Why were you born when the snow was falling?
You should have come to the cuckoo’s calling,
Or when grapes are green in the cluster,
Or, at least, when lithe swallows muster
For their far off flying
From summer dying.
Why did you die when the lambs were cropping?
You should have died at the apples’ dropping,
When the grasshopper comes to trouble,
And the wheat-fields are sodden stubble,
And all winds go sighing
For sweet things dying.
by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI (1830-1894)
Public Domain Poetry
unbolt me 
Soon after reading this poem, I found out that local slam poet, and part of the winning U.S. poetry slam team, Danny Solis, had died in April. Former Poet Laureate of Albuquerque, Jessica Helen Lopez, organized a celebration of his life on May 6. Poets traveled here to Albuquerque or Zoomed in. I was able to read this poem of Rossetti’s on the open mic there. So, I thank you for making me aware of it.
If you are not familiar with Danny Solis, let me tell you: He was born and grew up in the Dallas area and moved across the country — Austin, Texas; Boston; North Carolina; Albuquerque, N.M. — unfortunately for us in Albuquerque, he moved to Rochester in 2013. He was one of the most acclaimed slam poets in U.S. and international competitions in the 1990s and 2000s. He won state and regional championships, as well as two national and international slam poetry championships. In 2005, he was the director of the National Poetry Slam, the largest poetry competition in the world. And Solis was one of three poets chosen for a U.S. State Department project to teach and organize slam poetry in Nepal and Botswana.
He helped found the Day-of-the-Dead-Poets Slam in 2014. Lopez called him: “…El Xingon Xicano Poeta and Beloved Friend, Father, Family Member, Community Member, Organizer, and everyone’s Favorite Rabble Rouser.”
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Thank you for educating me as I was completely unaware of Danny Solis! Are there any links you could point me to in order to sample some of his works?
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Sad, but lovely.
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I quite agree with you, Dolly. I love poetry like this. It really speaks to the heart.
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That it does.
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I’ve always liked the Pre-Raphaelites, the Rosettis & co. I’ve always liked poems that rhyme, and have meters & feet. I’m easily lead, like to know where to go
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I totally get you on that, Crispina. Sometimes it’s nice for something to just be clear, simple and straightforward. There’s an art to making things like that too.
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It seems it’s an art lost by those trying too hard to be art… 🙂
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Some days I like my chocolate dark, some days a little more milky. The brain is weird that way.
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I hear you on that!
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That is a powerful, well-written poem. My immediate impression was that it harked back to an earlier time when people slaved over a poem to make it rhyme without losing the emotion, the actual experience. And then I saw the dates the poet lived, and my brain made the obvious connection to “Dead Poets Tour”. Duh. Also, I guess it is a dirge, but the imagery seemed to soften the sorrow that was so eloquently expressed. Now I feel inadequate. 🙂
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We’re right there with you! We love delving into the poets of yesteryear. It gives us a high bar of quality to strive for!
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