A Litle Poetry Won't Hurt

            The Wanderer's Song

I have had enough of women, and enough of love,
But the land waits, and the sea waits, and day and night is enough;
Give me a long white road, and the grey wide path of the sea.
And the wind's will and the bird's will, and the heart-ache still in me.

Why should I seek out sorrow, and give gold for Strife?
I have loved much and wept much, but tears and love are not life;
The grass calls to my heart, and the foam to my blood cries up,
And the sun shines and the road shines, and the wine's in the cup.

I have had enough of wisdom, and enough of mirth,
For the way's one and the end's one, and it's soon to the ends of the earth;
And it's then good-night and to bed, and if heels or heart ache,
Well, it's sound sleep and long sleep, and sleep too deep to wake.

.....Now you have the privilege of reading one of my most treasured poems.  Why is it in the top 10 ? Because it strikes a rich chord in my heart.  It chills to the bone.  It beckons a tear in the eye. And, my friends, a poem should be read aloud to catch the music in it...and perhaps it will fire an arrow into your loins. Loins??  Oh, yes, I believe I shall share my top 10 for you.  And the next in line to "The Wanderer's Song" is T.S. Eliot's "Love song of J.Alfred Prufrock," which must be read aloud. And the best time to do that is when you are alone. The first line resonates like a symphony and then takes you on a tour of Prufrock's life.  It's sick. There is no joy in his life...And #3 is "Ae Fond Kiss" with a poor guy who is heartsick and broken hearted by Robert Burns. #4 is Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening".  This guy has promises to keep and miles to go before he can sleep...a poem filled with symbols.  Work on it. It's notoriously magic.

.....OK. Now I wonder why I have chosen poetry like this?  Why do I love these poems so much? Read my book, "Memoirs of a Tail Gunner". I believe that one can find the answer(s) to these questions embedded in that book which I wrote eight years ago--when I could remember a lot more than I can summon up now--at 91. I do remember though eating six hot dogs with potato salad atop of them at a nickel apiece every Saturday night--like a religious observance.

.....I know that it's been a long time between blogs.  The reason being that I had a battle in a bout of pneumonia.  I just felt dog sick for a long time.  But not to worry because I plan to emulate Methuselah.  (I don't know too much about him except that he is in the Bible. I think.) 

"These are the times that try men's souls" (Paine)

.....Dear Reader (if any are left), I cannot keep up with these posts, so they will be infrequent. Thus, once in a while take a peek. The tremors in my fingers make it very difficult to type without correcting much too often.  Also, I have been very sick lately with a severe case of bronchitis--or something. The x-ray of my chest shows something, so the MDs have asked me to take the x-ray again. And to complicate matters I fell again the other night and had to call 911 to come and pick me up.

 

.....I have also stopped working on the musical.  There will not be one from me next March.  Or ever again. It is simply too much work, and too many problems.  The only other thing left is my "novel".  I'll check to see if I can work on that.  That is, if ever I can ditch this illness.  The fact is, I am sick.  If I didn't have Rhoda, I would be ten times sick! She is unsparing and diligent in her caring for me.

"My cup runneth over" (PSALMS XXIII)

.....Yesterday was kind of a dull day. RH+ went to a luncheon where all the women wear red hats.  Weird.  How come guys don't go to luncheons ? Then for entertainment each guy could get up and reveal what they've done to achieve a legacy. Most guys, I imagine would give a litany of their accomplishments. Not me. I don't feel that a legacy should be based on what one has accomplished. Most of the guys had no accomplishments. They just worked.  I believe a legacy should be based on how one survived all the perils on the road of life. Everyone has had several bumps along the way which they survived--or not. Therein is your "legacy"--the guy who survived some serious, harrowing bumps is on his way to heroism.  Besides, listening to survival stories would be vastly more interesting than listening to one's accomplishments. 

.....I am busy trying to write a musical that would be acceptable to the Board of Directors.  "GenerationsAmerica" would, no doubt become a smash hit. However, there are some bumps in my road. I have been on Google's UTube looking for songs of the Revolution. I've found the songs, but not the tunes. Not only that. I have looked for costume vendors without success because I have a use for the hats of the Civil War and the Revolution.  No luck. I will have to go to the theaters here in Palm Beach and ask for a loan if they have the hats I need. We did that for My Fair Lady and found the props we needed. 

 

.....I realize that I've been away from my blog at lengthy times.  If I had frequent visitors perhaps many of them have dropped away.  I've  written over 600 posts on this blog, and also received many interesting comments to all 6,341 of them.  I started on August of 2008. I don't recall why I began it or how I got to it, but it was begottan. I advise readers to check for it occasionally.  I'm sure I will be motivated from time to time. But I hope the tremors in my fingers will not get worse and not allow me to type one.