Poem for Friday

Achill
By Derek Mahon

im chaonaí uaigneach nach mór go bhfeicim an lá

I lie and imagine a first light gleam in the bay
    After one more night of erosion and nearer the grave,
Then stand and gaze from the window at break of day
    As a shearwater skims the ridge of an incoming wave;
And I think of my son a dolphin in the Aegean,
    A sprite among sails knife-bright in a seasonal wind,
And wish he were here where currachs walk on the ocean
    To ease with his talk the solitude locked in my mind.

I sit on a stone after lunch and consider the glow
    Of the sun through mist, a pearl bulb containèdly fierce;
A rain-shower darkens the schist for a minute or so
    Then it drifts away and the sloe-black patches disperse.
Croagh Patrick towers like Naxos over the water
    And I think of my daughter at work on her difficult art
And wish she were with me now between thrush and plover,
    Wild thyme and sea-thrift, to lift the weight from my heart.

The young sit smoking and laughing on the bridge at evening
    Like birds on a telephone pole or notes on a score.
A tin whistle squeals in the parlour, once more it is raining,
    Turf-smoke inclines and a wind whines under the door;
And I lie and imagine the lights going on in the harbor
    Of white-housed Náousa, your clear definition at night,
And wish you were here to upstage my disconsolate labour
    As I glance through a few thin pages and switch off the light.

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made my day on so many levels that I cannot even enumerate them all here. We had Mexican food (my first time since I've been allowed to eat it again) and did a little shopping and she brought me presents! Awesome presents! And now I smell good and am warm and fuzzy. You must let me take you out to lunch next week, sweetums.

Also, I want to hug just because.

Tonight's Smallville certainly had its moments -- Lana actually kicked butt for a few minutes! Kristin Kreuk's acting ability is still horribly limited and I still gack at her being everyone's love object in a town with Lois and Chloe, but at least this week it seemed more obvious than ever that she is just the warm body Clark and Lex will share if they refuse to have each other and she might actually have a personality not wrapped up in a man. My favorite moment all episode was Clark wailing, "Mom, I can't imagine loving anyone else," and then Lois driving in right then and telling Clark to turn that frown upside down. Rock it! I have no objection whatsoever to Clark/Lois, because he'd have to grow up and get over himself quite a bit for them to be together, whereas Lana allows him to remain stuck emotionally at 14. It's kind of funny that these days she stands up better to Clark -- she fights with him! -- than Lex, though Lex was pretty sappy and in need of a hug (over Clark as well as Lana -- his ostensible jealousy over Clark's looks shows an awful lot of attention to them). If Lana can bring that out in Lex, I am going to enjoy it until she manages to have a personality of her own.

If Chloe is the one who bites it, what would rock is if her death made Clark AND Lana AND Lex realize that they've been stuck in the same "Can I trust you? How about now?" rut for years and break out of it. If Jonathan is the one who bites it, I'm still pulling for Martha/Lionel. And if Lionel is the one who bites it, I may not be watching the show anymore, but I doubt he is because Clark seems too involved in the funeral in the previews. I just don't see that happening if it's Lionel, thank goodness. I guess the sheriff doesn't really count as anyone. And I don't really see Lois dying and Chloe becoming her because there's just not enough set up there to allow that to happen...Lois doesn't have so much life for Chloe to step into. The reverse is almost true.

After Smallville we all watched "The Apple" which I must review tomorrow. We enjoyed it greatly, particularly me: Spock taking bullets deadly spores for Kirk after yelling "JIM!!!" and pushing him out of the way, and Kirk being so worried he has to lecture Spock a moment after he recovers. Then Spock getting fried by Vaal and Kirk having to run with him thrown over his shoulder and Spock snarking both times at McCoy, who gets even by going along with Kirk's casting Spock as Satan at the end. The hurt/comfort potential is staggering! And in between, David Soul learning about sex from Chekov is just too much. Younger son thought the lightning-struck crewmen looked too much "like those guys that got burned by Pizza the Hutt" in "The Devil in the Dark" but approved of the overall score: Kirk 3, God 0. Even the bad episodes of original Trek are just so good!


For the promise of a little fish...


...the sea lion will go swimming out...


...and bring back the frisbee!

I feel certain that I'm forgetting something but I have no idea what. Astrocenter e-mail horoscope: Be careful of whom you trust today. You may find that instead of feeling like venturing out, you would much rather stick close to home and enjoy the comforts that you have worked so hard to attain. Don't entrust just anyone with your secrets, because not only is information likely to be misinterpreted, but also what you say may not be taken as seriously as you would like it to be. Hmm...this does not sound good! *hides under blankie*