[S]He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven (William Butler Yeats)
HAD I the heavens' embroidered cloths, Enwrought with golden and silver light, The blue and the dim and the dark cloths Of night and light and the half-light, I would spread the cloths under your feet: But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
The First Page of "Their Eyes Were Watching God"
"Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the watcher turns his eye away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time."
Whatever you give a woman, she's going to multiply. If you give her sperm, she'll give you a baby. If you give her groceries, she'll give you a meal. If you give her a smile, she'll give you her heart. She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her. So if you give her any crap, you'll receive a ton of shi*.
And I in these lines say: Like this I want you, love, love, Like this I love you, as you dress and how your hair lifts up and how your mouth smiles, light as the water of the spring upon the pure stones, Like this I love you, beloved.
To find this love for myself, to find that someone who says these things to me and means them or thinks them about me in their own way and who I love back with my whole heart . . . that was my birthday wish to me last year. This year? I don't know. I still have a few days to decide, I suppose. Low expectations avoid disappointment, right?
Some might criticize Gertrude Stein for her repetition and lack of imagery, but I enjoyed reading Ida. There is something real in the language and I felt I could relate to the paradoxes and life of Ida.Here are some favorite parts:
There are so many ways of earning a living and most of them are failures. She thought it was best to begin with one way which would be most easy to leave. So she tried photography and then she tried just talking. It is wonderful how easy it is to earn a living that way. To be sure sometimes everybody thinks you are starving you never are. Ida never starved
A dog has to have a name and he has to look at you. Sometimes it is kind of bothering to have them look at you.
Everybody began to miss something and it was not a kiss, you bet your life it was not a kiss that anybody began to miss. And yet perhaps it was.
I'm not sure why it always goes downhill Why broken cisterns never could stay filled I've spent ten years singing gravity away But the water keeps on falling from the sky
And here tonight while the stars are blacking out With every hope and dream I've ever had in doubt I've spent ten years trying to sing these doubts away But the water keeps on falling from my eyes
And heaven knows, heaven knows I tried to find a cure for the pain Oh my Lord, to suffer like You do It would be a lie to run away
So blood is fire pulsing through our veins We're either riders or fools behind the reigns I've spent ten years trying to sing it all away But the water keeps on falling from my tries
And heaven knows, heaven knows I tried to find a cure for the pain Oh my Lord, to suffer like You do It would be a lie to run away A lie to run, it would be a lie It would be a lie to run away
It keeps on falling (x4) Water keeps on falling from my eyes
And heaven knows, heaven knows I tried to find a cure for the pain Oh my Lord, to suffer like You do It would be a lie to run away It would be a lie to run away It would be a lie to run away
Did you know Joseph warned the men of Zion's Camp "to be careful about their posture while praying"? He said
When we Kneel to pray we should be in a graceful manner such as would not cause a disgusting impression to arise in the mind of any spectator. (Bushman 241)
I read that and think of all the times that I pray while traveling or while sprawled across the bed or shriveled on the floor in exhaustion at the beginning or ending of a day. I think the important thing is that I am praying. And I don't pray to have the praise of men, though I guess I should show more respect to this most holy of communicative acts.
Afghans--I will never understand why there are "blankets" that have holes in them. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of a blanket? I guess you could say the same thing about some sweaters.
Do you know what? I caught up on years of The Office. I admit it. I feel guilty every time I watched it because it's so much time I could be using for other things. And there are a lot of things that aren't so clean or respectable on there.
Anyway, I've noticed something.
The Office, no matter how hilarious or seemingly close to characters we encounter in our workplaces, it will never be like real life. After each situation, things wouldn't get "back to normal" in a real workplace.
After Pam's painting gets dissed, Gabe is called names, one birthday is celebrated but not another, etc., people would stay mad. There wouldn't be any of this "everything is okay again" mentality that seems to be the status quo at the start of each episode. Michael would be the hated boss and people would quit. He probably would have been fired long ago. Dwight would be complained about and HR would look into doing something about him. And so on. Don't you think?
I guess it's the fact that the conditions just continue that makes it funny (the kind of funny where you groan), but if we were working there, we would be very dissatisfied. Rambling . . .
What in the world are they going to do without Michael next season?
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