My interpretation

Seize the day

Remember to wake early and take your time rising.

Enter the world refreshed by the hope

emitted by each atom of light,

by the bird who must sing at the sight

of the sun. Does he pity us humans,

who can choose not to break into song

at dawn?

Look for small revelations all day.

Let water heal your body. Think of bathing

as a ritual of new beginnings.

Step outside and breathe deeply.

Take in the smells

of life good and foul. Remember

this day is a gift.

Be surprised by nature

that shares your world of giant steps.

The bug that irks you, the yellow butterfly

that catches your eye,

and the furred thing with sharp teeth

that repels you- are all in our moment

of history.

Concentrate on living hour by hour as if

you were feeding coins into a meter

measuring your life.

Here is this hour,

and you have already paid for it.

Love your work, and enjoy your play. Remember

there is little lasting joy in things done

only for gold or fame. Without love

your spirit will be a flower

picked without purpose

and thrown on the ground

to be trampled by anyone.

Have a place and a time

to sit with your thoughts.

Pray before sleep, or read a great poem.

Sacred words will clear your crowded mind.

Remind yourself to speak in Spanish

before you go into the dark.

Greet your ancestors

in our native tongue, let them guide you

to the place of your origin, an island in the sun,

our home now only in our dreams. Say noche,

say amor, say suenos.

Welcome the night. Good sleep

is your body’s mending time. In its sweet release,

the fires of worry and anger will be subdued;

and in dreams you may learn to fly above any blaze

and let your secret self-float free

above a new world

you must imagine and learn to embrace

each and every day.

The poem was been introduced during the class. Seize the day is the translation of the Latin words of Carpe Diem. There are 9 stanzas in this poem, which means it is not regular because there is an uneven number of the stanzas. Usually, most poets would have an even number of stanzas in the poems such as

4, 6, 8 stanzas to make the poem balance. Also, in each stanza, there are uneven lines. In the first stanza, there are only 7 lines. In the second one, there is 1 line. In the third, there is 2.
In the forth, there is 4. In the firth, there is 7. In the sixth, there is 5. In the seventh, there is 7.
In the eighth, there is 11. In the ninth, there is 8. We can know that the poet wants to create a messy poem that there is no pattern in each stanza. In my understanding, the poet may want us to feel free to create a poem like ignoring the lines, or the stanzas in the poem. No matter how many lines in oone stanza.

The entire poem wants to emphasize the life is so precious, so enjoy your life. Seize every day you ’ve been through. We can see this in the first two sentences. Remember to wake up early and take your
time rising. This reminds people to wake up early in the morning and the action of ‘rising’ gives people
time to prepare and go to work and such. It uses -ing form, so the moment is sweet and long.
The author thinks that the morning of the world is new and filled with hopes, thinking the light from the sun is hopefulness.
Because of the birds are seeing the sun comes out, they start to sing with beautiful voices.
Then, the author tries to describe the small details of the day by giving us how should we enjoy the day.
Also, in the first stanza, the end rhymes are light and sight. It then emphasizes the importance of these sentences.
Moreover, at the last sentence, the author gives the bird human character by saying the bird ‘he and pity’.
Normally, Birds wouldn’t have any emotion, not pity, but they might be happy, yet by using he and pity further emphasize the personification.

In addition, the third stanza talks about bathing in the bathroom can heal the body. The word bathing and beginning are the two rhymes in this stanza, the author must deliberate to do this in order to have a good rhythm in this stanza. Because the phrase ‘think of bathing’ can actually go to the next line, but the author puts in with the first line just to make it readability for the readers. Also, the -ing in the bathing also states the duration of time in the bathroom, meaning take your time to enjoy it.
Moreover, in the fourth stanza, the author commands us to step outside to enjoy the clean air around. Not only the clean and good air, but also to accept the bad air or habit. This sentence may have a deeper meaning. Stepping outside is a great opportunity for people to do, but there are also some disadvantages of stepping out. As human beings, we must accept everything around us. Even when we met the worst situation. Good and foul in this stanza are rhymes with the vowel rhymes. The author wants to highlight either the two words by having the similar vowel sounds so that the reader will pay more attention to the words. The last sentence” Remember this day is a gift” echoes the first line “Remember to wake early and take your time rising”. Remember lets the reader actually memories the day and repeat the first line, giving the reader impression of remembering.
The fifth stanza, the author describes the outside views in nature. Human beings must curious about the outside world. In the third and fourth line, the author, moreover, brings up the end rhymes there. The butterfly and eye are the words that rhyme in the sentence, representing the miraculous of the butterfly by saying catches your eyes. The author gives some verbs to describe how pretty is the world look like. The author uses two words, irks and catches, that give the reader images of being bite by the bugs, yet catches by the butterfly.
Furthermore, the sixth stanza emphasizes the importance of each hour, telling us we should concentrate on living by hour and hour. An hour is so precious that we should use as meter measuring. On the other hand, there is alliteration in this line: meter measuring are the two words that have the same initial word, yet there is only two.
Then, the author tells us to love our work, love is using our spirit to do the things. Spirit, in this case, is a flower; the author uses simile to explain and describe the spirit. And without love, your spirit will be a flower, picked up without purpose and thrown on the ground to be trampled by anyone. When I read this sentence, I feel like the author wants us to try our best to do everything, even using our love to do our work, the study, the job. We must dedicate our effort to things. If we don’t, our work will be thrown on the ground. Nobody will carry it up, yet the work will be trashed and tossed. It represents the cruelness and aggressiveness of the people around. As a result, the only thing you can do is to try it with your love and spirits. Additionally, the author adds another remember in here. Remember there is only little lasting joy in things done only for gold and fame. The author might want to remind the readers that love and dedication can make it well for its works.

I want to point out another thing that seems interesting. Maybe the author is religious because she says like pray before you sleep, wanting us to remember our ancestors, so personally, she is religious for a certain religion, thinking pray could help and guide to your own road. What's more, forgetting the fears and anger at night, telling us to relax and release our anxiety while we were sleeping. The theme of this poem is obvious. As I mentioned, the poem wants us to enjoy our life from the first step of waking up in an enjoyable heart. Then, take a bath in the bathroom for healing our body, and step outside, feeling the picturesque views and clean air outside. Afterward, we then need to work hard as we are using our passion and spirit to work. Ultimately, read something before bed, and have a clear mind so we can feel ourselves floating above. The last sentence further emphasizes the importance of enjoying days. We must then embrace everything and every day, so that we can feel free up above.