A Vagabond Song, By Bliss Carman

There is something in the autumn that is native to my blood-
Touch of manner, hint of mood;
And my heart is like a rhyme,
With the yellow and the purple and the crimson keeping time.

The scarlet of the maples can shake me like a cry
Of bugles going by.
And my lonely spirit thrills
To see the frosty asters like a smoke upon the hills.

There is something in October set the gypsy blood astir;
We must rise and follow her,
When from every hill of flame
She calls and calls each vagabond by name.

The House By The Side Of The Road, Sam Walter Foss

"He was a friend to man, and he lived
In a house by the side of the road." - Homer

There are hermit souls that live withdrawn
In the place of their self-content;
There are souls like stars, that dwell apart,
In a fellowless firmament;
There are pioneer souls that blaze their paths
Where highways never ran-
But let me live by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.

Let me live in a house by the side of the road,
Where the race of men go by-
The men who are good and the men who are bad,
As good and bad as I.
I would not sit in the scorner's seat,
Or hurl the cynic's ban-
Let me live in a house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.

I see from my house by the side of the road,
By the side of the highway of life,
The men who press with the ardor of hope,
The men who are faint with strife.
But I turn not away from their smiles nor their tears,
Both parts of an infinite plan-
Let me live in a house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.

I know there are brook-gladdened meadows ahead
And mountains of wearisome height;
That the road passes on through the long afternoon
And stretches away to the night.
But still I rejoice hen the travelers rejoice,
And weep with the strangers that moan,
Nor live in my house by the side of the road
Like a man who dwells alone.

Let me live in my house by the side of the road-
It's here the race of men go by.
They are good, they are bad, they are weak, they are strong,
Wise, foolish - so am I;
Then why should I sit in the scorner's seat,
Or hurl the cynic's ban?
Let me live in my house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.

Thanatopsis, by William Cullen Bryant

(I've been reading a selection of poetry recently and just stumbled across this one. I like it a lot.)

To him who in the love of Nature holds
Communion with her visible forms, she speaks
A various language; for his grayer hours
She has a voice of gladness, and a smile
And eloquence of beauty, and she glides
Into his darker musings, with a mild
And healing sympathy, that steals away
Their sharpness, ere he is aware. When thoughts
Of the last bitter hour come like a blight
Over thy spirit, and sad images
Of the stern agony, and shroud, and pall,
And breathless darkness, and the narrow house,
Make thee to shudder and grow sick at heart;-
Go forth, under the open sky, and list
To Nature's teachings, while from all around-
Earth and her waters, and the depths of air-
Comes a still voice- Yet a few days, and thee
The all-beholding sun shall see no more
In all his course; nor yet in the cold ground,
Where thy pale form was laid with many tears,
Nor in the embrace of ocean, shall exist
Thy image. Earth, that nourish'd thee, shall claim
Thy growth, to be resolved to earth again,
And, lost each human trace, surrendering up
Thine individual being, shalt thou go
To mix for ever with the elements,
To be a brother to the insensible rock,
And to the sluggish clod, which the rude swain
Turns with his share, and treads upon. The oak
Shall send his roots abroad, and pierce thy mould.

Yet not to thine eternal resting-place
Shalt thou retire alone, nor couldst thou wish
Couch more magnificent. Thou shalt lie down
With patriarchs of the infant world - with kings,
The powerful of the earth - the wise, the good,
Fair forms, and hoary seers of ages past,
All in one mighty sepulchre. The hills
Rock-ribb'd and ancient as the sun,- the vales
Stretching in pensive quietness between;
The venerable woods; rivers that move
In majesty, and the complaining brooks
That make the meadows green; and, pour'd round all,
Old Ocean's grey and melancholy waste,-
Are but the solemn decorations all
Of the great tomb of man. The golden sun,
The planets, all the infinite host of heaven,
Are shining on the sad abodes of death,
Through the still lapse of ages. All that tread
The globe are but a handful to the tribes
That slumber in its bosom.- Take the wings
Of morning, pierce the Barcan wilderness,
Or lose thyself in the continuous woods
Where rolls the Oregon and hears no sound
Save his own dashings - yet the dead are there:
And millions in those solitudes, since first
The flight of years began, have laid them down
In their last sleep - the dead reign there alone.
So shalt thou rest: and what if thou withdraw
In silence from the living, and no friend
Take note of thy departure? All that breathe
Will share thy destiny. The gay will laugh
When thou art gone, the solemn brood of care
Plod on, and each one as before will chase
His favourite phantom; yet all these shall leave
Their mirth and their employments, and shall come
And make their bed with thee. As the long train
Of ages glide away, the sons of men,
The youth in life's green spring, and he who goes
In the full strength of years, matron and maid,
The speechless babe, and the grey-headed man-
Shall one by one be gathered to thy side
By those who in their turn shall follow them.

So live, that when thy summons comes to join
The innumerable caravan which moves
To that mysterious realm where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of death,
Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,
Scourged to his dungeon; but, sustain'd and soothed
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave,
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.

Last Graffiti Pics

More Graffiti Town Pics

Graffiti Town

The students and faculty at a local art school in my city painted their town. Literally. The equivalent of probably three or four city blocks in the US is covered with their graffiti art. Check out the pics - it's pretty awesome.

Funny Cultural Moment

Yesterday Talia and I climbed a mountain in our city. A friend told us where to find a smaller, less traveled path in order to escape the Asian crowds and stair-climbing. The path hosted more people than expected, and it order to stay ahead of the traditional folk song singing crowd, we hiked at a rapid pace. It was typically hot and we did not start climbing until almost 11:30am, so needless to say, we were drenched in sweat. By accident, we ended up on a random path that brought us to the top by way of trash heap.

All of this made for hilarious cultural moment when the two of us popped out of the trash heap, onto the road, and into two very surprised Asian men on a moped tour of the mountain. They stopped immediately, stared, and pointed at us. We had just broken every cultural norm, two big ones in particular: women don't sweat and no one strays from the concrete staircase when climbing mountains. We blinked at each other for more than a few moments before trying to communicate, both sides holding back the mirth of being either on giving or receiving end of laughter. Eventually they drove on a little way and Talia and I tried to figure out our surroundings. We wanted to find a quiet tea house in which to take a break, but did not immediately see one. Eventually, we saw our moped friends sitting at a table at the bottom of a hill waving at us to come join them. We sat with them for a while as they sipped tea and we chugged our water, both parties chewing on some local snacks made of peanuts and sugar. We still wanted to find a tea house, so Talia and I decided to move on.

But of course, the meeting could not end without the typical request by the men to take pictures with us foreigners. We agreed and cell phone cameras were whipped out. I can't imagine what those pictures look like considering I noticed upon standing up that we left wet butt prints on our seats from the sweat. And I can't imagine what they told their friends about us as the proudly displayed their pictures. I head something to the effect of, "Foreign women are so strange. They like to walk through the woods to be eaten by mosquitoes and look at the trash. Didn't they know they could have walked up the stairs to see a beautiful view? They have blue eyes and yellow hair, just like the movies, but they sweat just like men! It would be better if they tried to look more beautiful."