BS: Mood of the day

Subject: BS: Mood of the day
From: SueB
Date: 24 Mar 04 - 09:03 AM

Life is a glorious cycle of song
A medley of extemporanea
And love is a thing that can never go wrong
And I am Marie of Roumania.

(courtesy of Dorothy Parker)

Razors pain you
Rivers are damp
Acids stain you
Drugs cause cramp
Guns aren't lawful
Nooses give
Gas smells awful
You might as well live.

(also courtesy of Dorothy Parker)

Subject: RE: BS: Mood of the day
From: freda underhill
Date: 24 Mar 04 - 09:06 AM

Spry, wry, and gray as these March sticks,
Percy bows, in his blue peajacket, among the narcissi.
He is recuperating from something on the lung.

The narcissi, too, are bowing to some big thing :
It rattles their stars on the green hill where Percy
Nurses the hardship of his stitches, and walks and walks.

There is a dignity to this; there is a formality --
The flowers vivid as bandages, and the man mending.
They bow and stand : they suffer such attacks!

And the octogenarian loves the little flocks.
He is quite blue; the terrible wind tries his breathing.
The narcissi look up like children, quickly and whitely.

sylvia plath

Subject: RE: BS: Mood of the day
From: Ellenpoly
Date: 24 Mar 04 - 09:10 AM

the song of mehitabel..xx..e


http://www.donmarquis.com/readingroom/archybooks/song.html

Subject: RE: BS: Mood of the day
From: Leadfingers
Date: 24 Mar 04 - 09:18 AM

One day as I sat musing , sad and lonely , without a friend , a voice
came to me out of the gloom saying " Cheer Up ! Things could be worse"! So I cheered up , and sure enough , Things Got Worse !

Subject: RE: BS: Mood of the day
From: SueB
Date: 24 Mar 04 - 09:23 AM

My goodness. I hope we all make it through the day!

Subject: RE: BS: Mood of the day
From: CarolC
Date: 24 Mar 04 - 11:54 AM

Two days ago, I felt terrible. All of my bones and muscles and joints ached. I could barely move. I had a wicked pain in my abdomen, my skin was hurting like hell, my brain felt like an elephant was sitting on it, I couldn't think even marginally straight, and on top of it all, I was feeling very pissy. I wondered if I'd ever feel any better.

Yesterday I was able to move around with a little less pain, my brain was marginally working, and although my skin and abdomen still hurt like hell, and I had very little energy, I was at least not feeling quite so pissy.

Today my skin hurts a lot less, my brain is working tolerably well, my abdomen doesn't ache all that much, my back only hurts occasionally, and I'm feeling much more cheerful. Today is a good day (so far). Maybe I'll feel even better tomorrow.

Subject: RE: BS: Mood of the day
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 24 Mar 04 - 12:08 PM

It's enough to drive a man to drink - now that's an idea that's cheered me up.

Subject: RE: BS: Mood of the day
From: wysiwyg
Date: 24 Mar 04 - 12:21 PM

WHAT THERE IS

In this my green world
Flowers birds are hands
They hold me
I am loved all day

All this pleases me

I am amused
I have to laugh from crying
Trees mountains are arms
I am loved all day

Children grass are tears

I cry
I am loved all day
Everything
Pompous makes me laugh
I am amused often enough
In this
My beautiful green world

There's love all day

--Kenneth Patchen

Subject: RE: BS: Mood of the day
From: Bill D
Date: 24 Mar 04 - 01:24 PM

awww...didn't know anyone even remembered Kenneth Patchen! Nice one...that helps my mood, as I have to pack for a 5 day trip today...

ever read "23th Street Runs into Heaven"?

Subject: RE: BS: Mood of the day
From: Micca
Date: 24 Mar 04 - 01:44 PM

By the wooden
cat called
Magnum O'Puss
in the window
a stem of orchids,
a vase of
daffodils
unopened
shows what
a
Wordsworth

Spring!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Mood of the day
From: Steve in Idaho
Date: 24 Mar 04 - 02:06 PM

It is simply another gorgeous day in paradise.

Steve

Subject: RE: BS: Mood of the day
From: Don Firth
Date: 24 Mar 04 - 02:45 PM

Inside every old geezer like me is a teen-ager wondering wot the hell happened?!!???

Other than that--it's pure Camelot around here. . . .

