Quote of the Day

"Slowly crossing the deck from the scuttle, Ahab leaned over the side and watched how his shadow in the water sank and sank to his gaze, the more and the more that he strove to pierce the profundity. But the lovely aromas in that enchanted air did at last seem to dispel, for a moment, the cankerous thing in his soul. That glad, happy air, that winsome sky, did at last stroke and caress him; the step-mother world, so long cruel--forbidding--now threw affectionate arms round his stubborn neck, and did seem to joyously sob over him, as if over one, that however wilful and erring, she could yet find it in her heart to save and to bless. From beneath his slouched hat Ahab dropped a tear into the sea; nor did all the Pacific contain such wealth as that one wee drop."
Herman Melville, Moby Dick

The Melville Poems: Ode to SO

First peeping, peering round my door
now pontificating on my bed
the brilliance I have found
is bold
and dark
and wears
the slippers that I gave her
as she trips and slips about the wooden floors
of Melville

The Melville Poems: Ode to RM

Find her in the nook
pretty shoes, curling hair
Find her in the lab
tending cells, lamenting time
Find her alone at Melville
spreading peanut butter and
singing joyously to the bread

The Melville Poems: Ode to MH

Fresh golden sunshine
smiles, attends her as she runs
leading her back to Melville

The Melville Poems: Untitled

The Austen-esque book
will chronicle our affairs
real and imagined

Reija's pretty prose
reads with quips and quibbles quaint
what a silly scene

Find the Melville House
Forever immortalized
just like Patty's Place

Qué llegue el viernes ya!!!

2 Nephi 8 (or, Trust)

"I am he; yea I am he that comforteth you. Behold, who art thou, that thou shouldst be afraid of man, who shall die ... and forgettest the Lord thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth?

"Fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings.
For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool. But my righteousness shall be forever, and my salvation from generation to generation.

"For the Lord shall comfort Zion, he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody.

"And on my arm shall they trust."

How do we exhibit fear of mean and their revilings? Is our hope in the Lord? Are we more upset and fearful over our diligence in daily prayer, scripture study, and being kind to others, or are we more concerned about finances, work, and deadlines? While we should do our duty in worldly affairs, we should fear God more than man.

The Lord will comfort us and all of our waste places. He will make our weaknesses strengths. Anything in us that is a wilderness or a desert the Lord will make as beautiful and lush as a garden. We can have great hope and happiness in our Savior.

Doctrine and Covenants 3

7 For, behold, you should not have feared man more than God. Although men set at naught the counsels of God, and despise his words—
8 Yet you should have been faithful; and he would have extended his arm and supported you against all the fiery darts of the adversary; and he would have been with you in every time of trouble.

(Untitled) by Sharon Creech

Sometimes
when you are trying
not to think about something
it keeps popping back
into your head
you can’t help it
you think about it
and
think about it
and
think about it
until your brain
feels like
a squashed pea.

From Blossoms by Li-Young Lee

From blossoms comes
this brown paper bag of peaches
we bought from the joy
at the bend in the road where we turned toward
signs painted Peaches.

From laden boughs, from hands,
from sweet fellowship in the bins,
comes nectar at the roadside, succulent
peaches we devour, dusty skin and all,
comes the familiar dust of summer, dust we eat.

O, to take what we love inside,
to carry within us an orchard, to eat
not only the skin, but the shade,
not only the sugar, but the days, to hold
the fruit in our hands, adore it, then bite into
the round jubilance of peach.

There are days we live
as if death were nowhere
in the background; from joy
to joy to joy, from wing to wing,
from blossom to blossom to
impossible blossom, to sweet impossible blossom.

Rain by Jack Gilbert

Suddenly this defeat.
This rain.
The blues gone grey
And the browns gone grey
And yellow
A terrible amber.
In the cold streets
Your warm body.
In whatever room
Your warm body.
Among all the people
Your absence
The people who are always
Not you.

I have been easy with trees
Too long.
Too familiar with mountains.
Joy has been a habit.
Now
Suddenly
This rain.

Word of the Day

quagmire
noun
a difficult, precarious, or entrapping position: predicament

Google Define here.

The Riddle of the World by Alexander Pope

Know then thyself, presume not God to scan;
The proper study of Mankind is Man.
Plac'd on this isthmus of a middle state,
A being darkly wise, and rudely great:
With too much knowledge for the Sceptic side,
With too much weakness for the Stoic's pride,
He hangs between; in doubt to act, or rest,
In doubt to deem himself a God, or Beast;
In doubt his Mind or Body to prefer,
Born but to die, and reas'ning but to err,
Alike in ignorance, his reason such,
Whether he thinks too little, or too much:
Chaos of Thought and Passion, all confus'd;
Still by himself abus'd, or disabus'd;
Created half to rise,and half to fall;
Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all;
Sole judge of Truth, in endless error hurl'd:
The glory, jest and riddle of the world!

