Lisbon

En route to Lisbon via Zurich. This blog may yet be recalled to life.

Stanzas Written On The Road Between Florence And Pisa

I first encountered Lord Byron's poem as a sophomore in English class. I think there were three poems that really hit me hard in high school and that still echo in my head from time to time--this, "The Love Song of Alfred J. Prufrock," and "A Dream Deferred."

---
Oh, talk not to me of a name great in story;
The days of our youth are the days of our glory;
And the myrtle and ivy of sweet two-and-twenty
Are worth all your laurels, though ever so plenty.

What are garlands and crowns to the brow that is wrinkled?
'Tis but as a dead flower with May-dew besprinkled:
Then away with all such from the head that is hoary!
What care I for the wreaths that can only give glory?

O Fame!—if I e'er took delight in thy praises,
'Twas less for the sake of thy high-sounding phrases,
Than to see the bright eyes of the dear one discover
She thought that I was not unworthy to love her.

There chiefly I sought thee, there only I found thee;
Her glance was the best of the rays that surround thee;
When it sparkled o'er aught that was bright in my story,
I knew it was love, and I felt it was glory.

Gone With The... Kimel?

I don't write here very often anymore. This is in part because I haven't been moving around much lately--but more because most of what I've had to say feels as if it would be uninteresting to people outside of my head. Posting progress reports on DemiDec releases = not so intriguing.

On second thought, I probably ought to have written something about our DemiDec retreat in Mexico, but at the time we were all so busy eating tacos and wrestling with a publication crisis that it didn't even occur to me.

They were really good tacos. It was a really good trip.

Anyway, if anyone actually still visits this blog -- thank you.

A parting pointer: www.gonewiththekimel.com.