Go, book: go, vessel laden with the mind
By Hafez
Translated by Elizabeth Bridges
Go, book: go, vessel laden with the mind
That builded thee, go now & bear thy freight
Of man’s old messaging to all mankind.
Say first:—Such oft-told things as I relate,
Such pond’rous words strung on unperish’d thought,
Such pearly praises worn by countless queens,
Such temper’d swords wherewith heroes have fought,
Such sceptres that have ruled all earth’s demesnes,
Such broider’d robes, such antique jewelry,
Such orbs, such thrones, such treasures (say thou then)
These the rich heritage of poesy
Are as wealth’s burden is to untaught men;
Life’s costly crowns that but disaster bring,
To who is not in spirit born a king.
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I spent a lot of Wednesday excavating the back of the lower shelves of my corner armoire, where I had costume jewelry mostly bought in college and grad school kept in plastic containers. I had already sorted some to give to the same freecyclers to whom I gave my last batch of sparkly jewelry from 30 years ago, so I decided to go through all the rest and though it took the entire afternoon, I have successfully sorted and given away all the earrings I haven't worn since the '90s. I also found some jewelry that used to be my grandmas, so that was a nice surprise.
I needed to be in the house because the basement wall panel was being repaired and Paul was on work calls. I got to talk to two of my high school friends at lunchtime, and and I got to console my cats who were extremely displeased about having a stranger making loud noises in the basement. We had a quick dinner so I could watch the end of Thor with Kristen, then we put on a couple more episodes of The Lost Symbol, which seems to be varying from the book. Here are some of the animals we saw at Meadowlark Gardens over the weekend:
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