By D.H. Lawrence
And you remember, in the afternoon
The sea and the sky went grey, as if there had sunk
A flocculent dust on the floor of the world: the festoon
Of the sky sagged dusty as spider cloth,
And coldness clogged the sea, till it ceased to croon.
A dank, sickening scent came up from the grime
Of weed that blackened the shore, so that I recoiled
Feeling the raw cold dun me: and all the time
You leapt about on the slippery rocks, and threw
Me words that rang with a brassy, shallow chime.
And all day long, that raw and ancient cold
Deadened me through, till the grey downs dulled to sleep.
Then I longed for you with your mantle of love to fold
Me over, and drive from out of my body the deep
Cold that had sunk to my soul, and there kept hold.
But still to me all evening long you were cold,
And I was numb with a bitter, deathly ache;
Till old days drew me back into their fold,
And dim hopes crowded me warm with companionship,
And memories clustered me close, and sleep was cajoled.
And I slept till dawn at the window blew in like dust,
Like a linty, raw-cold dust disturbed from the floor
Of the unswept sea; a grey pale light like must
That settled upon my face and hands till it seemed
To flourish there, as pale mould blooms on a crust.
And I rose in fear, needing you fearfully.
For I thought you were warm as a sudden jet of blood.
I thought I could plunge in your living hotness, and be
Clean of the cold and the must. With my hand on the latch
I heard you in your sleep speak strangely to me.
And I dared not enter, feeling suddenly dismayed.
So I went and washed my deadened flesh in the sea
And came back tingling clean, but worn and frayed
With cold, like the shell of the moon; and strange it seems
That my love can dawn in warmth again, unafraid.
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Because I had two coupons and $8 in surprise points, I tried to go shopping at Sears today, which was an epic failure in every way, nearly entirely their fault...okay, it's my fault that I didn't double check the web site this morning to see if a specific item from last night was still in stock, but it's their fault that their computer couldn't figure out whether it could be shipped to the store from another, their fault that their computer wouldn't acknowledge either my coupons or my surprise points, and very much their fault that the signs still all over the store declaring that the shoes were on sale didn't mention that the sale ended 9/4. I ended up ordering from Amazon while I was still in the store and saved money in the process! Also, since I was in the mall anyway, I successfully gathered people for a Raikou raid at the Sprint store and every single one of us caught the Raikou.
My day was otherwise very nice. I had bagels and coffee with Alice, who was in Bethesda for an appointment, and dinner in College Park with my parents and Adam, who is home overnight so we can take him to the airport early Saturday, when he will fly to Seattle for an interview for a summer internship. We ate at Ten Ren Tea, whose name is deceptive because although they do have a really big selection of excellent bubble tea, they also have a decent sized Asian fusion menu including excellent Szechuan and General Tso's tofu (and those of you who eat tofu know how many Chinese restaurants make it with such horrible texture, it doesn't matter how good the sauce is). We watched the end of the Nationals game while Adam discussed interview questions, now we're watching Colbert, whom I skipped last night because I can't stomach one more second of Bernie Sanders. From around the water at Brookside Gardens:
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