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Mood of the day
From: wysiwyg
Date: 24 Mar 04 - 02:50 PM

Bill, I've lost track what I read and didn't read, but I do know I have lost the electronic copy of that excellent "poem" that starts off, "In orfder to apply for the position...." and ends with, "Heck, I didn;t want any job that bad!" Do you have it? My print copy alas is buried. That's what I was GOING to post here today but then all I could find on the HD was the nice one! :~)

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Mood of the day
From: Megan L
Date: 24 Mar 04 - 03:17 PM

Death in the Arctic

I
I took the clock down from the shelf;
"At eight," said I, "I shoot myself."
It lacked a minute of the hour,
And as I waited all a-cower,
A skinful of black, boding pain,
Bits of my life came back again. . . .

"Mother, there's nothing more to eat --
Why don't you go out on the street?
Always you sit and cry and cry;
Here at my play I wonder why.
Mother, when you dress up at night,
Red are your cheeks, your eyes are bright;
Twining a ribband in your hair,
Kissing good-bye you go down-stair.
Then I'm as lonely as can be.
Oh, how I wish you were with me!
Yet when you go out on the street,
Mother, there's always lots to eat. . . ."

II

For days the igloo has been dark;
But now the rag wick sends a spark
That glitters in the icy air,
And wakes frost sapphires everywhere;
Bright, bitter flames, that adder-like
Dart here and there, yet fear to strike
The gruesome gloom wherein they lie,
My comrades, oh, so keen to die!
And I, the last -- well, here I wait
The clock to strike the hour of eight. . . .

"Boy, it is bitter to be hurled
Nameless and naked on the world;
Frozen by night and starved by day,
Curses and kicks and clouts your pay.
But you must fight! Boy, look on me!
Anarch of all earth-misery;
Beggar and tramp and shameless sot;
Emblem of ill, in rags that rot.
Would you be foul and base as I?
Oh, it is better far to die!
Swear to me now you'll fight and fight,
Boy, or I'll kill you here to-night. . . ."

III

Curse this silence soft and black!
Sting, little light, the shadows back!
Dance, little flame, with freakish glee!
Twinkle with brilliant mockery!
Glitter on ice-robed roof and floor!
Jewel the bear-skin of the door!
Gleam in my beard, illume my breath,
Blanch the clock face that times my death!
But do not pierce that murk so deep,
Where in their sleeping-bags they sleep!
But do not linger where they lie,
They who had all the luck to die! . . .

"There is nothing more to say;
Let us part and go our way.
Since it seems we can't agree,
I will go across the sea.
Proud of heart and strong am I;
Not for woman will I sigh;
Hold my head up gay and glad:
You can find another lad. . . ."

IV

Above the igloo piteous flies
Our frayed flag to the frozen skies.
Oh, would you know how earth can be
A hell -- go north of Eighty-three!
Go, scan the snows day after day,
And hope for help, and pray and pray;
Have seal-hide and sea-lice to eat;
Melt water with your body's heat;
Sleep all the fell, black winter through
Beside the dear, dead men you knew.
(The walrus blubber flares and gleams --
O God! how long a minute seems!) . . .

"Mary, many a day has passed,
Since that morn of hot-head youth.
Come I back at last, at last,
Crushed with knowing of the truth;
How through bitter, barren years
You loved me, and me alone;
Waited, wearied, wept your tears --
Oh, could I atone, atone,
I would pay a million-fold!
Pay you for the love you gave.
Mary, look down as of old --
I am kneeling by your grave." . . .

V

Olaf, the Blonde, was first to go;
Bitten his eyes were by the snow;
Sightless and sealed his eyes of blue,
So that he died before I knew.
Here in those poor weak arms he died:
"Wolves will not get you, lad," I lied;
"For I will watch till Spring come round;
Slumber you shall beneath the ground."
Oh, how I lied! I scarce can wait:
Strike, little clock, the hour of eight! . . .

"Comrade, can you blame me quite?
The horror of the long, long night
Is on me, and I've borne with pain
So long, and hoped for help in vain.
So frail am I, and blind and dazed;
With scurvy sick, with silence crazed.
Beneath the Arctic's heel of hate,
Avid for Death I wait, I wait.
Oh if I falter, fail to fight,
Can you, dear comrade, blame me quite?" . . .

VI

Big Eric gave up months ago.
But seldom do men suffer so.
His feet sloughed off, his fingers died,
His hands shrunk up and mummified.
I had to feed him like a child;
Yet he was valiant, joked and smiled,
Talked of his wife and little one
(Thanks be to God that I have none),
Passed in the night without a moan,
Passed, and I'm here, alone, alone. . . .

"I've got to kill you, Dick.
Your life for mine, you know.
Better to do it quick,
A swift and sudden blow.
See! here's my hand to lick;
A hug before you go --
God! but it makes me sick:
Old dog, I love you so.
Forgive, forgive me, Dick --
A swift and sudden blow. . . ."

