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Carpe Diem

Carpe Diem

by | Oct 21, 2025 | Ancient Texts, Emerald Book Club, Poetry, Roman, Wisdom

Meaning

"Carpe diem" is a Latin phrase meaning "seize the day" or "pluck the day". It encourages people to make the most of the present moment without dwelling on the future. The expression originates from the Roman poet Horace, who used it in his Odes as part of a longer injunction about enjoying life now because the future is uncertain

In Horace, the phrase is part of the longer carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero, which is often translated as "Seize the day, put very little trust in tomorrow (the future)". The ode says that the future is unforeseen and that one should not leave to chance future happenings, but rather one should do all one can today to make one's own future better. This phrase is usually understood against Horace's Epicurean background

Origin and History

The phrase comes from the Roman poet Horace's Odes, published in 23 BCE. The original saying is "carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero," which translates to "pluck the day, trusting as little as possible in the next one"

Ask not ('tis forbidden knowledge), what our destined term of years,
Mine and yours; nor scan the tables of your Babylonish seers.
Better far to bear the future, my Leuconoe, like the past,
Whether Jove has many winters yet to give, or this our last;
This, that makes the Tyrrhene billows spend their strength against the shore.
Strain your wine and prove your wisdom; life is short; should hope be more?
In the moment of our talking, envious time has ebb'd away.
Seize the present; trust tomorrow e'en as little as you may. Wikipedia

✨📚 Vocabulary Tuesdays at Emerald Book Club 📚✨

Every Tuesday, we explore the wonderful world of words, language, and expression! 🌍📝

💡 What’s in store:
🔤 Discover new and exciting vocabulary & phrases
🎲 Play creative word games and brain teasers
⚔️ Compete in friendly vocabulary battles
🌎 Explore words from different languages and cultures

Whether you’re a wordsmith, a language lover, or simply curious to expand your mind, Vocabulary Tuesdays is the place to learn, laugh, and connect—with words and people alike. 💬✨

Join us and make your Tuesdays word-tastic! 💚

Rain by Edward Thomas

Rain by Edward Thomas

by | Oct 21, 2025 | Emerald Book Club, Poems, Poetic Flows Podcast, Poetry, Rain Poems

Rain By Edward Thomas

Rain, midnight rain, nothing but the wild rain

On this bleak hut, and solitude, and me

Remembering again that I shall die

And neither hear the rain nor give it thanks

For washing me cleaner than I have been

Since I was born into this solitude.

Blessed are the dead that the rain rains upon:

But here I pray that none whom once I loved

Is dying tonight or lying still awake

Solitary, listening to the rain,

Either in pain or thus in sympathy

Helpless among the living and the dead,

Like a cold water among broken reeds,

Myriads of broken reeds all still and stiff,

Like me who have no love which this wild rain

Has not dissolved except the love of death,

The Darkling Thrush

The Darkling Thrush

by | Oct 13, 2025 | Emerald Book Club, Poetic Flows Podcast, Poetry, Winter Poems

The Darkling Thrush

By Thomas Hardy

I leant upon a coppice gate

      When Frost was spectre-grey,

And Winter's dregs made desolate

      The weakening eye of day.

The tangled bine-stems scored the sky

      Like strings of broken lyres,

And all mankind that haunted nigh

      Had sought their household fires.

The land's sharp features seemed to be

      The Century's corpse outleant,

His crypt the cloudy canopy,

      The wind his death-lament.

The ancient pulse of germ and birth

      Was shrunken hard and dry,

And every spirit upon earth

      Seemed fervourless as I.

At once a voice arose among

      The bleak twigs overhead

In a full-hearted evensong

      Of joy illimited;

An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small,

      In blast-beruffled plume,

Had chosen thus to fling his soul

      Upon the growing gloom.

So little cause for carolings

      Of such ecstatic sound

Was written on terrestrial things

      Afar or nigh around,

That I could think there trembled through

      His happy good-night air

Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew

      And I was unaware.

Emerald Book Club – World Mental Health Day 2025

Emerald Book Club – World Mental Health Day 2025

by | Oct 10, 2025 | Community Events, Emerald Book Club, Events

🌿 Emerald Book Club – World Mental Health Day 2025

Theme: Love Yourself, Accept Yourself
Date: 10 October 2025

At Emerald Book Club, we believe that books are more than stories — they’re safe spaces. They heal, comfort, inspire, and remind us that we are not alone in our journeys.

On this World Mental Health Day, we take a moment to celebrate the power of reading as a tool for emotional wellness and self-discovery.

💚 Books and Mental Health: A Beautiful Connection

Reading allows us to step into different worlds, understand new perspectives, and process our own emotions through the words of others. Whether it’s a poem that reflects how we feel, a novel that gives us escape, or a memoir that reminds us of resilience — reading nurtures the mind and soothes the soul.

Through shared stories, we find healing, empathy, and connection — the very foundations of mental wellness.

🌱 How Emerald Book Club Supports Wellbeing

📚 Safe Conversations: Our book discussions offer a judgment-free zone for members to share their thoughts and emotions.
💬 Poetic Mondays & Reading Circles: These creative spaces help members express themselves and feel heard.
🤝 Community Connection: Through reading, we build friendships and reduce isolation — one story at a time.
🌸 Mindful Reading Choices: We often explore uplifting, empowering, and reflective books that inspire self-acceptance and growth.

🌻 Our Message Today:

Take care of your mind as you would your favorite book — gently, with patience and love.
It’s okay to pause, reflect, and rest.
It’s okay to seek help and share your story.
Every chapter of your life matters — and you are the author of your healing. 💚

📖 Join the Movement

This week, we invite our members and readers everywhere to:

  • Share a book that helped them through a difficult time
  • Read something that brings peace and hope
  • Write a few words or a poem about self-love and mental wellbeing

Together, let’s remind each other that stories heal — and that through reading, we can learn to love ourselves and accept ourselves.

💚 Happy World Mental Health Day from Emerald Book Club 💚

Autumn by John Keats Poem

Autumn by John Keats Poem

by | Oct 6, 2025 | Emerald Book Club, Life Poems, Nature Poems, Poetic Flows Podcast, Poetry

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,

   Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

Conspiring with him how to load and bless

   With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;

To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,

   And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;

      To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells

   With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,

And still more, later flowers for the bees,

Until they think warm days will never cease,

      For summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?

   Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find

Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,

   Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;

Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,

   Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook

      Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:

And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep

   Steady thy laden head across a brook;

   Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,

      Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

Where are the songs of spring? Ay, Where are they?

   Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—

While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,

   And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;

Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn

   Among the river sallows, borne aloft

      Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;

And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;

   Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft

   The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;

      And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.
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