Poem for Tuesday

You, Andrew Marvell
By Archibald MacLeish

And here face down beneath the sun
And here upon earth's noonward height
To feel the always coming on
The always rising of the night:

To feel creep up the curving east
The earthy chill of dusk and slow
Upon those under lands the vast
And ever climbing shadow grow

And strange at Ecbatan the trees
Take leaf by leaf the evening strange
The flooding dark about their knees
The mountains over Persia change

And now at Kermanshah the gate
Dark empty and the withered grass
And through the twilight now the late
Few travelers in the westward pass

And Baghdad darken and the bridge
Across the silent river gone
And through Arabia the edge
Of evening widen and steal on

And deepen on Palmyra's street
The wheel rut in the ruined stone
And Lebanon fade out and Crete
high through the clouds and overblown

And over Sicily the air
Still flashing with the landward gulls
And loom and slowly disappear
The sails above the shadowy hulls

And Spain go under and the shore
Of Africa the gilded sand
And evening vanish and no more
The low pale light across that land

Nor now the long light on the sea:

And here face downward in the sun
To feel how swift how secretly
The shadow of the night comes on . . .

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A follow-up to yesterday's poetry post, for all the Marvell fans I discovered.

I need to talk once more about the Mithrils, now that they've been awarded. First, congratulations to the winners. I know there are people for whom these awards mean a lot, validating various personal takes on characters or the Tolkien universe, some constructed over many years. I won't go on a tear again about how much I hate fannish competition because we've already established my hypocrisy by not having pulled my story out of contention in the first place, but just for a reality check, I want to note:

I wrote "Emblematic" in thirty minutes for . I owe the entire fic to , who issued the challenge, "An average day." It had no beta, no editor, popped off the top of my head (though I'd been thinking about Aragorn for a long time, I'd never made any notes on what I thought he was thinking about when he wasn't thinking about all the things we already knew he was thinking about). Of any LOTR fic I wrote -- really of any fanfic I have ever written -- it probably took the least time and got the least polish.

Now it has a bunch of commendations and ironically, instead of feeling good, I am feeling guilty and mortified and, worst of all, like I should never write any fic over 500 words again. I spent hours yesterday working on a piece of a fic that is flawed, redundant in places, OOC in others, AU in still others and will be read by a grand total of possibly 100 people. "Emblematic" won friends and influenced people and actually got me e-mail from two professional writers whom I admire. Whyever do I bother to spend time on the long stuff, instead of writing my own damn novel and sticking to the teeny tiny ficlets that are obviously my forte?

And now, speaking of fic, I will ask a question that my esteemed partner in crime asked in her LJ, a point on which we disagree slightly, based on a different reading of the Prisoner of Azkaban line, "'As long as I take [the Wolfsbane potion] in the week preceding the full moon, I keep my mind when I transform...I am able to curl up in my office, a harmless wolf, and wait for the moon to wane again.'" Does this mean that he sleeps, curled up, through the full moon? That he can sleep, but he could also be awake if he wanted? That he "keeps his mind" in the sense of being fully and completely in possession of his faculties, or "keeps his mind" in that he doesn't try to kill people and is otherwise pretty out of it? Would it be safe for a human to sit with him, or would that just drive him crazy, as he would want to eat the person but wouldn't be able to? Does anyone have canon, quotes from interviews, or opinions we should know?

Some pimping. First, and critically, has absolutely murdered me with a Gangster No. 1 songvid to "I've Got You Under My Skin" which is here on her page and features Paul Bettany lusting after David Thewlis and being in denial and GUH. Because that whole movie really is about Paul Bettany lusting after David Thewlis: there is no other plot. Oh, there's violence and brief nudity in the vid so if you're at work, wait till you get home. But don't forget. *shivers pleasantly*

And speaking of David Thewlis, has Baby!David! *writhes*

has written a story that I think M&C fandom urgently needed: "XXIX" (as in the Article of War prohibiting sodomy). It's quite upsetting. Go read it in . *cries*

And then there are John Kerry and John Edwards. I would desperately want them to win in November if they were grumpy old men with no sense of humor. But I also must whimper in delight when I see quotes like this from Slate:

Did anything of substance occur this week? Not really. Just your normal, run-of-the-mill campaign stops, with...the candidate making homoerotic jokes about his running mate. "I said to [Edwards], we've got to stop hugging like this," Kerry told a women's fund-raiser Friday morning. He then described a Jay Leno bit in which photos of Kerry and Edwards hugging and gazing adoringly at each other were aired to the tune of "You Are So Beautiful." Kerry loved it. "I just want you to know," he told the assembled audience, "I thought we made a great couple."

If anyone has this Leno bit in any electronic form, or knows where I can download it, please tell me? *grovels*

My animal spirit guide, gacked from various flisters:


Eagle!
Bald Eagle's Wisdom Includes:
Swiftness, Strength, Courage, Wisdom, Keen sight, Illumination of Spirit, Healing, Creation; Knowledge of magick, Ability to see hidden spiritual truths, Rising above the material to see the spiritual, Ability to see the overall pattern, Connection to spirit guides and teachers, Great power and balance, Dignity with grace

If you enjoy this quiz please rate, and I may do some more!

Animal Spirit Guides ~ Which One Calls To You?
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