Same deep water as you

I have always loved this song. While a freshman at Messiah College, I took a class that was Bible of Literature.  I think this class totally made me see the Bible as beautiful poetry... I thought this song was a reincarnation of sorts of Psalm 69.

deep water

kiss me goodbye
pushing out before i sleep
can't you see i try
swimming the same deep water as you is hard
the shallow drowned
lose less than we
the strangest twist upon your lips
and we shall be together


kiss me goodbye
bow your head and join with me
and face pushed deep reflections meet
the strangest twist upon your lips
and disappear the ripples clear
and laughing break against your feet
and laughing break the mirror sweet
so we shall be together

so we shall be together

kiss me goodbye
pushing out before i sleep
it's lower now and slower now
the strangest twist upon your lips
but i don't see
and i don't feel
but tightly hold up silently my hands
before my fading eyes
and in my eyes your smile
the very last thing before i go
i will kiss you
i will kiss you forever on nights like this
i will kiss you
and we shall be together

Serenity vs. Chaos

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.


Serenity is also the name of a ship. (Firefly, Joss Whedon creation).  I was thinking about the significance of the name for the ship.  The setting for the tale is the future, after Earth is depleted of resources.  Man ventures out and populates other planets.  Its sort of a western in space.  Really cool.  So, there is a ton of violence and chaos in this future.  But this ship anchors the crew in a way.  It provides a way of life, its own little sanctuary for them.  A bit of Serenity and peace.  

But in a larger sense, I think Serenity does come from within us, or more specifically, how we deal with life.  Stuff happens to us all,  accidents, sicknesses, things break, keys get lost.  For me, it has been a conscious decision to not let circumstances stress me out, and not to make mountains out of mountains.  Yes, its all perspective. To view even the mountains as molehills, if you will.    If we view the life around us as being insurmountable, we will only end up dancing around the foot of the mountain, looking up at the loftiness of it all.  Instead, I try to not let situations affect me.  Especially things I can not change.  It won't change anything by worrying.  

This comes after a two year stint for my family.  Total confusion, chaos and mayhem should have resulted.  And we have been discouraged, depressed at times, sad, mostly confused.  But over all we just live in the day at hand.  Things work out.  Yes, the dishwasher and air conditioning may go out one day, the brakes in the car stop working the next, I can't motivate my kids to read (yes that bugs me).  But its a mental decision to not let it all defeat us.  It is strange when people tell me "I don't know how you guys are doing it, you seem so positive, when your life totally sucks"  (well they don't use those exact words, but thats what they mean.)  

We have our escapes... fixing things, art, movies, books.... prayer.  My husband does a lot better with the prayer thing than me though.  He aims at having a continual conversation with God... every thought type of idea.  Like Stonewall Jackson, General of the Confederate Army during the War of Northern Invasion... 

To sum it up, I think its a choice.  To choose to not drown. To choose to not be engulfed by sadness. To choose the positive way.  To just "keep on swimming".  And when we make decisions that are wrong or just not good, we learn from them instead of letting them ruin us.

Harry Potter - Why we needed this saga...

I just watched the latest Harry Potter movie.  It has been a couple of years since I read the last book and I probably should have reread it before viewing the movie.  The movie was great!  And a lot of ponderings and rambling thoughts were going through my mind afterward.

Why has Harry Potter been so extremely popular?  I think it's because of two things.  First of all, a lot of tv, movies, books today do not have strong characters.  Rowling developed multi-faceted people who you actually care about.  Now, when I say this, please don't throw digital tomatoes at me... but take, for example, the latest Star Wars movies.   The characters of Anakin and Padme, (and most others) were so flat that you really didn't care what happened to them.  Who cares if they die or throw a temper tantrum.  The Harry Potter characters were easy to connect with, love  and identify with, but at the same times were very deep and conflicted.  While reading the Prisoner of Azkaban,  I loved Remus Lupin.  He was a lonely, tormented, dowdy professor, who was continually fighting his primal nature. I really don't fall in love with fictional characters often, but then again, these characters become so real to you.
But more than the "likeyness", they choose to do the tough heroic things, no matter the cost.  Even Severus, is shown as a true hero at the end. We need heroes.  We need stories about people who do heroic things.  When that nobility is stripped from our fantasy, it is depressing!  The world becomes so fatalistic..... what is the point of it all?
Longbottom says something along the lines "Everyone dies, but they are always apart of us, (points to his heart).... those who died tonight did not die in vain, but you (points to Voldemort) will, because what you are fighting for is WRONG!"  Longbottom,  is another unlikely hero, who saves the day.

There is another reason why this story in invaluable.  It came to me after hearing this quote.
Dumbledore  says "Do not pity the dead, Harry, pity the living.  Especially those who live without love"... 
It can be argued that death is a major theme of the book, and that is true.  But I see Love being even more important though.   Love is more powerful than Death, Love conquers death.  Because of love, death is not necessarily viewed as the end, or even bad.
A couple instances that I thought were powerful  examples of love...
Lilly's love protects baby Harry and thwarts Voldemort's magic.
Snape's love for Lilly .... he lives his life doing all he can to protect her, then her child, even though his love is never returned.

I do have to say that I think Voldemort is the baddest bad guy around.  Recently I had a humorous conversation with some guys about who the best evil guy is.  Some were really fighting for Darth Vader, I threw in Magneto...(he is pretty bad and powerful).. Sauron.... the list went on.  But no, Voldemort is pure evil.

