julieliveshere.com

Thanks for visiting. This site will no longer be updated.

Please visit my new site.

You can find new writing, new photos at

http://julieliveshere.com
Showing posts with label poetry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label poetry. Show all posts

Monday, May 18, 2009

dnr

on Haight Street

The days where you take one step forward, and then two steps back... this is one of those times.

Little Helen, my grandma, is back in ICU today as of 3:30am. She finally finally got out of the hospital just days ago (again), and was doing much better (again), and was looking forward to getting back home in time to meet Baby Princess Chubness for the first time ever, and hopefully going to LCG's birthday celebration. My little curly girl niece will be three years old next week.

And my poor Bunny. I won't even go into it but this is the first time the conversation contained the letters DNR. Do Not Resuscitate.

dnr dnr dnr

My brain is so tired. I'm still a little bit sick so it makes me even more tired. Some days you just want to sit in a corner and stare at the wall.

I wasn't sure what else I wanted to say about this development, because there's really nothing one can say, or do, about the situation. Little Helen will either get a tiny bit better and maybe she'll get out of the hospital, which is becoming more difficult with each return visit, or she'll get worse and then that will be it. DNR.

But I found this poem. And in keeping with the post I wrote on Sunday, I think it is a continuation on a theme.

The Dash Poem

by Linda Ellis

I read of a man who stood to speak
At the funeral of a friend
He referred to the dates on her tombstone
From the beginning to the end

He noted that first came the date of her birth
And spoke the following date with tears,
But he said what mattered most of all
Was the dash between those years

For that dash represents all the time
That she spent alive on earth.
And now only those who loved her
Know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not how much we own;
The cars, the house, the cash,
What matters is how we live and love
And how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard.
Are there things you’d like to change?
For you never know how much time is left,
That can still be rearranged.

If we could just slow down enough
To consider what’s true and real
And always try to understand
The way other people feel.

And be less quick to anger,
And show appreciation more
And love the people in our lives
Like we’ve never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect,
And more often wear a smile
Remembering that this special dash
Might only last a little while.

So, when your eulogy is being read
With your life’s actions to rehash
Would you be proud of the things they say
About how you spent your dash?

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Take a Walk in My Backyard

All was silent as before -
All silent save the dripping rain.
~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow


***

Today it rained for much of the early morning. Hard rain. Even thunder and lightning.

The rain and strong wind made the kind of sound so that you were glad it woke you up, and then made you even more grateful that it was still dark outside and you were cozy in your bed, listening.

And then when the clouds cleared, I went out for a walk. In my backyard.

Want to come along?

Actually, I'm teasing a little. This isn't really my backyard. It's Golden Gate Park. But it's close enough to my house to practically be my backyard, so that's what I call it.


My hands and nose were red from the crisp cold air. Everything smelled like eucalyptus, wonderful and fresh.


Leafy puddles everywhere.


Little branches had flown off the trees.


Pools where sidewalks should be.


Today all of the park's squirrels were out en masse. If you stood very still, they would run up to you, almost gaily, as if you were their long lost Uncle Phil, bearing gifts.


And then when they realized you had nothing to give them, they pouted.


But they still let you take their photographs.


Fuzzy pussy-willow like buds floated atop empty branches.
I wondered what they were. If they were coming or going.

But then a few shared their secret with me. I am looking forward to spring.

Bye for now. My boots are muddy and it's time for dinner.

xoxo

Sunday, November 23, 2008

la belle fille avec l'hirondelle

the beautiful girl with the swallows

she loves birds

pretty as a picture

***
Swallow, swallow, neighbor swallow,
Starting on your autumn flight,
Pause a moment at my window,
Twitter softly your good-night;
For the summer days are over,
All your duties are well done,
And the happy homes you builded
Have grown empty, one by one.
Swallow, swallow, neighbor swallow,
Are you ready for your flight?
Are all the feather cloaks completed?
Are the little caps all right?
Are the young wings strong and steady
For the journey through the sky?
Come again in early spring-time;
And till then, good-by, good-by!

