How do I love you?

Don in 1988

 

 

Sonnet 43: How do I love thee, let me count the ways
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints—I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life!—and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

my essentials

illustrator: J Byron Schachner

 

my essentials:

daily:

nutrition, rest, exercise, writing and illustration…

weekly:

laundry, kitchen counters, shopping, doctor’s appointments…

monthly:

turn calendar pages, clean refrigerator, replace batteries, garbage bags, maintain car…

yearly:

taxes, health plans, end of life issues…

lifetime:

smiles, assistance, faith, pain, joy, vigor, vibration, energy…

Diwali Portrait

The Diwali Portrait with light saber

toes, saber, kirtles

scarves, smiles, pants, saber, glances,

electricity

Pattern #63 DNA

DNA from Emily to Annika

DNA flows down
gathering momentum of
smiles, tears, redemption!

Why We Need To Sleep

This morning I listened to Garrison Keiler on the Poetry Almanac Podcast, and was moved by this poem by William Blake.
Then I read Heidi Mordhorst’s blog and was reminded of our need to detoxify each night.
http://myjuicylittleuniverse.blogspot.com/

On Another’s Sorrow

Can I see another’s woe,
And not be in sorrow too?
Can I see another’s grief,
And not seek for kind relief?

Can I see a falling tear,
And not feel my sorrow’s share?
Can a father see his child
Weep, nor be with sorrow filled?

Can a mother sit and hear
An infant groan, an infant fear?
No, no! never can it be!
Never, never can it be!

And can He who smiles on all
Hear the wren with sorrows small,
Hear the small bird’s grief and care,
Hear the woes that infants bear —

And not sit beside the next,
Pouring pity in their breast,
And not sit the cradle near,
Weeping tear on infant’s tear?

And not sit both night and day,
Wiping all our tears away?
Oh no! never can it be!
Never, never can it be!

He doth give his joy to all:
He becomes an infant small,
He becomes a man of woe,
He doth feel the sorrow too.

Think not thou canst sigh a sigh,
And thy Maker is not by:
Think not thou canst weep a tear,
And thy Maker is not year.

Oh He gives to us his joy,
That our grief He may destroy:
Till our grief is fled an gone
He doth sit by us and moan.

William Blake

Pattern #34 Highlights & Shadow

photo by Frank Scotti
Nomad Inc

whites of eyes and teeth:
story of trust, smiles, sings loud
Kelly-Annika!

Lost

Lost

First I lost a thousand links
Deleted my whole in-box.
Floated up to the top of a vast ocean.
Adrift.

Then Facebook came to surround me
With life preservers,
In the shape of graphics
Of Steve Jobs.

Spectacular memorials
Urging me to love
One byte at a time.
iSad.

“Change the world”
He smiles.
“Stay foolish! Stay hungry!
No one can replace you.”

“Push the human race forward.”
Hold your MacBook on your heart
And sing a song of visions,
Piercing truths discovered,
Imaginings made flesh!

I floated safely home
To write this poem,
With Steve Jobs at my side
Part of my history.
His Macs, my tools for life.

Join me on these blogs
To comment and to find
The soothing lullabies
That bring you back to rest
Within a thousand links.

by Jeanne Poland
10/6/11