VII

Often I start up in the dark,
Thinking the sound of bells to hear.
Often I wake from sleep: "Oh, hark!
Help . . . it is coming . . . near and near."
Blindly I reel toward the door;
There the snow billows bleak and bare;
Blindly I seek my den once more,
Silence and darkness and despair.
Oh, it is all a dreadful dream!
Scurvy and cold and death and dearth;
I will awake to warmth and gleam,
Silvery seas and greening earth.
Life is a dream, its wakening,
Death, gentle shadow of God's wing. . . .

"Tick, little clock, my life away!
Even a second seems a day.
Even a minute seems a year,
Peopled with ghosts, that press and peer
Into my face so charnel white,
Lit by the devilish, dancing light.
Tick, little clock! mete out my fate:
Tortured and tense I wait, I wait. . . ."

VIII

Oh, I have sworn! the hour is nigh:
When it strikes eight, I die, I die.
Raise up the gun -- it stings my brow --
When it strikes eight . . . all ready . . . now --

* * * * *

Down from my hand the weapon dropped;
Wildly I stared. . . .
                        THE CLOCK HAD STOPPED.

IX

Phantoms and fears and ghosts have gone.
Peace seems to nestle in my brain.
Lo! the clock stopped, I'm living on;
Heart-sick I was, and less than sane.
Yet do I scorn the thing I planned,
Hearing a voice: "O coward, fight!"
Then the clock stopped . . . whose was the hand?
Maybe 'twas God's -- ah well, all's right.
Heap on me darkness, fold on fold!
Pain! wrench and rack me! What care I?
Leap on me, hunger, thirst and cold!
I will await my time to die;
Looking to Heaven that shines above;
Looking to God, and love . . . and love.

X

Hark! what is that? Bells, dogs again!
Is it a dream? I sob and cry.
See! the door opens, fur-clad men
Rush to my rescue; frail am I;
Feeble and dying, dazed and glad.
There is the pistol where it dropped.
"Boys, it was hard -- but I'm not mad. . . .
Look at the clock -- it stopped, it stopped.
Carry me out. The heavens smile.
See! there's an arch of gold above.
Now, let me rest a little while --
Looking to God and Love . . .and Love . . ."




--- Robert Service

Subject: RE: BS: Mood of the day
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Mar 04 - 03:52 PM

The Babes in the Wood

My dear, do you know
How, a long time ago,
--Two poor little children,
Whose names I don't know,
Were stolen away
On a fine summer's day,
--And left in a wood,
As I've heard people say?

And when it was night,
So sad was tehir plight,
--The sun it went down,
And the moon gave no light!
They sobbed and the sighed,
And they bitterly cried,
--And the poor little things
They lay down and died.

And when they were dead,
The robins so red
--Brought strawberry leaves
And over them spread;
And all the day long
They sang them this song:
"Poor babes in the wood!
Poor babes in the wood!
--And don't you remember
The babes in the wood?"

Subject: RE: BS: Mood of the day
From: freda underhill
Date: 24 Mar 04 - 04:31 PM

...Any person who loves another person,
Wherever in the world, is with us in this room -
Even though there are battlefields.

- Kenneth Patchen

Subject: RE: BS: Mood of the day
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Mar 04 - 05:08 PM

Oh, they told you life is hard
Misery from the start
It's dull
It's slow
It's painful

But, I'll tell you life is sweet
Inspite of the misery
There is so much more to be grateful

Well, who do you believe?
Who will you listen to?
Who will it be?
'Cause it's high time that you decide
In your own mind

Subject: RE: BS: Mood of the day
From: Bill D
Date: 24 Mar 04 - 05:09 PM

...a waterglass on the bureau fills with morning
don't let anyone in to wake us.

-Kenneth Patchen

(no..don't have that other one, Susan)

Subject: RE: BS: Mood of the day
From: GUEST,LilyFestre
Date: 24 Mar 04 - 05:10 PM

Oops..hit that enter key instead of the shift key....the above post is mine and it belongs to N. Merchant.

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: Mood of the day
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 24 Mar 04 - 05:32 PM

Well, life is a glorious cycle of song. The rest of it can be more problematic, but that bit's pretty good anyway.
........................

A Ballade of Suicide

The gallows in my garden, people say,
Is new and neat and adequately tall;
I tie the noose on in a knowing way
As one that knots his necktie for a ball;
But just as all the neighbours on the wall
Are drawing a long breath to shout "Hurray!"
The strangest whim has seized me. . . After all
I think I will not hang myself to-day.

To-morrow is the time I get my pay
My uncle's sword is hanging in the hall
I see a little cloud all pink and grey
Perhaps the rector's mother will NOT call
I fancy that I heard from Mr. Gall
That mushrooms could be cooked another way
I never read the works of Juvenal
I think I will not hang myself to-day.

