Some poetry will be by me, some will be my favourite poems & quotes and some may be sent in by you!

Quote Tuesday 1st January 2008

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more,
Or close the wall up with our English dead!
In peace there’s nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility;
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger:
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood.
“Henry V” (5.3.44-51)

Poem Tuesday 2nd January 2007

The Naming of Cats
T.S. Eliot

The naming of cats is a difficult matter,
It isn’t just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I’m mad as a hatter
When I tell you a cat must have three
different names.

First of all, there’s the name
that the family use daily,
Such as Victor, or Jonathan,
George or Bill Bailey–
All of them sensible everyday names.
There are fancier names
if you think they sound sweeter,
Some for the gentlemen,
some for the dames;
Such as Plato, Admetus,
Electra, Demeter–
But all of them sensible everyday names.

But I tell you,
a cat needs a name that’s particular,
A name that is peculiar, and more dignified,
Else how can he
keep up his tail perpendicular,
Or spread out his whiskers,
or cherish his pride?

Of names of this kind,
I can give you a quorum,
Such as Munkustrap, Quazo or Coripat,
Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellyrum–
Names that never belong
to more than one cat.

But above and beyond
there’s still one name left over,
And that is the name that you will never guess;
The name
that no human research can discover–
But The Cat Himself Knows,
and will never confess.

When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought,
of the thought of his name:
His ineffable effable
Effanineffable
Deep and inscrutable singular Name.

Quote 12th September 2006

“How does one become a butterfly?” she asked pensively.
“You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar.”
Trina Paulus

Quote Monday 21st August 2006

Until this moment, I never understood how hard it was to lose something you never had. Anon.

Quote Thursday 17th August 2006

Difficult times have helped me to understand better than before, how infinitely rich and beautiful life is in every way, and that so many things that one goes worrying about are of no importance whatsoever…– Isak Dinesen

Quote Friday 28th July 2006

The important thing is this: to be able, at any moment, to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi