POETRY POST: "I wish I could remember that first day" By Christina Rossetti

I know a lot of people are scared of poetry because some person told them they were reading it wrong or writing it wrong. Or, maybe it's because each word can pack so much meaning and emotion that it can seem like work rather than play. 

I fell in love with poetry a long time ago and I'm going to try to do better sharing that love with you. 

Don't let this poem throw you--it's really not complicated. Look at the title--that'll tell you a lot. Perhaps think of it in terms of your favorite book couple--imagine them feeling this way. 

So many people come and go in our lives and sometimes, with the special ones, you try to remember those first moments..at least I do. I think Christina Rossetti has an interesting perspective on that.

"I wish I could remember that first day"

By Christina Rossetti

Era gia l’ora che volge il desio. – Dante
Ricorro al tempo ch’io vi vidi prima. – Petrarca 

I wish I could remember that first day,

    First hour, first moment of your meeting me,

    If bright or dim the season, it might be

Summer or Winter for aught I can say;

So unrecorded did it slip away,

    So blind was I to see and to foresee,

    So dull to mark the budding of my tree

That would not blossom yet for many a May.

If only I could recollect it, such

    A day of days! I let it come and go

    As traceless as a thaw of bygone snow;

It seemed to mean so little, meant so much;

If only now I could recall that touch,

    First touch of hand in hand – Did one but know!

**find this poem and more here: The Poetry Foundation