It Couldnt be done by Edgar A. Guest

It Couldn't be Done

Somebody said that it couldn’t be done,
But, he with a chuckle replied
That "maybe it couldn’t," but he would be one
Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.
So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it.

Somebody scoffed: "Oh, you’ll never do that;
At least no one has done it";
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat,
And the first thing we knew he’d begun it.
With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it.

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
There are thousands to prophesy failure;
There are thousands to point out to you one by one,
The dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle it in with a bit of a grin,
Just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start to sing as you tackle the thing
That "couldn’t be done," and you’ll do it.

By Edgar A. Guest

I do love this poem .....

Then Laugh by Bertha Adams Backus - Page 110

Then Laugh
By Bertha Adams Backus

Build for yourself a strong box,
fashion each part with care;
When it’s strong as your hand can make it,
put all your troubles there;

Hide there all thought of your failures;
and each bitter cup that you quaff;
Lock all your heartaches within it,
Then sit on the lid and laugh.

Tell no one else its contents,
Never its secrets share;
When you’ve dropped in your care and worry
keep them forever there;

Hide them from sight so completely
That the world will never dream half;
Fasten the strongbox securely—
Then sit on the lid and laugh.

From my Armchair - Page 391 - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

From my Armchair

To the children of Cambridge Who presented to me on my Seventy-second Birth-day, February 27, 1879, this Chair, made from the Wood of the Village Blacksmith's Chestnut Tree.

Am I a king, that I should call my own
This splendid ebon throne?
Or by what reason, or what right divine,
Can I proclaim it mine?

Only, perhaps, by right divine of song
It may to me belong;
Only because the spreading chestnut tree
Of old was sung by me.

Well I remember it in all its prime,
When in the summer-time
The affluent foliage of its branches made
A cavern of cool shade.

There, by the blacksmith's forge, beside the street,
Its blossoms white and sweet
Enticed the bees, until it seemed alive,
And murmured like a hive.

And when the winds of autumn, with a shout,
Tossed its great arms about,
The shining chestnuts, bursting from the sheath,
Dropped to the ground beneath.

And now some fragments of its branches bare,
Shaped as a stately chair,
Have by my hearthstone found a home at last,
And whisper of the past.

The Danish king could not in all his pride
Repel the ocean tide,
But, seated in this chair, I can in rhyme
Roll back the tide of Time.

I see again, as one in vision sees,
The blossoms and the bees,
And hear the children's voices shout and call,
And the brown chestnuts fall.

I see the smithy with its fires aglow,
I hear the bellows blow,
And the shrill hammers on the anvil beat
The iron white with heat!

And thus, dear children, have ye made for me
This day a jubilee,
And to my more than three-score years and ten
Brought back my youth again.

The heart hath its own memory, like the mind,
And in it are enshrined
The precious keepsakes, into which is wrought
The giver's loving thought.

Only your love and your remembrance could
Give life to this dead wood,
And make these branches, leafless now so long,
Blossom again in song.

By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

In a Rose Garden- Page 27 - John Bennett

In a Rose garden.........

A hundred years from now, dear heart,
We shall not care at all,
It will not matter then a whit,
The honey or the gall.
The summer days that we have known
Will all forgotten be and flown;
The garden will be overgrown
Where now the roses fall.

A hundred years from now, dear heart,
We shall not mind the pain;
The throbbing crimson tide of life
Will not have left a stain.
The song we sing together, dear,
The dream we dream together here,
Will mean no more than means a tear
Amid a summer rain.

A hundred years from now, dear heart,
The grief will all be o'er;
The sea of care will surge in vain
Upon a careless shore.
These glasses we turn down today
Here at the parting of the way-
We shall be wineless then as they,
And shall not mind it more.

A hundred years from now, dear heart,
We'll neither know nor care
What came of all life's bitterness,
Or followed love's despair.
Then fill the glasses up again,
And kiss me through the rose-leaf rain;
We'll build one castle more in Spain,
And dream one more dream there.

- John Bennet

Amazing what a week in bed can do??

I have had a stinking cold all week , unable to lift my head from the pillow. Yet strangely unable to sleep. In a virus addled state I searched through my bookcase looking for some inspiration. I came across a book of poetry with the pages loose, nice paper , flocked at the edge and mottled in places with brown age spots. I have many poetry books , you can never have enough so I took this and another 18th century poetry book down to my bed to read.

Nice wide pages , it always annoys me when beautiful poetry has no accompanying illustrations , and as this book was really in no fit state to keep I decided to draw on some of the loose pages. Not randomly but inspired specifically by the words. And then I decided I would make this my project of the year..... every day I would pick a poem and illustrate it, without losing the words. The book is the "Best Loved Poems of the American People" I picked it up in a second hand book shop many years ago. Many lovely poems and so much inspiration.

Each week I will pick out some poems , illustrate them and post them on here, with full words and details. each illustration will be found in my Etsy shop - ClockTowerArtwork.etsy.com.

I have been working away at some ...... will upload through out the week.

Back again not so long this time....well Mr Baggage man talks to the birds is finished .......He is taking a rest out of his long Journey!

I forgot to mention I have had a tree flurry , painting lots of different trees, big ones small ones, abstract in all ways  and playing with colours...... I think it was the lovely autumn we had last year, I took some pictures which you can see on my website, quite , quite lovely. Candy trees is the first painting here , on canvas textured paper , however I have just started a larger version on canvas.   

The Jellybob site is almost ready , is the world ready for Jellybobs? We'll see............

Longer than I thought

Well time does go by , without even realising it ....Christmas came and went quietly and peacefully...January has led to a burst of creative energy ... The website has been running well , more additions are being planned but it is clear and simple enough to get about.
I have been developing the Jellybob website a bit of whimsy, a break from the sometimes harsh world of reality... I noticed I forgot to upload the picture of the Jellybob painting Haven. will do so now............... And there is Haven , protection from a cruel world.


As for my new paintings they are an explosive mix of colour which came about me one week after christmas, there is lots of metallic highlights threw them .
Here is "mountaineering " on 16 x 20 inch canvas textured paper. The paper is excellent quality and quite heavy, good for working out ideas for bigger canvas. I have been working on a range of fairy tale based abstract paintings the first is Sleeping Beauty but the canvas version will have quite a few changes .
This is titled Rescue of Beauty and is on sale at my website. The canvas version is work in progress.. another theme that is returning is my Mr Baggage man's journey , the original painting was sold last year but it was originally planned to be a series .... the first is shown below

I am nearly finished one of three , "Mr baggage man talks to the birds" will be uplaoded shortly and two smaller ones" Mr baggage man meets Rover"" and "Waiting on tea with the devil" all are on paper (16 x 20inch and two 16 x 12 inch) , mr Baggage man at moonlight will be a blue version of above on 36 x 24 inch canvas.......about to be started.... Some new Jellybobs are on their way to.

I won't leave it so long to update ......
Jeanne