Poem for Friday

Heroes
By Kathleen Raine

This war's dead heroes, who has seen them?
They rise in smoke above the burning city,
Faint clouds, dissolving into sky —

And who sifting the Libyan sand can find
The tracery of a human hand,
The faint impression of an absent mind,
The fade-out of a soldier's day dream?

You'll know your love no more, nor his sweet kisses —
He's forgotten you, girl, and in the idle sun
In long green grass that the east wind caresses
The seed of man is ravished by the corn.

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Heather and I had lunch at the Rio Grande Cafe, having concluded that we were both in the mood for Mexican food. I hadn't seen her since last year (heh) so we did lots of catching up about matters fannish and mundane, then we walked over to Bath & Body Works to check out the sale. I behaved -- I spent enough money yesterday on camera bags -- though that new Vanilla Noir eau de toilette smells fabulous and I may have to get some the next time I have a coupon. It is just as well that I didn't get any today, though, because when I got home, I discovered that the wonderful Elizabeth, who sent me a fabulous BPAL collection! I adore BPAL, not so much because I adore every scent but because I am fickle and some days I'm in the mood for jasmine with patchouli while other days I'm in the mood for neroli with amber and other days I'm in the mood for lime with ginger, and I love that everything comes in little vials and one drop lasts for hours and if I get tired of one thing, I can try something else.


Here are some photos of the enormous model train display at DC's Union Station over the winter holidays.


The theme is a Norwegian Christmas, so in addition to charming villages with cottages and churches...


...there are herds of moose, or perhaps reindeer, near the fjords...


...and trolls. Very large trolls.


Here is a frozen pond being used as an ice skating rink.


And the train heading to the North Pole was carrying Santa and a polar bear...


...plus, somewhat more inexplicably, a panda and a penguin.

Adam had tennis in the afternoon, after which we had gnocchi for dinner at his request. The television was reserved for the evening for the BCS championship, though I watched a Next Gen episode first to review tomorrow. I usually root against both Florida and Oklahoma, but since one of those two teams will surely be named number one rather than the more deserving Utah, I chose Florida as the lesser of evils, and I must admit it was a pretty exciting game. You all have probably noticed that I haven't said a word about Gaza here; this is in large part because I've lost two Facebook friends purely because of articles I've linked to on the subject. (Well, and I lost a local friend today on Facebook because apparently I am not worthy, but that is neither here nor there.)

And I must in the interest of public safety report that if you dance around the house singing "Everybody Wants To Be a Cat" to the tune of the Numa Numa song, your cats may be impressed, but your children will think you are a total loser.