Love and Longing In The Lift

for Gdawg, where/whenever he may be

It happened again the other day

Taking the lift, as I normally do.

I swear I felt your presence there,

Beside me,

Almost like you were really there ...

Like we could just smile, and reach out take each other's hand.

Then, in the exact moment that feeling resonated,

Realization followed,

Sorrow was swallowed,

and I arrived at my floor.

I took a deep (steadying) breath,

Opened the lift door,

and stepped out (determinedly)

Out to my reality.

As alone as when I was before that tantalizingly tangible tic of time.

Where are you?

Has our "lift" door closed?

March = More Snow

The calendar may say March, but as I look out my window, all I can see is that: 

It's snowing. 

Again. 

It's been a LONG few months. 

Focus on the beauty where you can. 

Caramoor Rosen House, 2/25/2015

In Like A Lion, Out Like A Lamb

by Lorie Hill

March roars in like a lion
So fierce,
The wind so cold,
It seems to pierce.

The month rolls on
And Spring draws near,
And March goes out
Like a lamb so dear.

Read more at http://www.scrapbook.com/poems/doc/694.html#zYWXhgVOel2H1GkR.99

How Can It Be? Birthday 43

This year that I turned forty 3

I think I feel now much more free

The threshold of forty was just so great

enriching my life, to so much

I could relate

But adding 3, has further added color to my tapestry

Looking forward to many more years

colors and hues to life's veneers 

yet to darn

there will be no tears

~ Nalini Jyotsana Chaturvedi

via Poem Hunter

We just realised it's Friday the 13th. Remember: hiding in a duvet and reading books is a safe place. Nothing will hurt you there.
— Orion Publishing (@orionbooks) February 13, 2015

Maybe I will skip plans today, realizing the temperature is in the single digits, order in birthday cake, &; just stay under duvet - reading.
— AuntieNettie'sAttic (@NettiesAttic) February 13, 2015

And that's pretty much what I did - except for the cake.
Cake came later.

Poem of the Day: Beim Schlafengehen

Beim Schlafengehen

(Going to Sleep)

Now that the day has made me tired,

my longings shall be accepted kindly

by the friendly, starry night

like a weary child.

Hands, stop your activity,

head, forget all of your thoughts;

all my senses now

will sink into slumber.

And my soul, unobserved,

will float about on untrammeled wings

in the enchanted circle of the night,

deep and thousand fold to live.

From Richard Strauss' song series Vier letzte Lieder, text by Hermann Hesse
Translated by Heather Engebretson, soprano


Context for the worried parental unit: I attended a Liederabend, a vocal arts recital by one of my work-study students, a young and upcoming soprano. This is the English translation of a Strauss song featured on the recital (not the soprano mentioned above). It caught my attention because sometimes I have a problem going to sleep - turning my brain off from its busy-ness, and shutting down my other senses. My hands sometimes twitch like I'm still typing, and I need to enter a meditation trance to calm them and my mental activity. The words seemed to echo this state and I wanted to remember how relevant it was to me not long after I heard the song.

(Good grief Mom. It's not a call out for the shrink)