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Posted on 03/03/2005 9:28:05 PM PST by JustAmy
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Even though it is "Hug A GI Day" today
To some that might seem too gay
Just say "Thanks" or shake their hand
It isn't much. They'll understand
That they volunteered for service.
Put them a cut above the rest.
To be Professional when others are most nervous.
Speaks volumes of their heritage and pride.
They've seen the dreaded elephant
and have surely passed the test.
For what a soldier carries outside his ruck
is buried deep inside.
So hug if you wish. They know of them you are proud.
Though sometimes the quietest gesture.
Is the one that speaks most loud.
Jack.
As a Viet Nam Era Vet I can say, "Well put".
; )
Found it. Nice job Jack.
{{{{hugs}}}}
; )
A Wee Bit Of Irish Blarney
Mrs. Pete Monaghan came into the newsroom
to pay for her husband's obituary. She was told
by the kindly newsman that it was a dollar a word
and he remembered Pete and wasn't it too bad
about him passing away. She thanked him for
his kind words and bemoaned the fact that she
only had two dollars. But she wrote out the
obituary, "Pete died."
The newsman said he thought old Pete
deserved more and he'd give her three
more words at no charge. Mrs. Pete Monaghan
thanked him and rewrote the obituary:
"Pete died. Boat for sale."
An Irishman's Life Philosophy
"In life, there are only two things to worry about,
either you are well, or you are sick.
If you are well, there is nothing to worry about,
but if you are sick, you have two things to worry about;
either you will live, or you will die.
If you live, there is nothing to worry about,
if you die, you have two things to worry about;
either you will go to heaven or to hell.
If you go to heaven, there is nothing to worry about,
but if you go to hell,
you'll be so busy shaking hands with your friends,
you won't have time to worry!"
A Texan walks into a pub in Ireland and clears his voice
to the crowd of drinkers. He says, "I hear you Irish
are a bunch of hard drinkers. I'll give $500 American
dollars to anybody in here who can drink 10 pints
of Guinness back-to-back." The room is quiet and no
one takes up the Texan's offer.
One man even leaves. Thirty minutes later the same gentleman
who left shows back up and taps the Texan on the shoulder.
"Is your bet still good?", asks the Irishman.
The Texan says yes and asks the bartender to line up 10
pints of Guinness. Immediately the Irishman tears into all
10 of the pint glasses drinking them all back-to-back.
The other pub patrons cheer as the Texan sits in amazement.
The Texan gives the Irishman the $500 and says,
"If ya don't mind me askin', where did you go for that
30 minutes you were gone?".
The Irishman replies, "Oh...I had to go to the pub down the
street to see if I could do it first".
A jolly old fellow named Hugh
Was arrested for saying, "Look, snoo!"
"What's snoo?" they would cry,
And he'd always reply:
"Oh, nothing much, what's snoo with you?"
Here's to me, and here's to you,
And here's to love and laughter-
I'll be true as long as you,
And not one moment after.
And may you be filled with
plenty of blarney to keep you
smiling always!
Ars Poetica: a Polemic
by Nina Cassian
I am I.
I am personal.
I am subjective, intimate, private, particular,
confessional.
All that happens,
happens to me.
The landscape I describe
is myself. . . .
If you're interested
in birds, trees, rivers,
try reference books.
Don't read my poems.
I'm no indexed bird,
tree or river,
just a registered Self.
Hate is fear, and fear is rot
That cankers root and fruit alike:
Fight cleanly then, hate not, fear not,
Strike with no madness when you strike.
-Robert Graves
Nina Cassian
[Romania] 1924–
Nina Cassian went to the United States as a visiting professor in 1985, determined to return to Romania despite the difficult situation there. In her own words: 'A poet never leaves his country, his native soil, his language, of his own free will.' However, when the Romanian secret service, the Securitate, arrested a friend of hers for keeping a diary which also included satirical poems by Nina Cassian, she knew she could not go back.
If she was to go on writing poetry, she would have to learn to write in a foreign language, even though she was over sixty. After her forced emigration she was banned from Romania's literary annals until the collapse of the Ceausescu dictatorship.
After being granted political asylum in the United States she begun publishing poems in translation, including some of her own, and in 1998 produced her first collection of poems written directly in English, TAKE MY WORD FOR IT, the latest addition to an oeuvre comprising more than fifty books.
http://www.poetryinternational.org/cwolk/view/15905
Ordeal
Nina Cassian
I promise to make you more alive than you've ever been.
For the first time you'll see your pores opening
like the gills of fish and you'll hear
the noise of blood in galleries
and feel light gliding on your corneas
like the dragging of a dress across the floor.
For the first time you'll note gravity's prick
like a thorn in your heel,
and your shoulder blades will hurt from the imperative of wings.
I promise to make you so alive that
the fall of dust on furntiure will deafen you,
and you'll feel your eyebrows like two wounds forming
and your memories will seem to begin
with the creation of the world
(My favorite)
Oh, mine go back even further than that! -- But then, I am "Older Than Dirt!"
Good afternoon, NnB. Thank you for raiding your library for us.
I won't be here much longer; it is time for our monthly Support the Troops Rally.
I hope a GI stops by so we can either shake his hand or give him a hug.
See you tomorrow.
I'm leaving very soon.
Tonight we attend our monthly Support the Troops Rally.
Hope everyone had a wonderful Friday.
See you tomorrow.
Sounds good to me. :-)
Hi Colleen. Nice photo.
Thank You!
You're welcome. :-)
Have fun at the rally, Amy. :-)
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