in flux

“Love easily confuses us because it is always in flux between illusion and substance, between memory and wish, between contentment and need.” ~Tom Robbins

http://www.rebellesociety.com/2013/09/23/how-to-make-love-stay-6-endless-tips/

Sympathique

by Pink Martini

Ma chambre a la forme d'une cage
Le soleil passe son bras par la fenêtre
Les chasseurs à ma porte
Comme les p'ti ts soldats
Qui veulent me prendre

Je ne veux pas travailler
Je ne veux pas déjeuner
Je veux seulement l'oublier
Et puis je fume

Déjà j'ai connu le parfum de l'amour
Un million de roses n'embaumerait pas autant
Maintenant une seule fleur dans mes entourages
Me rend malade

Je ne veux pas travailler
Je ne veux pas déjeuner
Je veux seulement l'oublier
Et puis je fume

Je ne suis pas fière de ça
Vie qui veut me tuer
C'est magnifique être sympathique
Mais je ne le connais jamais

Je ne veux pas travailler
Non
Je ne veux pas déjeuner
Je veux seulement l'oublier
Et puis je fume

Je ne suis pas fière de ça
Vie qui veut me tuer
C'est magnifique être sympathique
Mais je ne le connais jamais

Je ne veux pas travailler
Non
Je ne veux pas déjeuner
Je veux seulement l'oublier
Et puis je fume


translation:

My room is shaped like a cage
The sun streams through the window,
the bellhops are at my door
like those little soldiers
who want to take me away.

I don’t want to work,
I don’t want to lunch
I only want to forget him, and so I smoke.

Long ago I knew the smell of love,
a million roses didn’t smell as sweet.
Now a single flower in my way
makes me sick.

I don’t want to work,
I don’t want to lunch
I only want to forget him, and so I smoke.

I am not proud if this,
This life that wants to kill me.
It’s wonderful to be genial
but I have never known this.

I don’t want to work,
I don’t want to lunch
I only want to forget him, and so I smoke.

Excerpt from the Preface to Leaves of Grass

This is what you shall do: Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul; and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body.

Walt Whitman

Gravity

Sara Bareilles

Something always brings me back to you
It never takes too long
No matter what I say or do
I'll still feel you here 'til the moment I'm gone

You hold me without touch
You keep me without chains
I never wanted anything so much
Than to drown in your love and not feel your rain.

Set me free, leave me be
I don't want to fall another moment into your gravity
Here I am and I stand so tall
Jjust the way I'm supposed to be
But you're on to me and all over me

You loved me 'cause I'm fragile
When I thought that I was strong
But you touch me for a little while
And all my fragile strength is gone

Set me free, leave me be
I don't want to fall another moment into your gravity
Here I am and I stand so tall
Just the way I'm supposed to be
But you're on to me and all over me

I live here on my knees as I
Try to make you see that you're
Everything I think I need here on the ground
But you're neither friend nor foe though I
Can't seem to let you go
The one thing that I still know is that you're keeping me down
Keeping me down

You're on to me, on to me and all over

Something always brings me back to you
It never takes too long

On Love

A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous.
Ingrid Bergman

For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul.
Judy Garland

Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.
Mother Teresa

A woman knows the face of the man she loves as a sailor knows the open sea.
Honore de Balzac

I was born with an enormous need for affection, and a terrible need to give it.
Audrey Hepburn

We waste time looking for the perfect lover, instead of creating the perfect love.
Tom Robbins

The art of love is largely the art of persistence.
Albert Ellis

Love is a friendship set to music.
Joseph Campbell

Life is the flower for which love is the honey.
Victor Hugo

Love consists in this, that two solitudes protect and touch and greet each other.
Rainer Maria Rilke

How absurd and delicious it is to be in love with somebody younger than yourself. Everybody should try it.
Barbara Pym

Love knows not distance; it hath no continent; its eyes are for the stars.
Gilbert Parker

