Looking up at the stars, I know quite wellThat, for all they care, I can go to hell,But on earth indifference is the leastWe have to dread from man or beast. How should we like it were stars to burnWith a passion for us we could not return?If equal affection cannot be,Let the more loving…
Nay, I will; that’s flat:He said he would not ransom Mortimer;Forbad my tongue to speak of Mortimer; 555But I will find him when he lies asleep,And in his ear I’ll holla ‘Mortimer!’Nay,I’ll have a starling shall be taught to speakNothing but ‘Mortimer,’ and give it him 560To keep his anger still in motion.— William Shakespeare,…
Whose woods these are I think I know.His house is in the village though;He will not see me stopping hereTo watch his woods fill up with snow. My little horse must think it queerTo stop without a farmhouse nearBetween the woods and frozen lakeThe darkest evening of the year. He gives his harness bells a…
“Health lies in action, and so it graces youth. To be busy is the secret of grace, and half the secret of content. Let us ask the gods not for possessions, but for things to do; happiness is in making things rather than in consuming them. In Utopia, said Thoreau, each would build his own…
“Scientific studies suggest that only about 25 percent of how long we live is dictated by genes, according to famous studies of Danish twins. The other 75 percent is determined by our lifestyles and the everyday choices we make. It follows that if we optimize our lifestyles, we can maximize our life expectancies within our…
I’ve had many snowstorms in my lifetime. Blizzards and lake effect dumpings, heavy wet snows and light and fluffy snow globe snows, white-outs that scare the heck out of you and ever-lasting slow drifts that barely seem to pile up. You tend to grow used to it after awhile, but that first snow of the…
Last night I got to experience something for the very first time. The pup, now eight months old and keenly observant of all that moves in her kingdom, spotted an opossum nibbling on fallen birdseed a second before me. It seems opossums don’t run nearly as fast as an excited mutt. The gap was closed…
I know, you never intended to be in this world. But you’re in it all the same. So why not get started immediately. I mean, belonging to it. There is so much to admire, to weep over. And to write music or poems about. Bless the feet that take you to and fro. Bless the…
We grow accustomed to the Dark –When light is put away –As when the Neighbor holds the LampTo witness her Goodbye – A Moment – We uncertain stepFor newness of the night –Then – fit our Vision to the Dark –And meet the Road – erect – And so of larger – Darknesses –Those Evenings…
One of these daysI’m gonna sit down and write a long letterTo all the good friends I’ve knownAnd I’m gonna tryAnd thank them all for the good times togetherThough so apart we’ve grown— Neil Young, One of These Days Talking to an old friend, we asked each other about other old friends. Who have we…