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Showing posts from September, 2008

Stanley Kunitz - The Layers

Stanley Kunitz - The Layers I have walked through many lives, some of them my own, and I am not who I was, though some principle of being abides, from which I struggle not to stray. When I look behind, as I am compelled to look before I can gather strength to proceed on my journey, I see the milestones dwindling toward the horizon and the slow fires trailing from the abandoned camp-sites, over which scavenger angels wheel on heavy wings. Oh, I have made myself a tribe out of my true affections, and my tribe is scattered! How shall the heart be reconciled to its feast of losses? In a rising wind the manic dust of my friends, those who fell along the way, bitterly stings my face. Yet I turn, I turn, exulting somewhat, with my will intact to go wherever I need to go, and every stone on the road precious to me. In my darkest night, when the moon was covered and I roamed through wreckage, a nimbus-clouded voice directed me: "Live in the layers, not on the litter." Though I lack th

Empty Pocket Deep -R.D. McManes

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A Dream of Trees

    T here is a thing in me that dreamed of trees,  A quiet house, some green and modest acres A little way from every troubling town,  A little way from factories, schools, laments. I would have time, I thought, and time to spare,  With only streams and birds for company. To build out of my life a few wild stanzas. And then it came to me, that so was death,  A little way away from everywhere. There is a thing in me still dreams of trees,  But let it go. Homesick for moderation,  Half the world’s artists shrink or fall away. If any find solution, let him tell it. Meanwhile I bend my heart toward lamentation Where, as the times implore our true involvement,  The blades of every crisis point the way. I would it were not so, but so it is. Who ever made music of a mild day?  Mary Oliver  

O Soldier Won't You Marry Me

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O Soldier Won't You Marry Me Melody - O soldier, soldier, won't you marry me With your musket fife and drum? O no sweet maid I cannot marry you For I have no coat to put on. So up she went to her grandfather's chest And she got him a coat of the very, very best And the soldier put it on. 2. O soldier, soldier, won't you marry me With your musket fife and drum? O no sweet maid I cannot marry you For I have no hat to put on. So up she went to her grandfather's chest And she got him a hat of the very, very best And the soldier put it on. 3. O soldier, soldier, won't you marry me With your musket fife and drum? O no sweet maid I cannot marry you For I have no gloves to put on. So up she went to her grandfather's chest And she got him a pair of the very, very best And the soldier put them on. 4. O soldier, soldier, won't you marry me With your musket fife and drum? O no sweet maid I cannot marry you For I have no boots to put on. So up she went to