Happy New Year!

Things I'll Never Know....

Bodies of Water

I saw the long line of the vacant shore,
The sea-weed and the shells upon the sand,
And the brown rocks left bare on every hand,
As if the ebbing tide would flow no more.
Then heard I, more distinctly than before,
The ocean breathe and its great breast expand,
And hurrying came on the defenceless land
The insurgent waters with tumultuous roar.
All thought and feeling and desire, I said,
Love, laughter, and the exultant joy of song
Have ebbed from me forever! Suddenly o’er me
They swept again from their deep ocean bed,
And in a tumult of delight, and strong
As youth, and beautiful as youth, upbore me.

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Merry Christmas Nicrap & Jen!

So stick up ivy and the bays,
And then restore the heathen ways.

Green will remind you of the spring,
Though this great day denies the thing.

And mortifies the earth and all
But your wild revels, and loose hall.

Could you wear flowers, and roses strow
Blushing upon your breasts’ warm snow,
That very dress your lightness will
Rebuke, and wither at the ill.

The brightness of this day we owe
Not unto music, masque, nor show:
Nor gallant furniture, nor plate;
But to the manger’s mean estate.

His life while here, as well as birth,
Was but a check to pomp and mirth;
And all man’s greatness you may see
Condemned by His humility.

Then leave your open house and noise,
To welcome Him with holy joys,
And the poor shepherd’s watchfulness:
Whom light and hymns from heaven did bless.

What you abound with, cast abroad
To those that want, and ease your load.
Who empties thus, will bring more in;
But riot is both loss and sin.

Dress finely what comes not in sight,
And then you keep your Christmas right.

- Henry Vaughan, "The True Christmas" (1678)

Society's Rules for Rejection...

When I meet a pretty girl and beg her: "Be so good as to come with me," and she walks past without a word, this is what she means to say:

"You are no Duke with a famous name, no broad American with a Red Indian figure, level, brooding eyes and a skin tempered by the air of the prairies and the rivers that flow through them, you have never journeyed to the seven seas and voyaged on them wherever they may be, I don't know where. So why, pray, should a pretty girl like myself go with you?

"You forget that no automobile swings you through the street in long thrusts; I see no gentlemen escorting you in a close half-circle, pressing on your skirts from behinds and murmuring blessings on your head; your breasts are well laced into your bodice, but your thighs and hips make up for that restraint; you are wearing a taffeta dress with a pleated skirt such as delighted all of us last autumn, and yet you smile - inviting mortal danger - from time to time."

"Yes, we're both in the right, and to keep us from being irrevocably aware of it, hadn't we better just go our separate ways home?"

- Franz Kafka, "Rejection"

Dig Dug Victory

3 Strangers in Paradise...

Love and paradise
met in the red room
when starlight sang
the waltz of time

the night was set
a million years ago
when warmth and affection
were brightly born

"softly" said love
to the rim of pleasure
as they danced
serenaded by a trillion stars

"when we are old
let men say
love and paradise
came one night
and left us joy"

- George Carle, "Love and Paradise" (2014)

Still Reckless... ;)

It's quite an irony
How fragile a muscle the heart is,
But when finds love, is reckless.

- Bea Miralles, "Untitled"

Why Aren't there More Stimulating Anonymous Internet Conversations?

Food for Heartbeats

1.

Tax'd Light is poison'd air;
And lords and squires tax Light;
The smile of God, the breath of life,
They curse, with all their might!
They curse the blessed sod;
They, kneel to curse and pray;
They famish, in the name of God,
His children day by day:
Light, Air, and Food, they tax;
Could hell's worst fiends do worse?
Man's all on earth, Light, Air, Food, Life,
With all their might, they curse!
Then, who would play the lord
O'er wapentake and shire?
To make such law, the Dev'l himself
Would scorn to be a Squire.

2.

But sin comes home to roost;
And right too long delay'd
May match, for them, their wretches' home,
The hell on earth they've made:
To beg the bread they curse;
To find in want a hell;
To perish like their victims, starv'd;
May yet requite them well.
" Lord, do thou unto us
As we to others do! "
Such pray'r, from spotted lips, like theirs,
Might turn their angels blue!
Then, who would play the lord
O'er wapentake and shire?
To curse, by law, Light, Air, and Life,
What beast would be a Squire?

Ebenezer Elliott, "Air, Light, Food, Life"

Languages for Transcending Lyrics...

The Seamen's Club Writ Large