Sunday, April 26, 2009

Ceaselessly Musing

My life is on the verge of change once again... I am thinking of the college years and how fast they will fly away and how now is the time for so many, many opportunities that will never come by again.

So tonight, a little Walt Whitman.

A Noiseless Patient Spider
Walt Whitman

A noiseless patient spider,
I mark'd where on a little promontory it stood isolated,
Mark'd how to explore the vacant vast surrounding,
It launch'd forth filament, filament, filament out of itself,
Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them.

And you O my soul where you stand,
Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space,
Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to
connect them,
Till the bridge you will need be form'd, till the ductile anchor hold,
Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul.

I chose this poem because these are the years, most of all, to be "ceaselessly musing" and "venturing" and forming the bridge of my life, the anchor of who I am. I suppose my whole life should be filled with ceaseless musing, but I feel now is most important and most opportune to do so.

And lastly, two quotes.

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
~ Mark Twain

This is the place where I learned to live this life, to curse this life and to claim this life for my very own.
~Jodie Foster

5 comments:

Marilyn O. said...

Thanks for helping me rediscover poetry, Valerie. I'm thinking of you tonight and am surprised by how much I miss our cat. It is interesting how such a quiet creature can make a house feel empty by his absence. I hope you are doing okay. We are really looking forward to you coming home.

Val said...

Thanks Mom. I'm glad to know someone keeps up on this blog besides me. I love Max and I'm going to miss him. It will be so strange coming home without him there, but I'm looking forward to moving back. See you soon.

Lisa Owens said...

Dearest Val,
You need to post more poetry, or at least more often. I would like to inform you that your blog is my only source of poetry education. Without it my like is poem-less. You are responsible for whether or not a read poetry. So if you could please fulfill your responsibility I would appreciate it.

Patiently waiting,
Lisa

Anonymous said...

Just for a second i want to go back to the sentence you said that inspired me to join the marines. Twenty years from now you would be more dissapointed at the things you did'nt do than the one's you did. I had to open my eyelids after that and wake-up to the real world im only eighteen an before i know ill be thirty-eight. I said to myself four years in the marines would'nt kill me it'll just make me stronger. I'll be twenty-two an when i come home everyone going to be doing the same thing except me. I don't think about dying because i live in Detroit an any minute i could be gone. I'd rather die doing something good than something bad. I did'nt have my mind made up until that comment you made so thank-you so very much for being the poet that you are.

Val said...

I have such respect for the marines. I am so happy to hear of you for joining and taking on this new adventure. I started a new adventure of my own today (and kind of a terrifying one) and it boosts me to hear of others conquering life! I wish you the best in the marines. And thank you for reading.