I Know You’ll Be a Star in Somebody Else’s Sky

“Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art”:

Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art—

         Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night

And watching, with eternal lids apart,

         Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,

The moving waters at their priestlike task

         Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,

Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask

         Of snow upon the mountains and the moors—

No—yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,

         Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,

To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,

         Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,

Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,

And so live ever—or else swoon to death.

John Keats.

If I stared too long, I'd probably break down and cry

That time we got married on the beach.  (September 18, 2016)

We used to laugh, we used to sing

We used to dance, we had our own scene.

If Memory Serves

Marriage:

   So different, this man
And this woman:
A stream flowing
In a field

William Carlos Williams.

#throwbackthursday

Oregon coast.  (2016)

Reminds me of childhood memories

Where everything was as fresh as the bright blue sky.

Float On

Immortal Sails:

Now, in a breath, we’ll burst those gates of gold,

   And ransack heaven before our moment fails.

Now, in a breath, before we, too, grow old,

   We’ll mount and sing and spread immortal sails.

It is not time that makes eternity.

   Love and an hour may quite out-span the years,

And give us more to hear and more to see

   Than life can wash away with all its tears.

Dear, when we part, at last, that sunset sky

   Shall not be touched with deeper hues than this;

But we shall ride the lightning ere we die

   And seize our brief infinitude of bliss,

With time to spare for all that heaven can tell,

While eyes meet eyes, and look their last farewell.

Alfred Noyes.

Beside defyin' media too fast

Instead of pushin' palaces to fall.

The Food on Which Men Grow to Their Fullest Stature

America:

Although she feeds me bread of bitterness,

And sinks into my throat her tiger’s tooth,

Stealing my breath of life, I will confess

I love this cultured hell that tests my youth.

Her vigor flows like tides into my blood,

Giving me strength erect against her hate,

Her bigness sweeps my being like a flood.

Yet, as a rebel fronts a king in state,

I stand within her walls with not a shred

Of terror, malice, not a word of jeer.

Darkly I gaze into the days ahead,

And see her might and granite wonders there,

Beneath the touch of Time’s unerring hand,

Like priceless treasures sinking in the sand.

Claude McKay.

Some things sure can sweep me off my feet

Another one of those Bach/Gould deals. 

Holdin’ It Back, It Hurts So Bad

The Mountains Are a Lonely Folk:

The mountains they are silent folk
       They stand afar—alone,
And the clouds that kiss their brows at night
Hear neither sigh nor groan.
        Each bears him in his ordered place
As soldiers do, and bold and high
They fold their forests round their feet
And bolster up the sky. 

Hamlin Garland

I Came Here for Something and I’m Not Leaving Without It

Now y’all know I had to make a video. 🇺🇸

Congrats, Team USA! Ya done us proud! pic.twitter.com/jovoa4YYVK

— Renee (@PettyLupone) September 14, 2026

USA!  USA!  USA!

Ahem.

Anyway, I'm quite happy with the World Cup results (although I really hated seeing MJ cry after the Final).  My faves got hardware: Awa has a Bronze with Spain, Dom & Gabby (who was also named Best Defensive Player) grabbed Silver for France's first medal ever, and Stewie earned yet another MVP trophy to go with yet another Gold.

It was a wicked fun tournament.  Lovely to see Angel and Paige and Jackie and Phee and everybody playing together.  NGL, though, I'm glad to be getting back to familiar courts and more NTodd-friendly game times.

And you may say to yourself

My God, what have I done?

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Autumn:

There is a touch of sadness in the air this fall,
Such as recurs to fellows of melancholy:
Memory of its passage out of time
Follows the year's progression,
Ash that settles a twister of flame
On mountaintops.
Autumn is quick to remember
And passes like a sunbeam in the wave.

Norman Macleod.