Something I need

~ One Republic

I had a dream the other night
About how we only get one life
Woke me up right after two
Stayed awake and stared at you
So I wouldn't lose my mind

And I had the week that came from hell
And yes I know that you can tell
But you're like the net under the ledge
But I go flying of the edge
You go flying off as well

And if you only die once I wanna die with
You got something I need
In this world full of people there's one killing me
And if we only die once I wanna die with you
You got something I need
In this world full of people there's one killing me
And if we only die once I wanna die with you

Last night I think I drank too much
Call it our temporary crutch
With broken words I tried to say
Honey don't you be afraid
If we got nothing we got us

And if you only die once I wanna die with
You got something I need
In this world full of people there's one killing me
And if we only die once I wanna die with you
You got something I need
In this world full of people there's one killing me
And if we only die once I wanna die with you

I know that we're not the same
But I'm so glad damn that we made it
To this time, this time, now

You got something I need
Yeah in this world full of people there's one killing me
And if we only die once I wanna die with you
You got something I need
In this world full of people there's one killing me
And if we only die once I wanna die with you
You got something I need
In this world full of people there's one killing me
And if we only die once I wanna die with you

If we only die once I wanna die with
If we only live once I wanna live with you

Dead Sea

The Lumineers

I stood alone, upon the platform in vain;
The Puerto Ricans they were playing the salsa in the rain,
With open doors and manual locks,
In fast food parking lots.

I headed West, I was a man on the move;
New York had lied to me, I needed the truth.
Oh, I need somebody; I needed someone I could trust.
I don't gamble, but if I did I would bet on us

Like the Dead Sea;
You told me I was like the Dead Sea.
You'll never sink when you are with me;
Oh Lord, like the Dead Sea.

Oh, I'm like the Dead Sea;
The finest words you ever said to me.
Honey can't you see,
I was born to be, be your Dead Sea.

You told me you were good at running away;
Domestic life, it never suited you like a suitcase.
You left with just the clothes on your back;
You took the rest when you took the map.

Yes, there are times we live for somebody else;
Your father died and you decided to live
It for yourself; you felt, you just felt it was time.
And I'm glad, cause you with cats, that's just not right.

Like the Dead Sea;
You told me I was like the Dead Sea.
You'll never sink when you are with me.
Oh Lord, I'm your Dead Sea.

Oh, I'm like the Dead Sea;
The nicest words you ever said to me.
Honey can't you see
I was born to be, be your dead sea

I been down, I've been defeated;
You're the message I was heeding.
Would you stay,
Would you stay the night?

Dead Sea,
Told me I was like the Dead Sea;
Never sink when you are with me.
Oh Lord, I'm your Dead Sea.

Whoa, I'm like the Dead Sea;
The finest words you ever said to me.
No need to move your feet so quickly.
Oh Lord, I'm your Dead Sea.

Leland Stanford Junior Farm

My eyes are dim I can not see
I have not brought my specks with me
I have, hey, not, ho, brought my specks with me.

Oh it's beer, beer, beer that makes you want to cheer
On the farm, on the farm
It's beer, beer, beer that makes you want to cheer
On the Leland Stanford Junior Farm.

My eyes are dim I can not see
I have not brought my specks with me
I have, hey, not, ho, brought my specks with me.

Well it's gin, gin, gin that makes you want to sin
On the farm, on the farm
It's gin, gin, gin that makes you want to sin
On the Leland Stanford Junior Farm.

Chorus

It's whisky, whisky, whisky that makes you feel so frisky
On the farm, etc.

It's hot roast duck that makes you want a ...... SANDWICH
On the farm, on the farm.
Oh, it's hot roast duck that makes you want a sandwich
On the Leland Stanford Junior Farm.

