Reconceiving Loss

Such a great and deeply important project; proud to be a part of it.

Preparation

"I have no time for those things now," we say; 
"But in the future just a little way, 
No longer by this ceaseless toil oppressed, 
I shall have leisure then for thought and rest. 
When I the debts upon my land have paid, 
Or on foundations firm my business laid, 
I shall take time for discourse long and sweet 
With those beloved who round my hearthstone meet; 
I shall take time on mornings still and cool 
To seek the freshness dim of wood and pool, 
Where, calmed and hallowed by great Nature's peace, 
My life from its hot cares shall find release; 
I shall take time to think on destiny, 
Of what I was and am and yet shall be, 
Till in the hush my soul may nearer prove 
To that great Soul in whom we live and move. 
All this I shall do sometime but not now -- 
The press of business cares will not allow." 
And thus our life glides on year after year; 
The promised leisure never comes more near. 
Perhaps the aim on which we placed our mind 
Is high, and its attainment slow to find; 
Or if we reach the mark that we have set, 
We still would seek another, farther yet. 
Thus all our youth, our strength, our time go past 
Till death upon the threshold stands at last, 
And back unto our Maker we must give 
The life we spent preparing well to live. 

--Effie Waller Smith

Love's Philosophy

The fountains mingle with the river 
And the rivers with the ocean, 
The winds of heaven mix for ever 
With a sweet emotion; 
Nothing in the world is single, 
All things by a law divine 
In one another's being mingle— 
Why not I with thine? 

See the mountains kiss high heaven, 
And the waves clasp one another; 
No sister-flower would be forgiven 
If it disdain'd its brother; 
And the sunlight clasps the earth, 
And the moonbeams kiss the sea— 
What is all this sweet work worth 
If thou kiss not me? 

--Percy Bysshe Shelley

Token Loss

To the dragon
any loss is
total. His rest
is disrupted
if a single
jewel encrusted
goblet has
been stolen.
The circle
of himself
in the nest
of his gold
has been
broken.  No
loss is token.

--Kay Ryan

Insupportable sweetness

Evening and the flat land,
Rich and sombre and always silent;
The miles of fresh-plowed soil,
Heavy and black, full of strength and harshness;
The growing wheat, the growing weeds,
The toiling horses, the tired men;
The long empty roads,
Sullen fires of sunset, fading,
The eternal, unresponsive sky.
Against all this, Youth,
Flaming like the wild roses,
Singing like the larks over the plowed fields,
Flashing like a star out of the twilight;
Youth with its insupportable sweetness,
Its fierce necessity,
Its sharp desire,
Singing and singing,
Out of the lips of silence,
Out of the earthy dusk.

--Willa Cather

They Call This

Powerful. 

I Love the Hour Just Before

a party. Everybody
at home getting
ready. Pulling
on boots, fixing
their hair, planning
what to say if
she's there, picking
a pluckier lipstick,
rehearsing a joke
with a stickpin
in it, doing
the last minute
fumbling one does
before leaving for
the night like
tying up the dog or
turning on the yard
light. I like to think
of them driving,
finding their way
in the dark, taking
this left, that right,
while I light candles,
start the music softly
seething. Everything
waiting. Even
the wine barely
breathing. 

--Todd Boss