something seeks otherness

feeling nostalgic today, maybe for tenth grade english class

hahaha,
"A Woman's Shortcomings"
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

... Unless you can muse in a crowd all day On the absent face that fixed you; Unless you can love, as the angels may, With the breadth of heaven betwixt you; Unless you can dream that his faith is fast, Through behoving and unbehoving; Unless you can die when the dream is past - Oh, never call it loving! ------------------------------------------------ "The White Cliffs" by Alice Miller (read here: http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-white-cliffs/) IV Young and in love-how magical the phrase! How magical the fact! Who has not yearned Over young lovers when to their amaze They fall in love and find their love returned, And the lights brighten, and their eyes are clear To see God's image in their common clay. Is it the music of the spheres they hear? Is it the prelude to that noble play, The drama of Joined Lives? Ah, they forget They cannot write their parts; the bell has rung, The curtain rises and the stage is set For tragedy-they were in love and young. V We went to the Tower, We went to the Zoo, We saw every flower In the gardens at Kew. We saw King Charles a-prancing On his long-tailed horse, And thought him more entrancing Than better kings, of course. At a strange early hour, In St. James's palace yard, We watched in a shower The changing of the guard. And I said, what a pity, To have just a week to spend, When London is a city Whose beauties never end! VI When the sun shines on England, it atones For low-hung leaden skies, and rain and dim Moist fogs that paint the verdure on her stones And fill her gentle rivers to the brim. When the sun shines on England, shafts of light Fall on far towers and hills and dark old trees, And hedge-bound meadows of a green as bright— As bright as is the blue of tropic seas. When the sun shines, it is as if the face Of some proud man relaxed his haughty stare, And smiled upon us with a sudden grace, Flattering because its coming is so rare. -----------------------------------

Extraordinary Lives
by David Michael Jackson

We did not live
extraordinary lives.
We did not make
the poets sing,
the church bells ring.
We were known
only for our recipes
or for chewing gum,
or for our stories,
but no one came,
asking for us.
We were shadows
across the sunset,
sparkles
in the wine.