11.3.2024 – that time of year when

that time of year when
yellow leaves, none or few, hang
shake against the cold

That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruin’d choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.

In me thou see’st the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west,
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest.

In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed whereon it must expire,
Consum’d with that which it was nourish’d by.

This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

Sonnet 73 by William Shakespear, 1609.

According to Wikipedia, Sonnet 73 is an English or Shakespearean sonnet. The English sonnet has three quatrains, followed by a final rhyming couplet. It follows the rhyme scheme of the English sonnet form, ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. It is composed in iambic pentameter, a poetic metre that has five feet per line, and each foot has two syllables accented weak then strong. Almost all of the lines follow this without variation.

The organization of the poem serves many roles in the overall effectiveness of the poem. Yet, one of the major roles implied by this scheme revolves around ending each quatrain with a complete phrase. Given the rhyme scheme of every other line within the quatrain, as an audience we are to infer a statement is being made by the end of every four lines. Further, when shifted toward the next four lines, a shift in the overall thought process is being made by the author.

While I find the commentary fascinating, I have to admit I really don’t know what it means.

What I do know is I like the flow – the sounds – the thoughts and the idea that fall in 1609 England and the feelings that fall might bring aren’t too far from thoughts and feelings today.

Like a review I came across of a new biography of a much chronicled John Adams and the reviewer … nothing new here … but arranged and presented in a nice way.

As for how to read Shakespeare … have you seen this clip on the proper way to say, To Be of Not to be from Hamlet?

11.2.2024 – he knew no jury

he knew no jury
darken honest man’s future
with unjust verdict

When the charge of election bribery was brought against an Illinois senator, he replied, “I read the Bible and believe it from cover to cover”

When his accusers specified five hundred dollars of corruption money was paid in a St Louis hotel bathroom, his friends answered, “He is faithful to his wife and always kind to his children”

When he was ousted from the national senate and the doors of his bank were closed by government receivers and a grand jury indicted him, he took the vows of an old established church

When a jury acquitted him of guilt as a bank wrecker, following the testimony of prominent citizens that he was an honest man, he issued a statement to the public for the newspapers, proclaiming he knew beforehand no jury would darken the future of an honest man with an unjust verdict

Implications by as printed in Good morning, America, by Carl Sandburg, Harcourt Brace, New York, 1928.

Mr. Sandburg titled this poem, Implications.

The online Oxford Dictionary defines implications as “the conclusion that can be drawn from something although it is not explicitly stated.”

Mr. Sandburg published his poem, Implications, back in 1928.

I am startled not by the implications, the laundry list of wrongs or implied wrongs, that has been going on forever.

But that the Senator in question was backed and continued to be backed, regardless or in spite of evidence to the contrary, by ‘prominent citizens‘ and the Senator’s self assurance in his knowledge beforehand that the jury would be swayed by the testimony of the ‘prominent citizens.’

You could bet cash money this poem had been written yesterday, not 100 years ago.

Who needs social media?

Who needs influencers?

PS: 3 days out of the last 4, I have turned to Mr. Sandburg. If he were alive today, he wouldn’t stop throwing up.

11.1.2024 – will pick up the shards

will pick up the shards
of a ruined society and
slowly help rebuild

Back in 1947, The Berkshire Eagle from Pittsfield, Massachusetts printed this little note:

Professor Albert Einstein was asked by friends at a recent dinner party what new weapons might be employed in World War III. Appalled at the implications, he shook his head.

After several minutes of meditation, he said. “I don’t know what weapons might be used in World War III. But there isn’t any doubt what weapons will be used in World War IV.”

“And what are those?” a guest asked.

“Stone spears,” said Einstein.

This has come down to us through history as Dr. Einstein saying, “I can’t tell you what weapons will be used in World War 3. But I can you what weapons will be used in World War 4. Sticks and Stones.“

Any body doubt this?

In 2014, Cardinal Francis George of Chicago was quoted in the Chicago Tribune saying, “I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr in the public square. His successor will pick up the shards of a ruined society and slowly help rebuild civilization as the church has done so often in human history.”

Cardinal George said that, “I was trying to express in overly dramatic fashion what the complete secularization of our society could bring.”

That was 11 years ago.

IN 2025, I think our current and former Presidents can expect to die in bed.

It wouldn’t surprise me if the next President dies in prison.

And I almost expect that the successor to the next President, and I am talking about the one elected in 2028 or possibly 2032, will die a martyr in the public square.

The country as we know it is bitterly and I mean BITTERLY divided.

The country is about 92.6% armed with guns.

Nobody trusts nobody and I cannot begin to understand who it is that half the of the country listens to that they don’t hear what is being said or somehow can accept and agree with what is being said.