 

"Count On Me" - Bruno Mars

If you ever find yourself stuck in the middle of the sea
I'll sail the world to find you
If you ever find yourself lost in the dark and you can't see
I'll be the light to guide you

Find out what we're made of
When we are called to help our friends in need

You can count on me like one, two, three, I'll be there
And I know when I need it
I can count on you like four, three, two, and you'll be there
'Cause that's what friends are supposed to do, oh yeah

Wooooh, Wooooh
yeah Yeah

If you toss and you turn and you just can't fall asleep
I'll sing a song beside you
And if you ever forget how much you really mean to me
Everyday I will remind you

Find out what we're made of
When we are called to help our friends in need

You can count on me like one, two, three, I'll be there
And I know when I need it
I can count on you like four, three, two, and you'll be there
'Cause that's what friends are supposed to do, oh yeah

Wooooh, Wooooh
yeah Yeah

You'll always have my shoulder when you cry
I'll never let go, never say goodbye

You know you can count on me like one, two, three, I'll be there
And I know when I need it
I can count on you like four, three, two, and you'll be there
'Cause that's what friends are supposed to do, oh yeah

Wooooh, Wooooh

You can count on me 'cause I can count on you

"Litany" by Billy Collins

You are the bread and the knife,
The crystal goblet and the wine...
-Jacques Crickillon

You are the bread and the knife,
the crystal goblet and the wine.
You are the dew on the morning grass
and the burning wheel of the sun.
You are the white apron of the baker,
and the marsh birds suddenly in flight.

However, you are not the wind in the orchard,
the plums on the counter,
or the house of cards.
And you are certainly not the pine-scented air.
There is just no way that you are the pine-scented air.

It is possible that you are the fish under the bridge,
maybe even the pigeon on the general's head,
but you are not even close
to being the field of cornflowers at dusk.

And a quick look in the mirror will show
that you are neither the boots in the corner
nor the boat asleep in its boathouse.

It might interest you to know,
speaking of the plentiful imagery of the world,
that I am the sound of rain on the roof.

I also happen to be the shooting star,
the evening paper blowing down an alley
and the basket of chestnuts on the kitchen table.

I am also the moon in the trees
and the blind woman's tea cup.
But don't worry, I'm not the bread and the knife.
You are still the bread and the knife.
You will always be the bread and the knife,
not to mention the crystal goblet and--somehow--the wine.

words

“Words are pale shadows of forgotten names. As names have power, words have power. Words can light fires in the minds of men. Words can wring tears from the hardest hearts.”
― Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind

“But words are things, and a small drop of ink,
Falling, like dew, upon a thought produces
That which makes thousands, perhaps millions think.”
― George Gordon Byron

“Among my most prized possessions are words that I have never spoken.”
― Orson Scott Card

“We wrapped our dreams in words and patterned the words so that they would live forever, unforgettable.”
― Neil Gaiman, Fragile Things

“The taste for books was an early one. As a child he was sometimes found at midnight by a page still reading. They took his taper away, and he bred glow-worms to serve his purpose. They took the glow-worms away and he almost burnt the house down with a tinder.”
― Virginia Woolf, Orlando

“If the word doesn't exist, invent it; but first be sure it doesn't exist.”
― Charles Baudelaire

“He wanted to cry quietly but not for himself: for the words, so beautiful and sad, like music.”
― James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

“I ate them like salad, books were my sandwich for lunch, my tiffin and dinner and midnight munch. I tore out the pages, ate them with salt, doused them with relish, gnawed on the bindings, turned the chapters with my tongue! Books by the dozen, the score and the billion. I carried so many home I was hunchbacked for years. Philosophy, art history, politics, social science, the poem, the essay, the grandiose play, you name 'em, I ate 'em.”
― Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

“A written word is the choicest of relics. It is something at once more intimate with us and more universal than any other work of art. It is the work of art nearest to life itself. It may be translated into every language, and not only be read but actually breathed from all human lips; -- not be represented on canvas or in marble only, but be carved out of the breath of life itself.”
― Henry David Thoreau, Walden

Mitch Anderson's Salutatorian Address

Bell County Expo, Belton, Texas, June 6, 2013 

Mitch Anderson

Learning how to love and celebrate yourself is one of the most crucial and difficult aspects of life. To know who you truly are is the first step to enlightenment, to happiness. It sounds so facile, yet discovering and accepting who you are meant to be requires introspection and a willingness to submerge yourself into darkness. And that is what makes the task so daunting, so terrifying, if approached with complete authenticity. For the longest time, I was forced to live fractured, refusing to look at who I thought I was and then refusing to accept who I thought I might be. The journey into the soul is not for the faint of heart. Fear will naturally creep in, but those who use the fear to force themselves onward will succeed. After much dread and countless hours devoted to soul searching, for the first time, you will be able to love who you are.

