Jan 21 2009

This is the Dude Who Loves Me

Tags: , — podrey @ 8:37 am

I’ve mentioned him, and there has been a picture or two of him on this blog.  But here’s a more official introduction - meet Lance.

Lance is my favorite person.  He makes me laugh.  He can laugh at himself, which i think is important to be able to do.  He’s smart, and loves philosophizing about people and about the world.  He’s good to his dog.  He is always trying to improve himself, and really, what else is this life for?  He is extremely passionate about his interests.  He always treats me with respect, and is supportive of my interests.  He gives a lot of himself to others.

And he’s given a big part of himself to me.  I am lucky - he is my best friend, and i get to hang out with him all the time.  How cool is that?  (-:  I love you, sweet thing.

I would like to share this poem by ee cummings that Lance has made special for me.

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
                                    i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

Apr 02 2008

What’s in your wallet?

Tags: , — podrey @ 4:46 pm

A long time ago, a great uncle of mine gave me a business card with a shorter version of this poem printed on it.  I was, like NINE years old at the time.  It’s kind of amazing that i still have it.  It lives in my wallet now, in one of the hidden and little-used pockets.  (Other things that currently reside in the same location - a few of my business cards, Tonia’s business card, ACBL Life Master card, and the dollar my ex-husband paid me for the house.)

The poem made a big impression on 9-year old Audrey, and not least because it felt important that my great uncle would entrust me with such a profundity.  And i held on to that card, and carry it around today, because the message is truth.  It’s something to remember when life gets hard.

The tree that never had to fight,
For sun and sky and air and light,
But stood out in the open plain,
And always got its share of rain,
Never became a forest king,
But lived and died a scrubby thing.

The man who never had to toil,
To gain and farm his patch of soil,
Who never had to win his share,
Of sun and sky and light and air,
Never became a manly man,
But lived and died as he began.

Good timber does not grow in ease,
The stronger the wind, the tougher the trees
The farther the sky, the greater the length
The more the storm, the more the strength,
By sun and cold, by rain and snow,
In tree and men good timbers grow.

Where thickest lies the forest growth
We find the patriarchs of both.
And they hold counsel with the stars
Whose broken branches show the scars
This is the common law of life.

-Douglas Mallock