On the one hand an ignorant and arrogant government, and on the other hand a gang of ignorant and arrogant hoodlums — so often the voters must choose between these two,” said a desperate registered voter in Philadelphia … so wrote Carl Sandburg in The People, Yes.

It won’t end pretty but it sure feels like it is all coming to an end.

It was a pretty good run and maybe this all lasted longer than anyone thought it would.

I guess when you get down to it, it was all pretty much a hypocrisy with all the all created equal stuff.

But it was, while it lasted, a useful hypocrisy.

Maybe that’s what this is all about.

I thought some inroads had been made in society on the basis of race but it was just a band aid and the band aid and scab got ripped off.

I thought some inroads had been made in society on the basis of equality but it was just a band aid and the band aid and scab got ripped off.

I thought some inroads had been made in society on the basis of love but it was just a band aid and the band aid and scab got ripped off.

I thought some inroads had been made in church along all these lines but it was just a band aid and the band aid and scab got ripped off.

The band aids and scabs got ripped off and the hypocrisy was exposed to the dismay of some and the cheers of others in a way I cannot understand.

And then?

To paraphrase Cardinal George, our successors will pick up the shards of a ruined society and slowly help rebuild civilization as has been done so often in human history.

We started in 1787 to make a More Perfect Union and got this far before those in the Country who needed to tear up the Declaration and Constitution got their chance.

Maybe next time.

10.31.2024 – heard the sound of waves

heard the sound of waves
someone heard them years ago
as will years from now

Driving to work in the dark again, I park and get out of the car for the short walk to the office.

It is quiet, very quiet, even the birds are silent in the pre-dawn.

There is just of a low rumble sound of the surf to remind me that I am standing about a half mile from the Atlantic Coast.

Doing the math and staying with the median of 2800 miles for the width of the United States, the distance between me and the ocean is 0.0178571429% of the median width of the country.

The tide is coming and will reach a peak around 8 a.m. and cycle through to the day’s 2nd high tide around 8 p.m. tonight.

Happens twice every day.

Has happened twice every day since all this started and will continue twice a day for as long as it us supposed to.

Someone years ago, decades ago, centuries ago, could have stood here and heard the waves and watched the tide come in and go out.

Someone years from now, decades from now, centuries from now, might stand here and hear the waves and watch the tide come in and go out.

As Mr. Lincoln said one the field at Gettysburg, “The world will little note nor long remember what we say here but it can never forget what they did here.”

I used to think that was pretty cool.

Back in the day when America dreamed big dreams for all people.

Back in the day when America stood up for dreaming big dreams for all people.

Back in the day when America was recognized for dreaming big dreams for all people.

Today?

Today, I am reminded of something else Mr. Lincoln.

“Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history.

We of this Congress and this administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves.

No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us.

The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation.“

Years from now, about all I count on is that the tide will come in and go out and someone might be here to see it and hear the waves.

Any marks we may have made will all be washed away.

And we just might thank God that it is.

10.30.2024 – money buys everything

money buys everything
‘cept love, personality,
freedom, or peace

Money is power so said one
Money is a cushion so said another
Money is the root of evil so said still another
Money means freedom so runs an old saying
And money is all of these – and more
Money pays for whatever you want — if you have the money
Money buys food, clothes, houses, land, guns, jewels, men, women, time to be lazy and listen to music
Money buys everything except love, personality, freedom, immortality, silence, peace

Carl Sandburg in The People, Yes as published in the Complete Poems of Carl Sandburg, Harcourt Brace and Company, New York, 1957.

Such cheek on my part to adapt Carl Sandburg and change around his words but there it is.

When Mr. Sandburg died in the summer of 1967, the office of President Lyndon Johnson issued this statement in his name.

THE ROAD has come to an end for Carl Sandburg, my friend

Carl Sandburg was more than the voice of America, more than the poet of its strength and genius. He was America. We knew and cherished him as the bard of democracy, the echo of the people, our conscience, and chronicler of truth and beauty and purpose.

Carl Sandburg needs no epitaph. It is written for all time in the fields, the cities, the face and heart of the land he loved and the people he celebrated and inspired.

With the world, we mourn his passing. It is our special pride and fortune as Americans that we will always hear Carl Sandburg’s voice within ourselves. For he gave us the truest and most enduring vision of our own greatness.

At a memorial service for Mr. Sandburg held in front of the Lincoln Memorial later that fall of 1967, President Johnson closed his remarks with:

He knew that always in America “the strong men keep coming on.”

I will miss him; we will all miss him. There will not be one like him again.

But that line of Mr. Johnson’s, “For he gave us the truest and most enduring vision of our own greatness.“

And I read … Money buys everything except love, personality, freedom, immortality, silence, peace.

I will miss him; we will all miss him. There will not be one like him again.