Heraclitus

 They told me, Heraclitus, they told me you were dead;
 They brought me bitter news to hear and bitter tears to shed;
 I wept, as I remembered, how often you and I
 Had tired the sun with talking, and sent him down the sky.

 And now that thou art lying, my dear old Carian guest,
 A handful of grey ashes, long, long ago at rest,
 Still are thy pleasant voices, thy nightingales, awake;
 For Death, he taketh all away, but them he cannot take.

William (Johnson) Cory

Analysis of this poem by Wondering Minstrels

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Especially for those who read or saw The Outsiders.....


Nothing Gold Can Stay 


Nature's first green is gold
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay. 


Robert Frost 1923

Battersea Bus Stop

and what of those nameless white headlights

and how could they know her pain

and why would they

and why should they

this is the moment in the film when it rains

with those anonymous pairs 

flaring 

glaring 

past her

as she stands alone 

yet resolute 

how strangely certain she is

even as tight and self pitying tears 

threaten and well and brim

and her lone headlight flickers in the darkness  

© Laura Howard 2012

Steinbeck's letter to Thom 1958

So I was reading the News Review in The Sunday Times and came across a letter written in 1958 from John Steinbeck to his teenage son Thom. Shaun Usher who has a blog, Letters of Note, had posted it and it went viral in a matter of hours. 


As John Harlow writes in The Times, 'Why has the letter suddenly become a pop culture moment? Probably because, as commentators have said, it is beautiful, wise and humanistic - rare qualities in a world of dashed off emails and text messages.'
The Sunday Times, 22.01.12 


I'm putting it here as I too was moved by it. 

November 10, 1958

Dear Thom:

We had your letter this morning. I will answer it from my point of view and of course Elaine will from hers.

First--if you are in love--that’s a good thing--that’s about the best thing that can happen to anyone. Don’t let anyone make it small or light to you.

Second--There are several kinds of love. One is a selfish, mean, grasping, egotistical thing which uses love for self-importance. This is the ugly and crippling kind. The other is an outpouring of everything good in you--of kindness and consideration and respect--not only the social respect of manners but the greater respect which is recognition of another person as unique and valuable. The first kind can make you sick and small and weak but the second can release in you strength, and courage and goodness and even wisdom you didn’t know you had.

You say this is not puppy love. If you feel so deeply--of course it isn’t puppy love.

But I don’t think you were asking me what you feel. You know better than anyone. What you wanted me to help you with is what to do about it--and that I can tell you.

Glory in it for one thing and be very glad and grateful for it.

The object of love is the best and most beautiful. Try to live up to it.

If you love someone--there is no possible harm in saying so--only you must remember that some people are very shy and sometimes the saying must take that shyness into consideration.

Girls have a way of knowing or feeling what you feel, but they usually like to hear it also.

It sometimes happens that what you feel is not returned for one reason or another--but that does not make your feeling less valuable and good.

Lastly, I know your feeling because I have it and I’m glad you have it.

We will be glad to meet Susan. She will be very welcome. But Elaine will make all such arrangements because that is her province and she will be very glad to. She knows about love too and maybe she can give you more help than I can.

And don’t worry about losing. If it is right, it happens--The main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away.

Love,

Fa

Ode to a hot blanket

each night as i draw back the duvet
and slip swiftly into my bed
i rejoice at the wonderful warmth 
my hot blanket has superbly spread


i might even give voice to my gratitude
as my feet feel the heat of the sheet
and praise the perfect present
my night time treat so sweet


it's just so completely cosy
so utterly snug so splendid
a hot blanket on highest heat setting 
should really come most recommended 


© Laura Howard 2012