Poem for Friday

To a Waterfowl
By William Cullen Bryant

   Whither, 'midst falling dew,
While glow the heavens with the last steps of day,
Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue
   Thy solitary way?

   Vainly the fowler's eye
Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong,
As, darkly painted on the crimson sky,
   Thy figure floats along.

   Seek'st thou the plashy brink
Of weedy lake, or marge of river wide,
Or where the rocking billows rise and sink
   On the chafed ocean side?

   There is a Power whose care
Teaches thy way along that pathless coast,--
The desert and illimitable air,--
   Lone wandering, but not lost.

   All day thy wings have fanned,
At that far height, the cold, thin atmosphere,
Yet stoop not, weary, to the welcome land,
   Though the dark night is near.

   And soon that toil shall end;
Soon shalt thou find a summer home, and rest,
And scream among thy fellows; reeds shall bend,
   Soon, o'er thy sheltered nest.

   Thou'rt gone, the abyss of heaven
Hath swallowed up thy form; yet, on my heart
Deeply hath sunk the lesson thou hast given,
   And shall not soon depart.

   He who, from zone to zone,
Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,
In the long way that I must tread alone,
   Will lead my steps aright.



Gratuitous waterfowl to go with the poem (should have been a flying heron, I know, or an egret, but I'm in a duckling mood).

Why is it that the announcement that there is going to be a mega-exclusive-never-before-seen-footage-with-bloopers LOTR box set in 2007 fills me not with joy and "Yay, more LOTR!" but with annoyance, disgust and (least explicable of all) embarrassment? I feel humiliated by this, and it makes very little sense, because god knows Star Trek has been bilking the fans for far longer, with its gaming and conventions and Las Vegas experience and on and on. Harry Potter is even using similar tactics with children. So why does it piss me off so very much with Tolkien, when it's not even like I was a lifelong fan before FOTR?

Am blocking out school crisis of this morning until my son gets home this afternoon and I can get some first-hand information. Sending hugs out to for calling, and also to to whom I owe a call that I haven't managed to make yet. Hey, anyone want to write some really shameless, no-strings-attached gratuitout smut?

:
1. What is the best dessert you've ever had?
I forget what it was called but it involved layers of white and milk chocolate mousse in a dark chocolate candy shell, with raspberry sauce on the side.
2. Is there a dessert that just plain grosses you out?
Chocolate-covered insects.
3. Straight out of the container or with lots of toppings .... tell us how you like your ice cream.
Depends on the flavor, brand and my mood. Mint chip I will happily eat straight from the carton. Plain chocolate I prefer with whipped cream. Vanilla I prefer with hot fudge and whipped cream. I have never understood why people would ruin a perfectly good sundae with a banana, though.
4. Cookie dough, brownie mix, cake batter or the finished products?
Finished. Will pick chocolate chips out of cookie dough but that's the extent of my interest.
5. You've just invented a great new dessert .... what's in it and what is it called?
Lots and lots of layers of chocolate, and I don't care what it's called so long as there's chocolate in the name. *g*