Tag Archives: love

Love in the Time of Covid-19

By Robin Bates | Published: June 8, 2020

For my 47th wedding anniversary, I reflect upon the concluding chapter of “Love in the Time of Cholera,” which seems only fitting.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , | Comments closed

Come, Holy Spirit

By Robin Bates | Published: June 8, 2019

Pentecost Sunday Nobel Prize-winning Polish poet Czeslaw Milosz uses the occasion of Pentecost to explore the nature of faith in his poem “Veni Creator.” Although the apostles may have been filled with the Holy Spirit, what about those of us who don’t experience tongues of flame? Here’s Luke’s description of moment (Acts 2:1-4): When the […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , | Comments closed

The Wine of Love Is Music

By Robin Bates | Published: May 18, 2019

Spiritual Sunday I attended a joyous Des Moines wedding yesterday, one where the bride, an avid runner, wore running shoes. The groom is a runner as well. Things promise well. Here’s a lovely wedding poem by the 18th century poet James Thomson, author of The Seasons and “Rule, Britannia.” I send it out to all […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , | Comments closed

Open the Love Window and Kiss the Moon

By Robin Bates | Published: February 13, 2019

Thursday – Valentine’s Day Kathy Hamman, a dear family friend, alerted my mother and me to this wonderful Rumi poem for Valentine’s Day. (My mother ran it in her Sewanee Messenger poetry column.) I have used other poems suggested by Kathy in the past, but this is particularly meaningful because Kathy is currently fighting late stage cancer. That her […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , | Comments closed

June Love, Simple and Entire

By Robin Bates | Published: June 1, 2018

For a June poem, here’s Richard Wilbur reminiscing about young love.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , | Comments closed

Love, the Lesson which the Lord Us Taught

By Robin Bates | Published: April 1, 2018

Edmund Spenser joyfully welcomes in Easter, proclaiming “Love is the lesson which the Lord us taught.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , | Comments closed

Chaucer Invented St. Valentine’s Day

By Robin Bates | Published: February 14, 2018

Chaucer may have invented St. Valentine’s Day as we have come to know it. “Parliament of Fowls” was written to celebrate the occasion, along with a royal wedding.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , | Comments closed

Love Came Down at Christmas

By Robin Bates | Published: December 24, 2017

People ask for physical miracles so that they may believe. Christina Rossetti points out that Jesus gave us something far more miraculous: divine love.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , | Comments closed

For the Final, We Shall Be Tested on Love

By Robin Bates | Published: December 15, 2016

Thomas Centolella applies the language of testing to love in this witty and moving poem.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , | Comments closed