But the task does not end there. If you know yourself, but incessantly crave an empty approval of others, you will be forever sorrowful. This is wherein the true challenge lies. As Madonna has said, “If your joy is derived from what society thinks of you, you’re always going to be disappointed.” You must be able to bare yourself to the world, and then let it be. You cannot be timid; you cannot be anxious. In a situation that seems so pyrrhic, you must evaluate what the costs and gains really are. You may think that hiding yourself is worth some superficial praise by society, or you can choose to learn that being who you are is vastly more important and rid yourself of those who cannot bring themselves to allow you to be you.

I myself am guilty of self-doubt, relying on others to give my life definition. But that time has passed, and I feel the moment has arrived for me to be publically true to my personal identity. So now, I can say, I’m gay. It is both a significant portion of who I am and an inconsequential aspect. It’s as natural and effortless to me as breathing. I couldn’t change myself even if I wanted, and believe me, I have.

I have been bullied a lot. I’ve been called unspeakable things and relegated to a place of lower class. I have been made to feel worthless, unneeded, a blight on the world. People have mocked me, said that I was virtually subhuman. So, for a while, I was in a very dark place. I had no concept of self-worth, and frequently pondered suicide. I became so dejected, that many times I thought of killing myself not just because I saw no point to life, but because I had been convinced that doing so would actually make the world better. And so, for many years, I continued the cyclical, destructive thought patterns. This happened both before and after I thought about my sexuality. And after I had realized I was gay, I hated myself. I wished and prayed endlessly that I could just go on with life normally, that I could be like everyone else. Being different felt like a curse, an unfair sentence to the life of an outcast.

There were moments when I believed I was next to nothing. But I learned that what others think of you is not nearly as meaningful as what you think of yourself. You cannot owe the quality of your existence to other people. You must evaluate your life and give it purpose. You must recognize that you are an expression of the divine, a being made perfect through celebration of your perceived imperfections.

Once you love yourself, you can be the best version of yourself. You will find success and happiness. You will find that being different is a wholly wonderful and joyous thing, because it will mark you for greatness. Wish not to be one of the million, but one in a million. Find your idiosyncrasies, find what will make you unique, and run with it. You will make far fewer mistakes if you allow your inner and truer feelings to guide you.

And when you feel like you will be abandoned, alienated, and cast out, ignore the sources of such toxicity. I believe Zachary Quinto put it best by saying, “If people don’t want to work with me because of my sexual orientation, then I have no interest in working with them to begin with.” This statement can be applied to any situation you encounter where someone is put off by your expressing yourself. Surround yourself with those who will be supportive of you, and remind yourself that you are beautiful in your own way.

The people who tear you down, who spit vitriol and ire, pity them. They lash out because they have intrinsic flaws that they refuse to face. They have unresolved deficiencies within that cause them to inflict harm on others. They have no external peace because internally there is a want of harmony.

The world could use a little bit more love. Let us all not be so quick to judge. We ought to be a bit kinder to others. Be not afraid of what you do not know, because more often than not, it’s probably incredibly similar to what you know. And when you disagree with someone, hate is not a form of love. Think for a moment about what damage your words would do before speaking.

I invite everyone to be more reflective, more meditative. I ask everyone to give themselves a good hard look and define what they like about themselves. I ask all of you to learn what it means to love yourself, if you haven’t already.

