"And Often Is His Gold Complexion Dimmed" (william shakespeare)

Worshipped, a god:

Source of warmth, growth, and sight

Symbol of life; Life:

O, holy pun—the Glory of the Son

Else burn and blister and smite

Or wither and languish and die

—Make SAD

Scrawled on the prescription pad:

Seasonal Affective Disorder

Lack of Vitamin D

Added to the list

Of why none us is happy

It came out today from the cloudy melee

Of our gloomy state’s sky in winter

Can we soak in enough

For the sake of our health,

Wealth, and happiness?

Or to fire our sins

Of gloominess within

And place on a cross

The hope-loss,

Burn it down

And till

A new season?

Snow Sabbath

On that day

the Midwest was a formless void
and whiteness covered the face of the earth
while a wind from God swept over the face of the lake
For God had said
"Let there be snow";
and there was snow.
And the people saw that the snow was good
For the snow separated the people from
their schools and their workplaces
and their usual rat race routines;
So the people blessed the snow day
and hallowed it;
On it they rested from the work
they would have done
And Yielded their Wills
to the Weather:
Amen

Greek Mythology, Shakespeare . . . and Bruno Mars

"so much of what i see reminds me of something i read in a book" (or in this particular quote's case - a movie), so it's not surprising that the songs i've been enjoying from bruno mars remind me of . . . william shakespeare and classical mythology.

random literary association #1: bright eyes

"Oh, her eyes, her eyes make the stars look like they're not shining." - "Just the Way You Are"

"Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,
Having some business, do entreat her eyes
To twinkle in their spheres till they return." - Romeo & Juliet
(not to mention "She doth teach the torches to burn bright")


random literary association #2: rock vs. rock

Sisyphus eternally pushes a rock up a hill in Classical Mythology as punishment for his hubris.

Bruno Mars eternally pulls a piano around a city, to accompany lyrics about his willingness to suffer for someone else. While the self-centered ancient may have to push a rock, the self-sacrificing singer actually rocks.

Cold's Comfort

that heart is not beating

merely shivering

quivering

in icy fear,

imp of impossible frights

and ignorant oddities

shaking in its boots—a cage

of ribs hard as sin

cold as shoulder

turned hard, tilted

toward terror

willfully gloomy—why?

not feel the fire

fetch the sun

from the father, farther

farther

fountains of light

flurries of flame

flickering bodies in the night

striding, guiding

passing, swaying

surrounded

compounded

cold’s comfort

come farther

fans fanning flame

speak the Name.

warning

A scream raging –

singer’s shrill through dark, flashes

blows hard and long

thick upon the windshield of the skull,

blinding fleshy eyes,

rocking plush, pillow heart

like spinning on ice

into control

each gorgeous revolution

drenched in flake

upon flake

white and

pure as the blood

of Christ

—insulation—

His piercings

her dreadlocks

limbs flying

mosh moving

frozen souls

thawed in blizzards

of sound

bass

bass

beat

wintry breezes

pump, pump, breathe

annually appropriate alliteration

"winter weather awoke in the world without"
- Sir Gawain & the Green Knight

Fruit of the Spirit

I want to be an orange

Plump, bright and bursting

Juicy droplets, gently pressing

‘gainst my veins

in perfect physics

force upon force

Humming softly with contentment

Peel-free but unburstable

Pump me up

Flush the drought of doubt

From my veins

Make me percolate,

Still with

Your humming,

Taut with

Your movement,

A lightning rod for

You