Tuesday, May 23, 2006

I like this...

O ME! O life!... of the questions of these recurring;
Of the endless trains of the faithless—of cities fill’d with the foolish;
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light—of the objects mean—of the struggle ever renew’d;
Of the poor results of all—of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me;
Of the empty and useless years of the rest—with the rest me intertwined;
The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?

Answer.

That you are here—that life exists, and identity;
That the powerful play goes on, and you will contribute a verse.

Walt Whitman (1819–1892). Leaves of Grass. 1900.

24 comments:

  1. Powerful. It all can seem overwhelming can't it? But the point is that we are here and we have a purpose. we are not here to waste time. What will I do with mine?

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  2. Following a literary train of thought from Rev's previous post,
    we are here, and we mangle our stuffed bunnies.

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  3. You can't compare parables of different generations...

    ... but somehow the mangled bunnies become Real, don't they Puffin!
    Is that grace?

    How's your leg?

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  4. i completely relate to this:

    Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)

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  5. hmmmm, grace.... by touching something, by loving something, while that makes 'it' Real, at the same time we mangle things.

    sadly, I will agree that human clutziness is some kind of grace

    my leg might need surgery. yuk. and so might chippy's hand. we're having a bad year health-wise

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  6. myserious old wise manThu May 25, 12:53:00 PM EST

    Such questions as these often tread the forgotten path and enter the oubliette of my moribund mind. They cast aside their walking-staffs among the bones of long friend's memories, and like a profligate to the society of my mind, he tears down the cobwebs which my mind has constructed to obscure the painful truth of the reality of our existence. The pain of wasted life, irretreivable, iredeemable, portions of life without purpose or inent. And so much more painful, the endless masses of mere children in our time with even less. They fasten themselves to wild horses headed straight down to Sheol. Alas, cry for the deceived.

    As Sir Ellis said on his bed:

    "Requiem, requiem!
    A threnody is sung for those whose life is spent by they who would as they would have breath.

    Lament! Lament!
    A coronach is heard for those who did or would not attempt to bring salvation to the comdemned.

    Grieve tonight for they who cannot see themselves in any other place that that in which the deceived are crushed; lain

    against the dust with their necks exposed, mercy denied, accepted, sorrow forgotten."

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  7. What wondrous place is this, where 'death' is removed from even my statement!

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  8. What do you mean, anon? did blogger mangle your post?

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  9. mysterious old wise manFri May 26, 11:12:00 PM EST

    Anon was I. The word 'death' was mysteriously removed from my statement.
    "mercy denied, de'th accepted, sorrow forgotten"

    "they would have de'th as they would have breath"

    I quote Sir Ellis Verusos, a man of considerable intelligence and an uncanny ability to convert his words into something beautiful and meaningful. He was a good friend.

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  10. Oooo, I love mysterious old wise men. Tell me something wise oh wise one!

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  11. Mysterious old manSun May 28, 09:20:00 PM EST

    Only the wise can give wise counsel, fools cannot do so

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  12. I suck with that stuff. A tad too poetic. My brains simply cries out "simpler please".

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  13. Pro 15:16 A simple life in the Fear-of-GOD is better than a rich life with a ton of headaches.

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  14. You have an answer for everything! Yay for you!

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  15. I'm gonna go and teach this poem in my next class. Totally true - copied and pasted, off I go.

    I'm going to use that Proverb too, Old Wise Man :)

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  16. Winterbottom has cold cheeks.

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