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Forgetting
I think sometimes about nepenthe. How it could be to forget everything that has come before, the past no longer ruling and deciding our future. I don't remember where I heard it, but the sentiment is clear: "If you have one foot in yesterday and the other in tomorrow, you'll piss on today". I've never forgotten that adage.
I'm not feeling good ( Read more... ) -
Tag 6
The World Is Too Much With Us
William Wordsworth
The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon,
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like ( Read more... ) -
Tag 5
From Work Without Hope
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
All Nature seems at work. Slugs leave their lair --
The bees are stirring -- birds are on the wing --
And Winter slumbering in the open air,
Wears on his smiling face a dream of Spring!
And I the while, the sole unbusy thing,
Nor honey make, nor pair, nor build, nor sing. -
Tag 3
From Bacchus
Ralph Waldo Emerson
We buy ashes for bread;
We buy diluted wine;
Give me of the true,--
Whose ample leaves and tendrils curled
Among the silver hills of heaven
Draw everlasting dew;
Pour, Bacchus! the remembering wine;
Retrieve the loss of me and mine!
Vine for vine be antidote,
And the grape requite the lote!
Haste to cure the old -
Tag 2
Head Against White
Margaret Atwood
iii
Those times we have rumours of, arctic or alpine
when the wind and snow have stopped
at last and their rescue teams
with their tools and joyous motors
are out chasing the survivors
back from their cold refuge, hermitage
of ice to the land of sharp
colours and enforced life
Surely this is the first sign they find:
this ( Read more... ) -
Tag 1
Song of a Second April
Edna St. Vincent Millay
April this year, not otherwise
Than April of a year ago,
Is full of whispers, full of sighs,
Of dazzling mud and dingy snow;
Hepaticas that pleased you so
Are here again, and butterflies.
There lies a hammering all day,
And shingles lie about the doors;
In orchards near and far away
The grey wood-pecker taps ( Read more... ) -
(Untitled)
Regarding books:
People always say they're in Book Heaven... although if there WAS a book afterlife, I'd rather be in Book Hell, where all the naughty books go.
I mean, wouldn't you?
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(Untitled)
I am not very good at this whole updating business. :|
I received 7 books in the mail today, which makes today Extra Special. Three are on ancient Greek history; one is on the plays of Aristophanes; three are on philosophy. They're for a summer course I'm taking in England this summer. They are certainly going to distract me from the work I'm ( Read more... ) -
Skiing: Turning vs not turning
Today I was told not to ski directly DOWN hill, but to turn. When I proved that I could indeed turn, I was told to bend my knees whilst turning. When I did THAT, I was told my turns weren't tight enough ( Read more... ) -
Innsbruck
.... is pretty ugly, all things considering. It's got an absolutely beautiful location, right nestled all heart-like in the middle of mountains, and everything is white and snowy... but Innsbruck itself failed. All the buildings are apartment buildings, it seems, and they aren't beautiful old Viennese apartment buildings, either; they are blocky. ( Read more... )