By Robert Pinsky
When I had no roof I made
Audacity my roof. When I had
No supper my eyes dined.
When I had no eyes I listened.
When I had no ears I thought.
When I had no thought I waited.
When I had no father I made
Care my father. When I had
No mother I embraced order.
When I had no friend I made
Quiet my friend. When I had no
Enemy I opposed my body.
When I had no temple I made
My voice my temple. I have
No priest, my tongue is my choir.
When I have no means fortune
Is my means. When I have
Nothing, death will be my fortune.
Need is my tactic, detachment
Is my strategy. When I had
No lover I courted my sleep.
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Before I say anything else, since I am watching the news, I have to say: THANK GOD, and I may be a terrible person but I wouldn't mind seeing his head on a pike outside the White House, or the Pentagon, or where the World Trade Center once stood. I don't know why the reporters are going on about what a great day this is for America, frankly; it's a great day for the whole world, and if it's true that it was American soldiers and intelligence workers who wiped Bin Laden off our planet, a heartfelt thank you and congratulations to them all.
Both my kids went to help my mother at Hebrew school this morning on a big project with her class -- constructing illustrated Torahs with second graders -- and my mother took them home for lunch afterward. After a quiet morning for me and Paul, we picked them up and went out to see azaleas, which are just past peak all around the area. First we drove through Garrett Park, the very pretty neighborhood where dozens of homes have planted hundreds of flowering bushes, then we went to the National Arboretum, where there are thousands of plants in gorgeous rare colors.
We caught up on The Borgias tonight after The Simpsons -- more sex than violence, at least, in the most recent two episodes, though still no clever subtle dialogue, not even the humor of The Tudors, quite a disappointment. I need to catch up with Game of Thrones and see if I still have the same reaction to that; it's making me appreciate Doctor Who a bit more, though I still think the writing has slid so much since the brilliant scripts for Nine and early Ten. Tomorrow we have to catch up on Sanctuary since we forgot it had moved to Mondays.
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