Please, embrace self-empowerment. You gain confidence, an unswerving belief that you matter and the ability of your existence to make an indelible mark on the world. You gain compassion and empathy. You will love and be loved. Most importantly, you will finally start living the life that you were always meant to live.

I would be remiss, however, if I failed to incorporate a Harry Potter reference to the theme of my speech, so I will. Be a Luna Lovegood, not a Pansy Parkinson. Be a little bit strange and off-kilter, and not so desperate to be popular. Strive for legitimacy, and skirt what makes you vapid. Find fellowship with everyone, not those you have preordained.

I have a few final, closing thoughts, before I turn over the podium. First, I find Zachary Quinto’s eyebrows very attractive. Second, I would like to be friends with Lady Gaga and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter. And third, I would like everyone to remember that “Starships were meant to fly, Hands up and touch the sky, Can’t stop ‘cause we’re so high, let’s do this one more time.”


http://gawker.com/as-if-literally-every-high-school-graduation-speech-eve-512760649
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/10/gay-texas-teen-graduation-speech_n_3416355.html

"Here at last is the thing I was made for"

You may have noticed that the books you really love are bound together by a secret thread. You know very well what is the common quality that makes you love them, though you cannot put it into words: but most of your friends do not see it at all, and often wonder why, liking this, you should also like that. Again, you have stood before some landscape, which seems to embody what you have been looking for all your life; and then turned to the friend at your side who appears to be seeing what you saw -- but at the first words a gulf yawns between you, and you realise that this landscape means something totally different to him, that he is pursuing an alien vision and cares nothing for the ineffable suggestion by which you are transported. Even in your hobbies, has there not always been some secret attraction which the others are curiously ignorant of -- something, not to be identified with, but always on the verge of breaking through, the smell of cut wood in the workshop or the clap-clap of water against the boat's side? Are not all lifelong friendships born at the moment when at last you meet another human being who has some inkling (but faint and uncertain even in the best) of that something which you were born desiring, and which, beneath the flux of other desires and in all the momentary silences between the louder passions, night and day, year by year, from childhood to old age, you are looking for, watching for, listening for? You have never had it. All the things that have ever deeply possessed your soul have been but hints of it -- tantalising glimpses, promises never quite fulfilled, echoes that died away just as they caught your ear. But if it should really become manifest -- if there ever came an echo that did not die away but swelled into the sound itself -- you would know it. Beyond all possibility of doubt you would say "Here at last is the thing I was made for". We cannot tell each other about it. It is the secret signature of each soul, the incommunicable and unappeasable want, the thing we desired before we met our wives or made our friends or chose our work, and which we shall still desire on our deathbeds, when the mind no longer knows wife or friend or work. While we are, this is. If we lose this, we lose all.

― C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

Why You’re Single

by Amanda Crute

You’re single because you’re single. It’s not because you texted too much or too little or waited 33 minutes to respond because he took 23. It’s not because you met up with your ex that night at 5 a.m. that no one knows about, or because you kissed another boy after a date with a loser.

You’re not single because you spit food on that date or tripped coming out the the movie theatre. You’re not single because you hurt your first boyfriend really badly when you were 15 or because you have yet, to this day, to apologize. It’s not because you were secretly jealous when your friend got a boyfriend or that a guy you dated for two months now has a really cute girlfriend and looks really happy. And you’re happy for him. But still ill that he found someone before you.

You’re not single because you slept with your ex boyfriend. You’re not single because half the world found out when you didn’t even want to remember it yourself. You’re not single because you think the guy your friend wants to hook you up with is ugly or not tall enough. It’s not because you’re not willing to put up with someone who doesn’t brush their teeth on a regular basis.

You’re not single because your standards are too high. Good for you for having standards. It’s not because you didn’t like that really, really good guy who wanted to take you on a date and you just weren’t feeling it. And it’s not because you like to wear pajama pants as soon as you get home and wash all the makeup off your face. You’re not single because you didn’t learn enough from the past or would rather chill on a Friday night with your blanket and a cold beer than shower, get ready, and go out. You’re not single because something is wrong with you.

