“Where there is chance of gain, there is also chance of loss. Whenever one courts great happiness, one also risks malaise.”
- Walker Percy, “The Moviegoer”
and:
“A place does not save you. There is no place where you can flee from yourself.”
- St. Nikon of Optina
my heart is bleeding rain drops, they’re lonely rain drops
when it used to shower all night long
and in the well they’ll find my heart, that I gave to you
and in the end they’ll find her name, stitched to my heart
I’ve been locked away —- I’ll keep it locked away
where they’ll find no trace
they’re lonely rain drops
this bottle of wine
is all used up
i meanwhile at the end of my line
and the bottom of my cup
for the both of us
empty from love
moving on with a wink and smile
just as sure as the sun
is below and above
this mind of mine
is all cracked up
standing at the corner of atlantis and lost
just waiting for a look at luck
for a look at luck
you have seen enough
and then sailing along
with a star and a prayer just as sure as the sea
is as lonely as us
this time i swear
i will meet you where
i will rehearse my math at first
to repeat so you know i care
we’ll both lay bare
just laying there
just laying with our eyes to the sky
and our lips to a dry bottle of wine
you know its all used up
- jesse elliot
From sorry I will wipe clean the smudges left
by careless girls, frail and fearful men,
all the friends and relatives who meant well
right up until they were out of earshot.
Once it sparkles I will fill this word with pure
water and offer you a drink of contentment.
I’d like to strip the lacquer off sex, love, marriage
remove some of the high-gloss, the glare slapped
up there by Hollywood and people who believe
a home can rise from a stack of plywood, playing cards.
It is dirty work, this scrubbing, but look how the strong
and knotty grain of these words can shine.
It might take a crowbar, but if the rotting weight
of bad choices is torn away, the spots
where fear and mold have made you and me
unsure of our worth, the wall of brick beneath,
exposed and lovely in its rest,
will give us a place to hang the truth
we brought in from the rain.
And so, like a Tiffany lamp, a coin from Spain,
the silver candlesticks left by my great aunt,
I will polish up the words now tarnished
and dull from years of mishandle and abuse:
beautiful promise please human help dream
Set around the room, we will look on these words
and – knowing the price of labor –
see their marvelous worth.
- Kathryn Smith
“Then why not pick up the telephone and call her up and say, what about seeing you? Well, he could not exactly say why except that he could not. The worst way to go see a girl is to go see her.”
- Walker Percy, The Last Gentleman
17 I have been deprived of peace;
I have forgotten what prosperity is.
18 So I say, “My splendor is gone
and all that I had hoped from the LORD.”
19 I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.
20 I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.
21 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”
25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
26 it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD.
27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke
while he is young.
28 Let him sit alone in silence,
for the LORD has laid it on him.
29 Let him bury his face in the dust—
there may yet be hope.
30 Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him,
and let him be filled with disgrace.
31 For no one is cast off
by the Lord forever.
32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
so great is his unfailing love.
33 For he does not willingly bring affliction
or grief to anyone.
LAMENTATIONS 3: 17-33