The world will have another washing-day;
The decadents decay; the pedants pall;
And H.G. Wells has found that children play,
And Bernard Shaw discovered that they squall;
Rationalists are growing rational
And through thick woods one finds a stream astray,
So secret that the very sky seems small
I think I will not hang myself to-day.

(GK Chesterton, f course)

Subject: RE: BS: Mood of the day
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 24 Mar 04 - 07:26 PM

Oh ain't it grand, to be bloody well dead....

See your pissy and raise you a totally f&$^d off with a side order of PMT to go!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Mood of the day
From: CarolC
Date: 24 Mar 04 - 09:23 PM

I'll see your PMT and raise it with a big added dose of peri-menopause. You don't want to know about the rest ;-)

(I recommend natural progesterone cream for the PMT)

Today was a lot better than yesterday and waaaayyyy better than the day before. I have high hopes for tomorrow.

Subject: RE: BS: Mood of the day
From: GUEST,freda underhill
Date: 24 Mar 04 - 09:34 PM

..and this one's for Aretha - hope she's feeling better!

Oh happy day
Oh happy day ! Oh happy day ! Oh happy day ! happy day, happy day ! Oh happy day ! Oh happy day ! When Jesus washed, oh when he washed When Jesus washed, he whashed the sins away. Oh happy day ! Oh happy day ! He taught me how to watch, fight and pray, fight and pray ! An live rejoicing ev'ry day, ev'ry day ! Oh happy day ! happy day, HAPPY DAY!

Subject: RE: BS: Mood of the day
From: wysiwyg
Date: 25 Mar 04 - 01:12 PM

Why, whatsamatta with Aretha?

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Mood of the day
From: Amos
Date: 25 Mar 04 - 01:16 PM

Read the news -- she was hospitalized by an antibiotic allergic reaction.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Mood of the day
From: maire-aine
Date: 25 Mar 04 - 11:38 PM

Aretha's out of the hospital and at home now.

Subject: RE: BS: Mood of the day
From: Ellenpoly
Date: 26 Mar 04 - 05:31 AM

March 26, 1979
In a ceremony at the White House, President Sadat of Egypt and Prime Minister Begin of Israel signed a peace treaty ending 30 years of war between the two countries.

Subject: RE: BS: Mood of the day
From: Micca
Date: 26 Mar 04 - 06:52 AM

Today
The sun
came out
It rained as
It has
all week
And winds blew
threatened
storms.
Wet ,
miserable
I made my way
After a morning
Of Morons
Not understanding
That two + two
do not equal
Five
However
much they wish
it would
and
in the middle
of this misery
You smiled
And
The sun
came
out!!

Subject: RE: BS: Mood of the day
From: Catherine Jayne
Date: 26 Mar 04 - 03:03 PM

Two years of the unknown
tense and unsure
all resolved.
Now relief and love
rush through
and I thank you for loving me.

Subject: RE: BS: Mood of the day
From: Amos
Date: 26 Mar 04 - 03:35 PM

I dunno what you two are talking about but it sure is pretty to watch!! :>)


A

Subject: RE: BS: Mood of the day
From: wysiwyg
Date: 26 Mar 04 - 04:30 PM

Those involved directly are always the last to know. :~)

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Mood of the day
From: Amos
Date: 26 Mar 04 - 04:34 PM

Waht the devil does that mean?


A

Subject: RE: BS: Mood of the day
From: wysiwyg
Date: 26 Mar 04 - 05:21 PM

My comment was about what Khatt posted, and I figured she'd understand what I mean.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Mood of the day
From: Catherine Jayne
Date: 26 Mar 04 - 05:55 PM

Yes I know what you mean Susan and I am sorry if Amos doesn't understand what Micca and I were on about but it was very romantic........

Subject: RE: BS: Mood of the day
From: Amos
Date: 26 Mar 04 - 05:56 PM

S' alright, duck!! I thought it was a response to what I said, but it was not.

I knew it was hearts and flowers.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Mood of the day
From: Micca
Date: 26 Mar 04 - 07:23 PM

Amos. " You should be so Lucky" !!!

Subject: RE: BS: Mood of the day
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Apr 04 - 02:33 PM

but a heart is a thing of fragility
and sometimes can be crushed
by the thing that loves it most
guard thy heart, oh maiden of the ravens
beware of false words of love

Subject: RE: BS: Mood of the day
From: Amos
Date: 12 Apr 04 - 03:07 PM

Micca:

I agree whole heartedly.

My your heart be free of toxins all your days.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Mood of the day
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Apr 04 - 07:49 PM

to see you smile makes the sun come out
to hear to laugh peals a thousand bells
to know that I can inspire such love
makes a man content