Poem for Friday

In the Trenches
By Maurice Hewlett

As I lay in the trenches
Under the Hunter’s Moon,
My mind ran to the lenches
Cut in a Wiltshire down.

I saw their long black shadows,
The beeches in the lane,
The gray church in the meadows
And my white cottage—plain.

Thinks I, the down lies dreaming
Under that hot moon’s eye,
Which sees the shells fly screaming
And men and horses die.

And what makes she, I wonder,
Of the horror and the blood,
And what’s her luck, to sunder
The evil from the good?

’T was more than I could compass,
For how was I to think
With such infernal rumpus
In such a blasted stink?

But here’s a thought to tally
With t’other. That moon sees
A shrouded German valley
With woods and ghostly trees.

And maybe there’s a river
As we have got at home
With poplar-trees aquiver
And clots of whirling foam.

And over there some fellow,
A German and a foe,
Whose gills are turning yellow
As sure as mine are so,

Watches that riding glory
Apparel’d in her gold,
And craves to hear the story
Her frozen lips enfold.

And if he sees as clearly
As I do where her shrine
Must fall, he longs as dearly,
With heart as full as mine.

--------

Did chores. Am really, really tired of this cold and wondering whether it has been enough days that it's worth going to the doctor -- I am concerned that I may have an ear infection, because a couple of times I've gotten dizzy for no good reason, but it's been really isolated and I don't know how much is just seasonal pollen on top of nagging sinus pressure. My sister's husband's mother had surgery today for a brain tumor, I have no news yet (my sister and I tend to play phone tag at the best of times just because of our kids and carpool schedules) so I feel like whining is stupid and selfish. I haven't said anything about because I barely knew her, we'd only ever discussed fannish stuff and had not been in the same fandom for quite some time, but I have been thinking about her a lot and feeling awful and also feeling like it would be intrusive to talk to her friends online about that because I am sure they are feeling far, far worse. I didn't even know about her primary journal until after she died. It makes me sad how little we all know each other. And how much that is true in real life as well -- how few conversations I've had that mean anything with so many people. That's part of what was bothering me on Rosh Hashanah, feeling like I was having all these superficial, pointless, phony conversations with too many people at what's supposed to be my place of worship.

Okay, obviously I am postmenstrual or something. I had a reasonably good day -- exchanged son's gloves and did some other chores out, folded laundry while watching Smallville which was a disappointment on a great many levels like Clark PUNCHING Lex as soon as he feels like that's a safe way to communicate with him now that he doesn't have super-powers -- what the fuck!!! Yeah, Lex has been an asshole trying to get Clark's attention learn Clark's secret, and he is understandably grumpy about The Endless Terrible Lana Moments (imagine having to witness that pathetic teenage lack of chemistry first-hand!) but how is Clark any better than those guys from Lex's lab if he's going to use violence to solve problems, whether they're his or the community's? Lex listens to him, all he has to do is TALK! What a pathetic loser. Then we're supposed to believe that after not feeling ready for sex with Jason for a year, Lana feels ready for sex with Clark after a couple of unconvincing makeout scenes...yeah, Clark's a "normal" teenage boy now *gack* and is going to grab it while he can but everything about these two together screams ABSOLUTELY WRONG to me and I don't mean because I prefer the slash. If Clark decided to try to reconnect with Chloe, who is at least growing up and not totally selfish and intelligent and witty, it'd be tolerable. It doesn't help that I watched Star Trek's "Court Martial" for reviewing right after Smallville and despite its dated sexist stupidity it was a hundred times better. Even my kids were paying more attention, and there wasn't one special effect of any significance.


Hibiscus. Am not sure this will still be there after tomorrow -- we have a flood watch in effect all day, as we are supposed to get a cold front from the west and the remains of Hurricane Tammy from the south -- so I figured I had better enjoy it while I can.

Have done some very entertaining writing with over the past couple of days and have not forgotten that certain evil people have made Aragorn and Snape misbehave in my head. I spent some time updating some links in my fic comm that I had neglected and discovered some things from ages ago that made me smile, though they also made me nostalgic. Urgh, I should go to bed and eat spicy food tomorrow and improve my disposition!