Poem for Thursday

Leda
By H.D.

Where the slow river
meets the tide,
a red swan lifts red wings
and darker beak,
and underneath the purple down
of his soft breast
uncurls his coral feet.

Through the deep purple
of the dying heat
of sun and mist,
the level ray of sun-beam
has caressed
the lily with dark breast,
and flecked with richer gold
its golden crest.

Where the slow lifting
of the tide,
floats into the river
and slowly drifts
among the reeds,
and lifts the yellow flags,
he floats
where tide and river meet.

Ah kingly kiss--
no more regret
nor old deep memories
to mar the bliss;
where the low sedge is thick,
the gold day-lily
outspreads and rests
beneath soft fluttering
of red swan wings
and the warm quivering
of the red swan's breast.

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Forgive me if I sound disjointed; I'm writing this while listening to Sarah Palin and I keep having to stop and yell at the TV. It wasn't a very eventful day anyway. The stove won't be fixed for a week. The laundry got folded, and I got to watch Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind while folding it, which made me happy. Someone on Freecycle was giving away the two-disc DVD set of Miyazaki's Spirited Away, which I quickly claimed online, then ran out to pick up before someone could beat me to it -- yay! Then the kids got home and I made a feeble attempt to help with math homework, a better attempt to help with English homework, while trying to make a dent in uploading trip pictures. Meanwhile here's Fight School and some fun at the Maryland Renaissance Faire, with weapons from Star Trek, pirate attacks, bar brawls and more:

















PBS had Visions of Italy on -- for pledge drive, of course, with lots of interruptions, but I didn't care -- then watched The Next Generation's "Tin Man" (in case I don't have time after Back To School Night tomorrow). Even Star Trek couldn't steel me for sitting through Palin's speech without wanting to tear my hair out. I'm a little fed up with people on my flist parroting Obama's statement that Palin's daughter's choices are none of our business; I strongly support Obama taking that position as a candidate and as a father, but when Palin is planning to take away everyone else's daughters' choices as a fundamental position of her platform, of course her family is our business. And where were all the people now crying sexism when the media was all over Hillary Clinton? How come it's sexist for Obama to question Palin's credentials, but not racist for her to attempt to ridicule him? The hypocrisy would be a joke if its implications weren't so frightening.