) clearly differentiate it from the others. The sound effects subside in the couplet, but combine yet more effectively with the meaning in the alliteration of “graying” and “graceful.” The final rhyme sound “eerz” is a reprise from the first quatrain, but with all that has been said, “tears” are no longer sorrowful. Evan presents these sounds well, and adds little touches of his own, such as a very slightly off-iambic rhythm of the “steps” in line 5. The music offers a fine complement, but the poem and the reading stand out as they should.
For some reason, Angel, which I can’t explain, every time I read one of your poems I feel that God is in His heaven and all is right with the world. The reading of it was excellent as well.
If poetry is going to capture the attention of the next generation, presenting it in ways like this is a step in the right direction. Well done all who were involved.