Quotation

Love is the shining starr of blessings light;
the fervent fire of zeale, the roote of peace,
that lasting lampe fed with the oyle of right;
Image of fayth, and wombe for joyes increase.

Lady Mary Wroth, sister of Sir Philip Sidney

(via The Penguin Book of the Sonnet)

Another poem by Cummings

out of the lie of no
rises a truth of yes
(only herself and who
illimitably is)

making fools understand
(like wintry me)that not
all matterings of mind
equal one violet

Suspended under the twilight canopy

Yes, another one by the 5th Dimension. "Up, Up and Away":



I think this was 1967.

And incidentally, you couldn't pay me enough to ride in a balloon.

Cummings again!

one's not half two. It's two are halves of one:
which halves reintegrating,shall occur
no death and any quantity;but than
all numerable mosts the actual more

minds ignorant of stern miraculous
this every truth--beware of heartless them
(given the scalpel,they dissect a kiss;
or,sold the reason,they undream a dream)

one is the song which fiends and angels sing:
all murdering lies by mortals told make two.
Let liars wilt,repaying life they're loaned;
we(by a gift called dying born)must grow

deep in dark least ourselves remembering
love only rides his year.
                                    All lose,whole find

Cummings

the greedy the people
(as if as can yes)
they sell and they buy
and they die for because
though the bell in the steeple
says Why

the chary the wary
(as all as can each)
they don't and they do
and they turn to a which
though the moon in her glory
says Who

the busy the millions
(as you're as can i'm)
they flock and they flee
through a thunder of seem
though the stars in their silence
say Be

the cunning the craven
(as think as can feel)
they when and they how
and they live for until
though the sun in his heaven
says Now

the timid the tender
(as doubt as can trust)
they work and they pray
and they bow to a must
though the earth in her splendor
says May

St Patrick's Breastplate

Posted here six Aprils ago.

I'm more disturbed

by Manny Ramirez getting $22 million a year than I am by the AIG bonuses.

Distractions

During Mass yesterday, I found myself wondering: Is the "o" in the word one a consonant or a vowel? Can it be both?

And during a bus ride today, a better scene for such distractions, I was wondering: Is "economics" pronounced eck-onomics or eek-onomics?

Sonnet : The 5th Dimension

Last night I didn't get to sleep at all,
The sleeping pill was just a waste of time ...
The jukebox' melancholic siren-call
Cost just a quarter. Or was it a dime?

The song played on. She stayed awake until
Morning brought light to slay the restless gloom,
Thirty-odd years ago. I felt a chill
To hear the sweet voice fill the dusty room.

Those were the days of AM radio,
Of Nixon, Agnew, Watergate, and Ford --
Names found in newspapers, which I ignored.
Those years of innocence! Where did they go?

I'm forty-nine. Behold, in cyberspace,
A YouTube of the singer's ageless face.

Music for your Monday

"One Less Bell to Answer" by the 5th Dimension:

Saul

Their cloaks lay piled before him as they stoned
One of those wild blasphemers. He looked on
Approvingly as the business was done:
Limbs blood-stained and a brain mortally stunned.
Stopping those upstarts, that hot-headed band
Who placed faith in a cross-killed Nazarene,
This was his duty as a citizen.
So, to Damascus, where more could be found.

Struck by a fearsome flash, he fell prostrate
And felt the full voice of divinity:
"Why do you persecute Jesus the Christ?"
For three days, Saul was blind; scales kept the light
From entering his eyes. Love's mystery
Involved his heart, restored the sight he'd lost.

1996

Can you surrey? Can you picnic?