~ Louisa May Alcott, What The Swallows Did

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Don't write

Don't write.
It's too powerful.
It might tell someone how
you feel. How you hurt.
What you don't understand.

Don't write.
It's too powerful.
It will show who you are
on the inside to the outside.
It'll blow your cover,
your nice reputation.

Don't write.
It's too powerful.
You might hurt someone's feelings.
People may not like your words.
They may attack you, or abandon you.

Don't write.
It's too powerful.
It might give others hope.
Let them know
they're not alone.
It might change minds.
Change directions.
Change the world.

So, whatever you do,
don't write.

***

I wish I had written that poem.
But I'm not there yet.

I read this poem fairly often now, since Tara first posted it on her blog. It's a little mental shock to the system, and I don't mind that. "It'll blow your cover, your nice reputation." I'm still working on that one.

This poem is by Jen Lee and I think it's a very important reminder given current events and how people decide to censure themselves... or not.

For those of you who want to visit Tara's post and leave a comment, you can enter to win one of Jen Lee's journals. Her drawing will be held on Saturday.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Vote Blinky-Winky!

If you watched the debate, I don't need to relive it for you. You know your own mind.

But I have to ask you, between the incessant winking and smirking, what was McCain really saying with his face? I was so distracted by the winking that I didn't notice if he was sticking his tongue out like a lizard. There must be a psychologist out there that can explain these facial tics.

The guys at FiveThirtyEight.com, which I've been frequenting more and more lately (even though some of the statistics are way over my head), had some fun live blogging, btw. And I like Andrew Sullivan's too.

***

My little tangent for tonight was inspired by McCain's blinking, and then realizing that his running mate is fond of a'winkin'.

It reminded me of one of my favorite nursery rhymes. Do you remember "Wynken, Blynken and Nod?" (I bet my little dutchbaby does!)


Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night
Sailed off in a wooden shoe---
Sailed on a river of crystal light,
Into a sea of dew.
"Where are you going, and what do you wish?"
The old moon asked the three.
"We have come to fish for the herring fish
That live in this beautiful sea;
Nets of silver and gold have we!"
Said Wynken,
Blynken,
And Nod.

The old moon laughed and sang a song,
As they rocked in the wooden shoe,
And the wind that sped them all night long
Ruffled the waves of dew.
The little stars were the herring fish
That lived in that beautiful sea---
"Now cast your nets wherever you wish---
Never afeard are we";
So cried the stars to the fishermen three:
Wynken,
Blynken,
And Nod.

All night long their nets they threw
To the stars in the twinkling foam---
Then down from the skies came the wooden shoe,
Bringing the fishermen home;
'T was all so pretty a sail it seemed
As if it could not be,
And some folks thought 't was a dream they 'd dreamed
Of sailing that beautiful sea---
But I shall name you the fishermen three:
Wynken,
Blynken,
And Nod.

Wynken and Blynken are two little eyes,
And Nod is a little head,
And the wooden shoe that sailed the skies
Is a wee one's trundle-bed.
So shut your eyes while mother sings
Of wonderful sights that be,
And you shall see the beautiful things
As you rock in the misty sea,
Where the old shoe rocked the fishermen three:
Wynken,
Blynken,
And Nod.

***

Time for bed, Blinky. You behaved like someone who didn't get his nap today.

Monday, November 26, 2007

For the Jacques Cousteau of Sleep

Think about this poem next time before you fall asleep. You will have sweet dreams.

xoxo



Emily Dickinson (1830–86). Complete Poems. 1924.

Part Four: Time and Eternity

LXIII

Ample make this bed.
Make this bed with awe;
In it wait till judgment break
Excellent and fair.


Be its mattress straight,
Be its pillow round;
Let no sunrise' yellow noise
Interrupt this ground.