Failte!

I'm excited to share my adventures with all of you! I want your first taste of my life in Ireland to be this poem that I wrote very late one night when I was a Junior in College. Its meaning seems eerily prophetic now. More than anything, I've created this blog to make the actualization of this life-long dream of mine visible to those I love: my friends who are my foundation, my endlessly supportive family, my mentors and co-workers who inspire me, and my former students who have given me enough satisfaction and fulfillment to last two lifetimes... Have the courage to believe that your wildest dreams can come true.

Is fhearr fheuchainn na bhith san duil, (It is better to try than to hope)

e
Mourn (A Seaside Peak in Southern Ireland)

The dark, earthen sod saturates her fair feet,
but briefly since she frolics fast in knee high
blades of greenest grass that blow dizzily in the Celtic-sea air.

Her wool skirt, stiffened by ware of evenings past
is splashed by cresting waves that break
against a beach blacker than her hair.
Those once stiffer fibers were loosed by nights upon nights
of hanging perfectly on his line before being wildly blown dry
by the crisp Hibernian salt air.

The pair sits to rest a while instead of dodging
breakers or skipping paler stones.

"Indian summer's here," he says softly,
but all of summer here feels like the edge
of autumn to her, even though she grins in agreement
as she dangles her pale, soft feet off Achilles' peak,
where Erin's vermillion-gold sky meets
an ocean that is grey with years.

She sleeps with her eyes closed tight most nights.
He asks her if she believes in Tier-Nan-Og,
and she asks him if he believes in anything eternal.
Outside the tide is rising, or it's receding—
She never can tell but for the strengthened smell of
salty freshness strained through his light, lace curtains.
She thinks to herself that he is like trying to hold the sea 
and she imagines the water running between her fingers--
clenched so tight.

And so, the night calls her out of her sleeping,
like daytime chides her into dreaming.
She slips her white fingers through the holes of an old loose scarf
that affords her more company than warmth
on these newborn autumn evenings. She is off-- 
Night clouds reflect emerald from land to sea,
And the tara that she never eyes from long hours of
staring too far into star blanketed skies,
feels cool against the thickening pads of her pallid feet.

Elisabeth Lewis (2005)

06 October 2011

quelqu'un comme toi.

It's week 5 and Candace just took a midterm, which means it's now halfway through the semester. My mother's impending visit marks a shift in the cosmos, as I will shift into high gear in order to masterfully execute two portfolios the week after her departure. Following that, I'll be doing some independent site surveying, writing a 7500 word term paper, and a 3000 word essay. All this while keeping up on the "latest" in prehistoric rock art trends &  hammering out (pun intended) my thesis proposal so I can...visit the States in mid November. Needless to say, though it's work I love doing, Busy. Autumn. Ahead. I know this sounds insane, but I'll also be taking on some part time work so that I can afford said trip home, not to mention....a little holiday treat of my own :)

I have no class from November 29th to January 16th, so mark your calendars and plan a visit! [But not the first week of December because Theresa is coming then and not the first week of January because Josh is coming then] To prevent any sort of Judy Garland/Jimmy Stewart induced Christmas sadness, I fully intend on drowning myself in the endlessly exquisite delights of the city featured below, while sporting a beautiful winter coat like Adele's $900 Moschino or This--the lights, the lust, the cathedrals, the cemetery, the Musee D'Orsay, my beloved moules au gratin, and the absinthe I always order & never finish-- I'd love to have someone to share it all with, but I'm finding my own lovely company to be quite enough in the quiet moments that have been so abundant lately.
As Always, Enjoy Adele.

 

                   "Parfois l'amour dure, mais parfois ça blesse plutôt"
Posted by at
Labels:

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)