Lite Brite

You too can make lite brite pictures online.

Try it here.

Perhaps it needs to be gchat abstinence

It just so happens that my gchat fast a few weeks ago was highly successful.

I am currently considering gchat abstinence. The gchat world is a dangerous place. Why take risks?

Word of the Day

raconteur
noun
One who tells stories and anecdotes with skill and wit.

Google Define here.

Past

We have to discard the past
and, as one builds
floor by floor, window by window,
and the building rises,
so do we go on throwing down
first, broken tiles,
then pompous doors,
until out of the past
dust rises
as if to crash
against the floor,
smoke rises
as if to catch fire,
and each new day
it gleams
like an empty
plate.
There is nothing, there is always nothing.
It has to be filled
with a new, fruitful
space,
then downward
tumbles yesterday
as in a well
falls yesterday's water,
into the cistern
of all still without voice or fire.
It is difficult
to teach bones
to disappear,
to teach eyes
to close
but
we do it
unrealizing.
It was all alive,
alive, alive, alive
like a scarlet fish
but time
passed over its dark cloth
and the flash of the fish
drowned and disappeared.
Water water water
the past goes on falling
still a tangle
of bones
and of roots;
it has been, it has been, and now
memories mean nothing.
Now the heavy eyelid
covers the light of the eye
and what was once living
now no longer lives;
what we were, we are not.
And with words, although the letters
still have transparency and sound,
they change, and the mouth changes;
the same mouth is now another mouth;
they change, lips, skin, circulation;
another being has occupied our skeleton;
what once was in us now is not.
It has gone, but if they call, we reply:
'I am here,' knowing we are not,
that what once was, was and is lost,
is lost in the past, and now will not return.

Pablo Neruda

Tomorrow is a g-chat fast

Just a warning. Thursday I am offline. I am focusing. I am working. I am good.

Expect some extra blog posts :)

Word of the Day

pithy
adjective
Concise and full of meaning. Describes speech or writing that is short, direct, and memorable.

Google Define here.

Fear not to do good

In general conference this Fall, Anthony D. Perkins suggested we avoid the following 3 snares:

- False inadequacy
- Exaggerated imperfection
- Needless guilt

He suggested we make 5 changes to our minds and hearts:
- See yourself as a precious child of a loving Father in Heaven.
- Place your burdens on Jesus Christ. Drop to your knees in prayer.
- Forgive yourself of sins and imperfections.
- Sustain hope of eternal life.
- Find joy in each day.

God has infinite love for each of us. The Spirit can give us positive hope for change. We should develop and use our talents rather than dwelling on our weaknesses.

This admonition reminds me of one of my favorite scriptures:
"Fear not to do good, my sons, for whatsoevever ye sow, that shall ye also reap; therefore, if ye sow good, ye shall also reap good for your reward.
"Therefore, fear not, little flock; do good; let earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are built upon my rock, they cannot prevail.
"Behold, I do not condemn you; go your ways and sin no more; perform with soberness the work which I have commanded you.
"Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.
"Behold the wounds which pierced my side, and also the prints of the nails in my hands and feet; be faithful, keep my commandments, and ye shall inherit the kingdom of heaven. Amen."
(Doctrine & Covenants 6:33-37)

Truth

"Through the Holy Ghost the truth is woven into the very fibre and sinews of the body so that it cannot be forgotten." - Bruce R. McConkie

It is our privilege and responsibility to seek the companionship of the spirit and to be united with it. As we sincerely seek truth through prayer, studying the scriptures, and receiving the testimonies of others, it will become a part of us.

"That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day." - Doctrine & Covenants 50:24

Quote of the Day

The chastisements we have had from time to time have been for our good, and are essential to learn wisdom, and carry us through a school of experience we never could have passed through without.
Wilford Woodruff

Doctrine & Covenants 58:3

Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation.

Quote of the Day

"No sé, no sé de dónde salió,
de inverno o río.
No sé cómo ni cuándo,
no, no eran voces, no eran palabras,
ni silencio,
pero desde una calle me llamaba,
desde las ramas de la noche
de pronto entre los otros,
entre fuegos violentos o regresando solo,
allí estaba sin rostro y me tocaba."

Pablo Neruda

[I don't know... I don't know where it came from, from winter or a river. I don't know how or when, no, they were not voices, they were not words, nor silence, but from a street I was summoned, from the branches of night, abruptly from the others, among violent fires or returning alone, there I was without a face and it touched me. ]

This is Pablo Neruda's poem "Poesía," and while it is a beautiful image of the artist finding his calling as a poet, I also think it is a beautiful image for any intangible experience, revelation, or inspiration. To not know the means by which it came, even if one knows the source. To be without a face and yet to be chosen abruptly from the others. This is the strange, surreal experience of revelation - poetic, spiritual, intellectual. I just think this poem captures it beautifully.