And miles to go before I sleep...

When times are hard, when you're overwhelmed with work, and despair takes over you...one just feels that maybe "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, / I took the one less traveled by, /..." (http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-road-not-taken/)
I hope better times will come but, the truth is that right now, I see everything pretty bleak (is it also a reflection of the weather???). For this week, let me just leave you a poem...
Also by Robert Frost, here is another text I love and whose last lines make so much sense for me at the moment:

Credit: www.biography.com

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though:
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse may think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/stopping-by-woods-on-a-snowy-evening-2/

Poems signed by students

Stop.
Wait!
Poems by students? By adult learners of English?
Well, that's right.
Since the year 2000 that 21st March has been World Poetry Day. Having in mind that UNESCO's aim with this date is to promote Reading, Writing and the teaching/learning of Poetry and using an interactive resource  from Read Write Think, I challenged my adult learners to write Acrostic Poems, in other words, poems that use the letters in a topic word to begin each line. Some sts chose to use their own names, others chose topics as family or love, others still, festivities. Not all managed to complete their first poetic attempt; other poems were saved and sent without a final correction. Nevertheless, the result was so encouraging and rewarding that we would like to share these beautiful poems with you all.
Their poems follow below - and because we are approaching Easter, this "story" starts with an Easter bunny made with the students' names :=) So, what do you think? Approved, right?

9 days to Christmas

How about some poetry? Poems for and about Christmas, obviously.
Favorite Christmas Poems, ed. by James Daley. This collection ranges from serious seasonal reflections by Martin Luther and John Milton to flights of fancy from Lewis Carroll. Other contributors include Rossetti, Kipling, Poe, Longfellow, Dickinson, Hardy, Donne, and Sir Walter Scott. It also contains 25 black-and-white etchings, engravings, and drawings.

                 *~* Happy Reading... and Happy Christmas *~*