Poem for Sunday

Old Man of the Mountain
By Marie A. Hodge

Old Man of the Mountain, of what are you thinking,
As you sit there so solemn and still on your throne?
Are you thinking of what mighty convulsion of nature
Carved your huge face from the solid gray stone?

Are you thinking of time in the far distant ages,
Before power of man o'er this region held sway,
When, ice-bound and snow-capped, this part of creation
In unbroken slumber and solitude lay?

Do you think of the wakening with one great revulsion,
When Nature's stern law had lifted the ban,
And high on the edge of the rocky foundation,
Your image appeared as a likeness of man?

Could you speak, what strange tales of the years that have vanished
You could tell of your mountain by man yet untrod,
When you, the rude image of Him who created,
Sat silent, communing alone with your God.

Face of the Future
By Frances Ann Johnson Hancock

Within a small, tree-shadowed space
I can look up and see a Face
Ice-chiseled long ago.
If I desert that favored sphere,
The noble features disappear
And only ledges show.

It all depends on where I stand
If shapeless rock or something grand
Is visible to me.
And what I choose to keep in view
Becomes a part of all I do
And all I hope to be.

I'll have to choose with equal care
The stand I take in Life, for there
Within my little place
I'll either see just rock and sky
And never know or wonder why,
Or I'll behold a Face!

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These poems were written in 1938 and 1920 respectively. New Hampshire's stone symbol of independence collapsed last night. I am really glad we saw it three summers ago while it was there.

Reading the morning news...the astronauts made it down safely...Thomas Friedman talks about how, now that the war's over, liberals and conservatives need to stop arguing about how to rebuild Baghdad and get to work already...I won't even get started on all the things currently pissing me off in Congress, I will just refer people to my friend 's LiveJournal since she is very good about keeping up with them...I love Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart...

Must go change the poll at Trek Nation. Here are my GMR reviews of The Da Vinci Code and Caravaggio -- on the latter I sent corrections to the film editors but they didn't bother to incorporate them, so please don't blame me for the typos. I want to thank , my Italian expert! I'm pretty fond of that review anyway.