You are single because you are single. It’s really as simple as that. You haven’t made the connection with another heart yet. You can get dolled up, dress cute, cut your hair, dye your hair, tweeze your eyebrows, put on lipstick and you may still. be. single. You can go out to a bar hoping to meet the love of your life and not find a damn one in the place attractive. And it’s going to remain that way until it’s time for you to find one. Stop hoping for it. Start living the life that you do have instead of wishing for things that you don’t have. There will come a time you’ll meet a boy and you’ll have to give up some of this single freedom you currently have. Start being more thankful. Start doing that now.

You’re not single because you slept with your ex boyfriend. You’re not single because half the world found out when you didn't even want to remember it yourself. You’re not single because you think the guy your friend wants to hook you up with is ugly or not tall enough. It’s not because you’re not willing to put up with someone who doesn't brush their teeth on a regular basis.

You’re not single because your standards are too high. Good for you for having standards. It’s not because you didn't like that really, really good guy who wanted to take you on a date and you just weren't feeling it. And it’s not because you like to wear pajama pants as soon as you get home and wash all the makeup off your face. You’re not single because you didn't learn enough from the past or would rather chill on a Friday night with your blanket and a cold beer than shower, get ready, and go out. You’re not single because something is wrong with you.

You are single because you are single. It’s really as simple as that. You haven’t made the connection with another heart yet. You can get dolled up, dress cute, cut your hair, dye your hair, tweeze your eyebrows, put on lipstick and you may still. be. single. You can go out to a bar hoping to meet the love of your life and not find a damn one in the place attractive. And it’s going to remain that way until it’s time for you to find one. Stop hoping for it. Start living the life that you do have instead of wishing for things that you don’t have. There will come a time you’ll meet a boy and you’ll have to give up some of this single freedom you currently have. Start being more thankful. Start doing that now.

The Distance

"The Distance"
Christina Perri

The sun is filling up the room
And I can hear you dreaming
Do you feel the way I do right now?

I wish we would just give up
'Cause the best part is falling
Call it anything but love

And I will make sure to keep my distance
Say "I love you," when you're not listening
How long can we keep this up, up, up?

And please don't stand so close to me
I'm having trouble breathing
I'm afraid of what you'll see
Right now

I'll give you everything I am
All my broken heartbeats
Until I know you'll understand

And I will make sure to keep my distance
Say "I love you," when you're not listening
How long can we keep this up, up, up?

And I keep waiting
For you to take me
You keep waiting
To save what we have

So I will make sure to keep my distance
Say "I love you," when you're not listening
How long can we keep this up, up, up?

Make sure to keep my distance
Say "I love you," and when you're not listening
How long till we call this love, love, love?

stubborn love

– the lumineers

she’ll lie and steal and cheat, and beg you from her knees

make you think she means it this time

she’ll tear a hole in you the one you can’t repair

but i still love her i don’t really care

when we were young oh oh we did enough

when it got cold ooh ooh we bundled up

i can’t be told ah ah it can’t be done

it’s better to feel pain than nothing at all

the opposite of love’s indifference

so pay attention now i’m standing on your porch screamin out

and i won’t leave until you come downstairs

so keep your head up keep your love

so keep your head up keep your love

so keep your head up keep your love

so keep your head up keep your love

and i don’t blame ya dear for running like you did all these years

i would do the same you best believe

and the highway signs say we’re close, but i don’t read those things anymore

i never trusted my own eyes

when we were young oh oh we did enough

when it got cold ooh ooh we bundled up

i can’t be told ah ah it can’t be done

so keep your head up keep your love

so keep your head up keep your love

so keep your head up keep your love

so keep your head up keep your love

http://thelumineers.com/stubborn-love/

Louis de Bernieres

"Love is a temporary madness; it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of eternal passion. That is just being “in love”, which any fool can do. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Those that truly love have roots that grow towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossoms have fallen from their branches, they find that they are one tree and not two."

- Louis de Bernieres