May 30th, 2011 / 9:02 pm
Random

2 Things Good Today

1. When I was little, I loved for my mom to read me this poem by Elinor Wylie before bed:

SEA LULLABY

The old moon is tarnished
With smoke of the flood,
The dead leaves are varnished
With color like blood,

A treacherous smiler
With teeth white as milk,
A savage beguiler
In sheathing of silk,

The sea creeps to pillage,
She leaps on her prey;
A child of the village
Was murdered today.

She came up to meet him
In a smooth golden cloak,
She choked him and beat him
To death, for a joke.

Her bright locks were tangled,
She shouted for joy,
With one hand she strangled
A strong little boy.

Now in silence she lingers
Beside him all night
To wash her long fingers
In silvery light.

2. A wonderful essay, “Landscape and Narrative,” by Barry Lopez. Lopez writes, “The interior landscape responds to the character and subtlety of an exterior landscape; the shape of the individual mind is affected by land as it is by genes.”

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8 Comments

  1. Ethan

      That is a great bedtime poem.

  2. guest

      Wow.
      I liked The Ballad of the Harp Weaver, and Richard Cory, when I was little. So I can see why a kid would love that poem, and yet I’m still kind of surprised. 

  3. guest

      Wow.
      I liked The Ballad of the Harp Weaver, and Richard Cory, when I was little. So I can see why a kid would love that poem, and yet I’m still kind of surprised. 

  4. Anonymous

      xvr.in/O6

  5. alexisorgera

      It’s a dark poem, and I’m not sure why I wanted to read it before bed. I was scared of my own shadow as a kid. I also LOVED Alfred Noyes’ “The Highwayman,” another instance of murder and mayhem. I guess I was searching for the duende even back then.

  6. Anonymous

      ta.gg/53c

  7. Anonymous
  8. Anonymous

      ta.gg/55j