to the man-of-war-bird

THOU who hast slept all night upon the storm,
Waking renew’d on thy prodigious pinions,
(Burst the wild storm? above it thou ascended’st,
And rested on the sky, thy slave that cradled thee,)
Now a blue point, far, far in heaven floating,
As to the light emerging here on deck I watch thee,
(Myself a speck, a point on the world’s floating vast.)


Far, far at sea,
After the night’s fierce drifts have strewn the shores with wrecks,
With re-appearing day as now so happy and serene,
The rosy and elastic dawn, the flashing sun,
The limpid spread of air cerulean,
Thou also re-appearest.


Thou born to match the gale, (thou art all wings,)
To cope with heaven and earth and sea and hurricane,
Thou ship of air that never furl’st thy sails,
Days, even weeks untired and onward, through spaces, realms gyrating,
At dusk that look’st on Senegal, at morn America,
That sport’st amid the lightning-flash and thunder-cloud,
In them, in thy experience, had’st thou my soul,
What joys! what joys were thine!

-267. To the Man-of-War-Bird
Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
Leaves of Grass, 1900.

madness type day

Some days just reek of music. And guess what today's theme was?

Outrageous British 80's pop rock.

Oooh yeah.

And then I came home, and I found portions of Bertie Wooster Episodes on YouTube (*stuffs fist in mouth to muffle absolute shriek of delight*) and BlackAdder, Madness music videos, and more Haircut 100 type stuff...

there's a quote somewhere about how some men were not born in their own time period.

I must be one of those.

Because I certainly am nothing like my own generation.

And there is absolutely no hope for me.

haircut 100 - love plus one

This is one of the best 80's Brit songs....and the lead is adorable, to boot!

the olde birthday

came and went without any huge notice. and I am terribly grouchy for no apparent reason.

to miss Leh Car

I just recieved an amazing package, and before I even begin replying on paper, I just want to say, thanks and YOU ARE AWESOME.

a strange new freedom

sooo....guess who now has their driver's liscense?
dat's right.
there's a new menace on the road....
a menace, of Me!

I just took a drive by myself. And then I came back, and just me and my sister drove around. We got lost in our own neighborhood...that was pretty funny....but I recognized a house that was connected to a street that would take us back home. Yay for M's amazing compass skills...

thought

a tired grin, eyes shifting across the pattern in the white tiles. symmetry was so pleasing. always had been. feet, dark shoes across the white floor. black. stark. beautiful. a breath. she rubbed her shoulder a little unconsciously, thinking. always thinking these days. always music playing somewhere. she looked up from the floor as she walked to face the oncoming tide of students. now pretending to be a ship, shouldering past a current. i have sails. i smell the sea. yes music. the roar of water. a long draw of air. perfect. imagined wings swept by her. the grin faded to a half-crescent hidden smile.
then.
a form in her line of vision. her eyes snapped up as though magnetically. thought whisped away. and there he stood. leaning nonchalantly against a white wall. black hair. clear eyes. a glance in her direction. white fingers of ice stole around her heart and turned her mouth to dust. but regaining her composure she did not allow herself to dwell on the emotion. she chose to ignore the look. he revealed nothing in that split-second of communication. and, she hoped, neither did she. red flashes in her brain as she walked by. ignore it all. pass it all by. the red dimmed. green lushness out the window. green lushness soon to die, enclosed by the grey teeth of concrete and construction. a breath. a sigh. she rubbed her shoulder, all down her arm ending with her fingers. and back she went to looking at those beautiful white tiles, thinking. music blared within her own ears. music of her own invention.
she spread her sails once more and thought of him.