Monday Morning Musings:
“And the dreamt-of is someone who did
Something we can’t quite put
Our finger on,
But which involved a life
We are always, we feel,
About to discover.”
–from Mark Strand, “Dreams”
“One hot afternoon during the era in which you’ve gotten yourself ridiculously tangled up with heroin, you will be riding the bus and thinking what a worthless piece of crap you are when a little girl will get on the bus holding the strings of two purple balloons. She’ll offer you one of the balloons, but you won’t take it because you believe you no longer have a right to such tiny beautiful things. You’re wrong. You do.”
― Cheryl Strayed, Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar
November comes
with days dimmed and dreary,
the time between bright azure skies
and crisp-apple air
and the frosted evergreens of December.
I search now for the golden glow–
and color where I can find it–
the tiny beautiful things
in the world around us,
and the tiny beautiful things
I hold within my heart,
memories,
the touch of lover,
the soothing weight of sleeping infant soothed,
milk-breathed, dreaming–
my own dreams
range, joyous,
or disturbing,
a discovery, if only I don’t. . .
wake
to find it gone.
What was that thought,
that brilliant verse I dreamed?
That something,
that tiny beautiful thing?
Gone,
popped, a balloon-thought
a bubble floating off into space,
yet, a place within me
that I may find it again,
someday,
some nights
in November,
we eat comfort food,
cocooned in blankets
and we watch Netflix–and cats–
find the tiny beautiful things
that make our lives less tiny
more beautiful,
we hug our loved ones tightly
trying to protect them
(another shooting,
another one, we say
and shrug, tsk, another day
of more hate and evil rising–
into space–)
so, I long for a Star Trek world
where brave captains with moral compasses
that never flicker from True North
guide us with bravery and compassion,
never forgetting
who they are
and what must be done
to find the light
to sail us through the stars–
those tiny, huge, beautiful things–
to bring us home.
Our shadows travel the ages–Dock Creek, Old City, Philadelphia
I saw this rainbow sky over Philadelphia when we were returning home from my mom’s.
We saw Tiny Beautiful Things, a play based on Cheryl Strayed’s book, and adapted for stage by Nia Vardalos. Our older daughter and her wife were in Philadelphia for a wedding, and they spent yesterday and last night with us. We watched an episode of Star Trek Voyager, and I said that I wished Captain Janeway was Earth’s leader right now.
Yesterday and today: Merril's historical musings 
I like the musings and the metaphor for Earth’s leaders, but I dislike the way Gutenberg crops the essence from the galleried pictures.
Thank you, Derrick.
The photos look OK to me at my end, but I’m not an expert. I don’t think I’m using Gutenberg?
That is the new editor which automatically crops the photos to get them all the same size. This seems to be happening to yours today, so we only get the full picture by accessing the gallery.
Oh. I have no idea what to do about that.
Don’t worry, then. We can all access the gallery. It’s just that the total of your images – e.g. two whole cats is spoiled unless we do.
The rationale of a Janeway in current U.S. politics would seem like a dream come true.
Sigh. Yes.
Lovely Monday musings, Merril. I laughed at the photo of the cats. The gray one seems to be staring at her shadow and the one over the stove looks busted! 🙂
Thank you, Jill. They make me laugh. 🙂 The gray-striped one is my baby. He’s like my shadow–follows me everywhere.
What are their names? My cat used to follow me everywhere too! 😉
A lovely weekly wrap-up.
And, change her voice, Janeway is the way to go 😉
Thank you, Dale!
Change her voice?
I can’t stand her voice! Mick and I used to cringe 😉
Really? Um. . .oh. I guess that shows you and Mick were made for each other. But you know, if you’re ever stranded in some unknown quadrant of the universe, you might not care–just sayin’. 🙂
Of course, Picard has the best voice.
Oh God yes. So nasally and just annoyed the hell out of us – not enough to NOT watch the series but… I definitely would not care if I were stranded!
Picard… now you’re talkin’!
I hold onto thoughts like this: “find the tiny beautiful things
that make our lives less tiny
more beautiful.” My husband has taken up photographing insects. Talk about tiny beautiful things. Many of these insects have a beauty and brilliance you can’t see with the naked eye. As for a Star Trek leader to replace what we have now, even Capt. Kirk would be a relief although Janeway or Picard would be light years better 😉
Thank you very much, Marie! I remember that your husband photographs insects. Some are very beautifully colored–still can’t say I’m a huge fan though. 😉
I agree with your Star Trek captain assessment! 🙂 (Picard and Janeway are definitely my favorites.)
I’ve just put on “hold” Cheryl Strayed’s Tiny, Beautiful Things. It sounds a lot different from “Wild.” We are taking a little breather this week, and I hope to find some beautiful things, tiny and large. Have a great week, Merril!
Hi Marian. I know of, but never read or saw Wild. It is different because it’s based on her advice column. I think you will probably like Tiny, Beautiful Things. Hope you have a great week, too.
Tiny Beautiful Things is a perfect book–how wonderful that they made it into a play.
I love the photo of the leaves too.
Can we take yet another shooting? It seems we can, every day. (K)
Thank you very much, Kerfe.
Yes, sigh.
This is such a delicate, dreamy musing. We just float away at the end.
Thank you very much! 🙂
🙂
I love the feelings and visuals you evoke here. And here I am in spring.
Thank you so much! Spring is already beginning to seem long ago, and we haven’t even had the worst of winter yet. 😉
🙂
It’s the small things that matter – (also) – such beauty in those small things if we have eyes to see. Thanks Merril this is lovely.
Thank you very much, Susan!
Especially like the popped balloon thought stanza!
Thank you so much!