Tuesday, May 09, 2017

Poem for Tuesday and Great Falls Virginia

Should lanterns shine
By Dylan Thomas

Should lanterns shine, the holy face,
Caught in an octagon of unaccustomed light,
Would wither up, and any boy of love
Look twice before he fell from grace.
The features in their private dark
Are formed of flesh, but let the false day come
And from her lips the added pigments fall,
The mummy cloths expose an ancient breast.

I have been taught to reason by the heart,
But heart, like head, leads helplessly;
I have been told to reason by the pulse,
And, when it quickens, alter the actions’ pace
Till field and roof lie level and the same
So fast I move defying time, the quiet gentleman
Whose beard wags in Egyptian wind.

I have heard many years of telling,
And many years should see some change.

The ball I threw while playing in the park
Has not yet reached the ground.

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It has been gorgeous and cool here the past few days, and we got plenty of rain, so since we had heard that the Potomac River at Great Falls was cresting pretty impressively, we decided to eat lunch early and go see. Since the bridges to Olmsted Island are closed in Maryland, we went to the Virginia side, where we also walked through the ruins of Matildaville and the Patowmack Canal. The water was indeed high, even in the woods waterfalls, and we saw flying vultures and mating skinks:

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I did a bunch of mostly fun chores, from cleaning fallen petals off the deck to putting laundry away to setting up a little tabletop fountain to hanging up my new lantern. In the evening we watched Supergirl, which had too little actual Kara though I'm glad they gave James his own story, and the season finale of Billions, where sadly no one but Chuck's dad got what they deserved; I like Taylor so I was hoping they'd get fired or at least choose to run far away!

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