Yeats

Had heard of Yeats but never truly took the time to read his poems. Until I read one of his poems in John Irving's widow for a year.
I don't know why I like his poems. But they are simple, maybe a little sorrowful and also beautiful.

When you are old
WHEN you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim Soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;
And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

Dream of death-William butler yeats

I DREAMED that one had died in a strange place
Near no accustomed hand,
And they had nailed the boards above her face,
The peasants of that land,
Wondering to lay her in that solitude,
And raised above her mound
A cross they had made out of two bits of wood,
And planted cypress round;
And left her to the indifferent stars above
Until I carved these words:
i{She was more beautiful than thy first love,}
i{But now lies under boards.}

To whom, do I write these letters to?

To whom, do I write these letters to?
The honest words,
The unadorned truth,
Before they get stolen by the world,
Before they get stolen by time,
Before they get stolen by the thieves
That reside in the recesses of my mind.

Aedh wishes for the cloths of heaven-William butler yeats

Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

Yeats

Man as an island?

After the mad running around looking for gifts for the kids, had to cancel the trip after getting the flu which came without warning. Rather disappointed. Maybe I should not have kept so many late nights recently.

On a random note, I've always had this idea that we came into the world alone and would also die alone. But I guess that's not entirely true. When we came into the world we had our mothers and most times, other caregivers, be it nurses, doctors or midwives. When we die, I guess for some, they do go alone but for others, they have family members with them.
I'm not sure what point I'm deriving at. Just that if following my former thought, it
seems as if at the two most significant times in our lives, we are alone. So why are we so afraid of loneliness? But now I realized I guess we were never meant to live as a lone island, since we were surrounded by people the moment we were borne. And God had made 2 instead of 1 because He knew that human beings are susceptible to loneliness.

I was quite afraid last night when I was ill & told sis to give me a call in the morning just to check that im alive. Talk about being dramatic. But I guess that's the main fear when u live alone. So can one truly live in solitude without fear? I dont know.

I've brought myself here
To the place I didn't want to be.

Manuscript found in accra-Paulo coelho

Designated this as my MRT book as the ones I'm currently reading are quite a pain to lug around.
The book borders a little on the occult...which is quite typical of Paulo coelho's books. There's always a bit of religion + the new age spiritual stuff in his books. Although I couldn't agree with some things he mentioned in the book, ie, how we shouldn't share our faith/religion with others, I do like the parts about defeat and dreams.
Some excerpts I like:
Defeat is for the valiant. Only they will know the honor of losing and the joy of winning.

...there are people who have never been defeated. They are the ones who never fought....

In the silence of the night, they fight their imaginary battles: their unrealised dreams, the injustice they turned a blind eye, the moments of cowardice they managed to conceal from other people-but not from themselves- and the love that crosses their path with a sparkle in its eye.... But which they lacked the courage to embrace