Tree Poem Revised

I am still working on symmetry and alliteration.....
but here it is so far...

The Tree of Knowledge,  straight, pure, but forbidden,  devoured out of proper place and time brought the death-sickness upon creation.  The fruit distorting all on Earth.

The Tree of Life, the Cross, the twisted, dogwood crafted, standing upright.   It bore the Saviour into battle, to champion over the death-sickness foe.  Soon the promised fruit will be given, the same tree in Paradise giving us life-blood and life eternal.

The Tree of David which is the church,  those who seek after the True God, sprawling and growing, vines and branches, infusing the whole earth with Love.   The Champion is now the vine.  The branches bearing its Fruit to all those in soul- despair and sin-sickness until the return of Paradise.

Evangeline by Longfellow

I have been reading Evangeline by Longfellow.  Longfellow is considered by some to be the most beloved American poet, and Evangeline is the epic poem which gave him that status.  Originally, the concept of the story was offered to Nathaniel Hawthorne , who basically had no interest in writing a novel about it.  Longfellow asked Hawthorne if he could write a poem using the tale.  It really is a tragic tale, but is a real love story.  Evangeline is betrothed and falls in love with Gabriel.  Gabriel is taken away by force.  She searches for him for years and.....well in case you want to read it, I will end there.  A literary contrast that to Nathaniel Hawthorne's love story would be very interesting.

Longfellow's imagery is breathtaking.  Here are the first few lines ....

THIS is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks,
Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight,
Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic,
Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms.
Loud from its rocky caverns, the deep-voiced neighboring ocean
 The Whole Poem in any format you want.

A link to the background of the story...Here

Tree Poem - Draft

I am attempting to write this in the style of a Welsh Triad.  This is a working draft...

Three Trees Wrought Outside of Time and Space

The First is the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, the Second is the Crucifix, a Twisted Broken Beam of Hope revealed as the Tree of Life, The Third the Tree of David Reborn as the Living Church.

The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  Brought three things, knowledge, shame and death. Through disobedience and partaking something good out of proper place and time (resulted) in a disease to Creation, warping and distorting.

The Tree of Life has three manifestations.  The Tree of Life in the Garden, which was good to eat for a while, The Crucifix, the twisted dogwood crafted, standing upright and bore the Saviour into battle to champion over the Disease and Death.  And the Tree of Life in Paradise, when those who Love Him will be given freedom to eat once more.

The Tree of David which is the Living Church, the great witness of Lovers who seek after the True God.  Beginning as a nation, not out of exclusivity, but meant to be a light to the world, sharing God's Love to all.  Growing as a tree into the church of believers, Ture and Beloved, Going forth to Bear its Fruit to all those in soul- despair and sin-sickness until the return of Paradise.

Fake and some random ramblings

I have been thinking about how fake stuff is never as good as the real stuff.  And our lives are filled to the brim with FAKE STUFF!
Take sugar for example.  I just put some Stevia in my tea and it tastes horrible!   WHY you ask?  WHY ruin an otherwise perfect cup of tea????!!!!  I don't know.  I really don't know why I put it in my cup.. Splenda is awful too.  The worst is the pink saccharine packets.  Real sugar (I like sugar in the raw) is delicious.  Honey is too!  My favorite sandwich is peanut butter and honey.  I am sorry, but splenda syrup and peanut butter just cannot be as good as pb and honey.  And really honey is bee vomit.  Lovely, wonderful, tasty bee vomit.  Anyway, I digress and ramble. 

Fake stuff.... man made things which mimic nature.

Fake Air.  I am breathing fake air right now.  But its so hot, I'll deal. 

Fake Tears.  My daughter is crying fake tears right now.  Actually they are not fake, she was up way too late last night and is tired.  But she is capable of false tears.  Crocodile tears.  Don't think me cold hearted, I know her.  And she is just like me.  So I am onto her. 

Fake meat.  Come on , we all know McDonald's does not have a very high percentage of meat in their burgers.

Fake bodies. We all know about this soap box. 

Fake clothing.  

Fake Light.  The worse is flourescents.  When I was teaching, I would not put them on.  Most of the kids liked the dimly lit room.  I would have lit tons of candles and worked entirely by candlelight if it wasn't a firehazard.  

Fake wood furniture.  Ikea is wonderful for this type of thing.  Good thing they are so inexpensive.
Fake hormones, fake eye color, fake endorphines, fake smiles, fake intentions, fake friends.
I am getting cynical.

But seriously, I wanted to write a cute poem about Fake-lise.  (why not personify it) 

There once was a girl name Fake-lise,
Who only would eat genetically modified peas,
She swore they were better
Than that really sharp cheddar
And to be sure the peas really did taste like cheese.

Oh GOSH, that is terrible.  I need my brain back.  Maybe I can get a fake one for a while...
That reminds me of an illustration/part of one of the Oz books. (which I love all 13 of them, havent read them in a while though).  The queen of Oz, not the real one she was the Fake one, because Ozma was lost, has a collection of pretty girl heads which she has in her closet.  She decides each day what she wants to look like, and just puts whatever head on that she is in the mood for.   A little weird and creepy, but hey it was written in the 1920's and in someways was a little prophetic. 

So, do I want to be fake sometimes?  I would like to say no....
 but I would like to put some hair extensions in my hair to make it really really long!  Too funny, I laugh at myself..