Poem for Tuesday

Alexander the Great
By Christa Wehner Radeburg
Translated by Lynne Kvinnesland

It was as if the dawn broke forth in song
as Alexander lay concealed in Olympias' womb.
The forests of Macedonia rustled in accord,
surrounding Pella's grove at Phillip's castle.

The young prince saddled his horse and rode
toward the East,
transforming the world.
Bucephalus strained,
Bucephalus stamped,
Bucephalus struggled
against the youth's strength.

The Iliad ran through his dreams,
engrossed ... soon he stood upon the hill of Troy ...
Achilles was near.
We remember Issus Battle, Darius' death,
the battlefield at Gaugamela,
Persepolis reduced to ruins...
Still Susa's fountains add their melodious melody
to the joyous sound of strings and wedding dance,
as Orient's splendor with the legion was entwined.

The young man's path led on to the heights of Hindu Kush
where battle he did win, but lost Bucephalus.

Babylon, Babylon, Babylon cries silently
for a young son of Greece,
the friend of his youth, Hephaestion,
Iskander even...

A king's golden throne is shattered,
scattering stardust through the night for light.

For centuries the desert sands remain aglow,
borne within a mind as old as time.
Twilight falls, spreading its glow over the Euphrates,
from whose depths Hellas' legacy emerges,
harbored in the dawn as it breaks forth in song...

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Poem for because she is the reason I have Alexander on the brain. Earthsea: loved the slashiness, liked the Prancing Pony, didn't mind Lana, didn't much like Hogwarts, hated Gandalf and Morgause. The miniseries has so little to do with the books as I remember them that it's not at all difficult to watch, but...it has so little to do with the books as I remember them. I am tempted to think, "I gave up Tolkien for this?" before reminding myself that this is not the LeGuin of my youth. Ah well, at least it will give me a renewed appreciation for LOTR: ROTK when and I meet up tomorrow to get our EEs -- our second anniversary, sweetie! *g* Best thing about Sci-Fi: the Sean Bean commercial. Worst: what is UP with the sound? Was that just my region where the music was forty decibels louder than the voices?

Various events have left me feeling wiped-out exhausted despite having had a lovely weekend. Putting anti-death penalty rant on hold because I don't have it in me at the moment. When I find out who has been quoting my locked posts to people not on my friends list, there may be an unfriending spree -- spent part of today trying to decide whether to unfriend my entire list and make people solemnly swear not to reveal the contents of my locked posts before friending back from now on, whether to unfriend only those people I don't really know, or whether to unfriend only those people I do really know and have reason not to trust. I am really at the end of my rope here and I don't want to play these games.

Had a slow stupid day, wrote some articles, dealt with some schlepping because my older son's school winter concert is on Wednesday and the chorus rehearsed today even though there's no late activity bus on Mondays thus requiring a trip around the beltway to get him home. Saw my mother, talked to a bunch of relatives I'd missed on my birthday on account of being out of town, had long talks with a couple of very dear friends (hugs to you -- you know who you are and you're both here), plus my very oldest friend, who lives fifteen minutes from me yet I have managed not to see her since her son's birthday party this summer. Went back to writing up notes on O'Brian, realized I had better finish my holiday fic first, panicked upon realizing that something that I thought I wanted to write wasn't going to work exactly the way I wanted to write it. Consoled self by writing The Worst Fic Ever -- yes, really this time! -- with ! Snupin mpreg! The WORST!

wrote me "Out of Time", birthday fic about Snape, Lupin, Malfoy and me! My own Mary Sue fic! And I forgot to mention that along with my card, made me a CD of songs to slash Remus and Sirius by -- all magic-themed naturally. They include "You Can Do Magic" (America), "Strange Magic" (ELO), "Could It Be Magic" (Barry Manilow), "Witchcraft" (Frank Sinatra), "Magic" (Pilot), "Magic" (Olivia Newton-John), "Magic" (The Cars), "Abracadabra" (Steve Miller Band), "Love Potion #9" (The Searchers), "Werewolves of London" (Warren Zevon), "Wolfman's Brother" (Phish), "Hungry Like the Wolf" (Duran Duran), "The Mystic's Dream" (Loreena McKennitt) and "A Kind of Magic" (Queen). Does it get any better than this, except having a spouse who will actually write slash with you?

Speaking of music, from , a meme: Copy down the lyrics of a favorite song, then bold the lines that make up a message that you would like to say to someone. A song thought about in Philadelphia even though I did not hear it till more than a decade after I had moved away, because it makes me think of someone I knew back when...

Love Travels
Written by Bob Halligan, Jr and Linda Halligan
Sung by Kathy Mattea

So I stand here and gaze across the ocean
Knowing that I may not ever hold you
Quite the way I told you
But the distance won't silence my devotion
'Cause I believe there is still a way to reach out
In my heart there's no doubt

Love travels the miles upon the wings of angels
Love finds you, I swear its true
I can love you from here - I'll love you from here.

So I gaze at the photograph before me
Wonderin' if you still believe I love you
I did what I had to do
Then I look and I swear I saw you smiling
Well heaven makes these tender hearts the strongest
Mine beats for you as long as

Love travels the miles upon the wings of angels
Love finds you, I swear its true
I can love you from here
On moonbeams, on heartstrings
Love makes its way through anything
Love finds you, I swear it's true
I will always be near - I'll love you from here

Well time will never change me
You just gotta believe
And the dream that saves me
Is that you're happy and you're free

It'll fly through the air with the greatest of ease
As much as you want, now, as much as you need
Across every mountain and all seven seas
The eagles'll carry it on God's gentle breeze
And I'll never give up
I'll never give in
And you'll know that it's me when you hear the voice singin'
Lai Lai Lai Lai Lai Lai Lai Lai Lai Lai

Love travels the miles upon the wings of angels
Love finds you, I swear its true
I can love you from here
On moonbeams, on heartstrings
Love makes its way through anything
Love finds you, I swear it's true
I will always be near - I'll love you from here.



Condom Kingdom, a store on South Street which sells what's obvious from the name as well as all manner of lube, sex toys, etc., has a stream of painted sperm leading to the front door and a much larger river of sperm across the ceiling...


...running around the entire store. This amuses me far more than it should. I got several people gifts here for the holidays, heh.


The Korean War Memorial on 38th Parallel Avenue, a street name that could really throw a person off if a person did not realize that the memorial was there, particularly since the street runs north-south.


B'nai Abraham on Lombard Street, a historic synagogue now run by Lubavitchers so far as we could make out.


Man Full Of Trouble Tavern on Spruce Street, built in 1759, the only original tavern remaining from colonial Philadelphia.


The city from the seaport museum. Philadelphia scenery is so lovely, even when it's not the famous monuments or the University of Pennsylvania artwork like the Dueling Tampons.