Friday, May 25, 2007

One of those weeks (and T.S. Eliot)

This week the weather warmed up beyond expectations to high 20's / low 30's levels, along major humidity, making yours-truly incredibly sluggish... add to that going in for Jury Duty (my name wasn't called, so I didn't actually have to sit on a jury, just a lot of waiting around), staying late at work for some last minute stuff, and the fact that my boss retired today (best boss ever! I'll miss her A LOT) and I've been not particularly inspired to write or take pictures. I still wanted to update the blog (it NAGS at me when I leave it a long time, and the nagging has been in full swing for several days now) but being in a non-creative state, that left not a lot of options...

Sure, I could have gone through the roughly 60 pics I took at the Ottawa Tulip Festival on Monday, but that would involve figuring out which ones are good and which aren't, and I wasn't really up for that either, so those pictures will have to wait.

Instead, here's my favourite poem for your enjoyment: Portrait of a Lady, by T.S. Eliot. I love this poem for its simplicity, its lyricism, and most importantly, the way it delivers such a potent message in such a clever way. Enjoy:


Now that lilacs are in bloom

She has a bowl of lilacs in her room

And twists one in her fingers while she talks.

"Ah, my friend, you do not know, you do not know

What life is, you who hold it in your hands";

(Slowly twisting the lilac stalks)

"You let it flow from you, you let it flow,

And youth is cruel, and has no remorse

And smiles at situations which it cannot see."

I smile, of course,And go on drinking tea.

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