Poem for Monday, Maryland Zoo and Conservatory

The Multitude
By Ellen Hinsey

Standing at the edge is the great Multitude.

They inch forward in their rags and hunger.
   Their movement along the ground lifts
   the sound of ancestral migrations.

They are carrying the dark water of need
   in their eyes; they are carrying the first
   vowels, the first consonants,

But their mouths are silent, and watchful.

And the great scavenging wings hang over them;
   the raven eyes hunting among the muteness
   of the winding cortege.

Beside them are the pools filled with the specters
   of famine, civil war, drought--

They become one body, a muscle of need.
   A testament of want.

And night--which is always upon them-rides them
   like the wild horses of the storm-filled plains.

They will inherit the earth only when the final
   pilgrimage is done.

For in this life, the crystal lake and the great sword
   of understanding, raised high, will not show
   them mercy.

Far off, in the West, a light burns brightly. But
   it is not for them.

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Another quickie because we had another busy day! After a couple of hours of reading the paper in the morning, we picked up younger son from working at Hebrew school and went to Baltimore to the Howard Rawlings Conservatory and the Maryland Zoo. I had epic miscommunication with two friends, one of whom I accidentally sent to the arboretum instead of the conservatory that's next door to the zoo, the other of whom tried to call me but I didn't get her voicemail/messages until long after the fact -- we managed to meet up with her to see the about-to-bloom (and then die) century plant growing through the conservatory roof and the spring tulip display, after visiting the African and Arctic regions at the zoo.

















Adam went out for a while with friends when we got home, we had (fake) chicken for dinner, then we watched Hyde Park on Hudson which is finally out on DVD so the rest of my family can see it. As before, I loved George VI and was completely irritated by everyone else in the movie (it's no King's Speech and boy, that FDR had some stamina, having sex with four women at least while staying at his mother's house over busy working weekends). Around that we watched the women's Final Four. I rooted for UConn to beat Notre Dame, but I'm afraid that, with the Lady Terps out of the running, I'm rooting for Louisville to win the whole thing. ;)