Art Linkletter died yesterday (May 26th) at the age of 97. This video made me cry:
Click on image to purchase at Amazon.
LOST, the Best Lines
“It’s been six days, and we’re all still waiting. Waiting for someone to come. But what if they don’t? We have to stop waiting. We need to start figuring things out. A woman died this morning just going for a swim. He tried to save her and now you’re about to crucify him. We can’t do this. Every man for himself is not going to work. It’s time to start organizing. We need to figure out how we’re going to survive here. Now I found water. Freshwater, up in the valley. I’ll take a party up there at first daylight. If you don’t want to come then find another way to contribute! Last week most of us were strangers. But we’re all here now. And God knows how long we’re going to be here. But if we can’t live together, then we’re going to die alone.” — Jack Shephard, White Rabbit
“Baby, I am tied to a tree in the jungle of mystery. I just got tortured by a d–n spinal surgeon and a genuine Iraqi. Of course I’m serious.” ~Sawyer, “Confidence Man”
“Do you really think all this is an accident — that we, a group of strangers survived, many of us with just superficial injuries? Do you think we crashed on this place by coincidence — especially, this place? We were brought here for a purpose, for a reason, all of us. Each one of us was brought here for a reason. . . . The island brought us here. This is no ordinary place, you’ve seen that, I know you have. But the island chose you, too, Jack. It’s destiny.” ~ John Locke, “Exodus”
“See you in another life, brotha.” ~Desmond Hume, “Man of Science, Man of Faith”
“Of course, if I was one of them — these people that you seem to think are your enemies — what would I do? Well, there’d be no balloon, so I’d draw a map to a real secluded place like a cave or some underbrush. Good place for a trap — an ambush. And when your friends got there a bunch of my people would be waiting for them. Then they’d use them to trade for me. I guess it’s a good thing I’m not one of them, huh? You guys got any milk?” ~Ben Linus, “The Whole Truth”
“Well, Adam, I am the host and I do pick the book, and this is my favorite book. So I am absolutely thrilled that you can’t stand it. Silly me for sinking so low as to select something that Ben wouldn’t like. Here I am thinking that free will still actually exists on this…” ~ Juliet, A Tale of Two Cities
“Two days after I found out I had a fatal tumor on my spine, a spinal surgeon fell out of the sky… and if that’s not proof of God, I don’t know what is.” ~Ben Linus
“Look, I don’t know about you, but things have really sucked for me lately, and I could really use a victory. So let’s get one, dude! Let’s get this car started. Let’s look Death in the face and say, ‘Whatever, man!'” ~Hurley,
“All this, see all this is all variables. It’s random; it’s chaotic. Every equation needs stability, something known. It’s called a ‘constant.’ Desmond, you have no constant. When you go to the future nothing there is familiar. So if you want to stop this, then you need to find something there, something that you really, really care about, something that also exists back here in 1996.” ~Daniel Faraday, “The Constant”
“If we get any questions we don’t wanna answer, or that we can’t answer, let’s just keep our mouths shut. It’s okay, they’ll think that we’re in shock.” ~Jack Shephard, “There’s No Place Like Home”
“Time it’s like a street, all right? We can move forward on that street, we can move in reverse, but we cannot ever create a new street. If we try to do anything different, we will fail every time. Whatever happened, happened.” ~Daniel Faraday, “Because You Left”
“I heard once Winston Churchill read a book every night, even during the Blitz. He said it made him think better. It’s how I like to run things. I think. I’m sure that doesn’t mean that much to you, ’cause back when you were calling the shots, you pretty much just reacted. See, you didn’t think, Jack, and as I recall, a lot of people ended up dead.” ~Sawyer, “Namaste”
The Man in Black: “They come. They fight. They destroy. They corrupt. It always ends the same.â€
Jacob: “It only ends once. Anything that happens before that is just progress.â€
“The Incident”
An Interview with Melina of Reading Vacation
Today for Armchair BEA, I have the privilege of interviewing Melina of the blog Reading Vacation. You should really take a look at her blog after reading the interview; it looks as if she has a long and fruitful blogging career ahead of her and lots of good books to recommend.
How did you start blogging? You have a lovely blog. How did you get it started and set up? Why?
I started writing book reviews on Glogster last September as part of a school project.I had such a good time, that I started my blog this March. Since I read so much, I thought a blog would be a creative way to share my love of reading with others.
Who are your favorite authors?
Scott Westerfeld, Julie Kagawa, Stephenie Meyer, Ally Carter, Rick Riordan, and so many more.
Have you always enjoyed reading?
Yes!
What’s the first book you ever remember reading for yourself? What did you think about it?
I remember reading the ENTIRE Rainbow Fairy series by Daisy Meadows. My mom bought them online from England.
I think those books played a big part in spurring my love of reading.
Did your parents read to you a lot when you were younger? If so, what books do you remember reading aloud with them?
Yes. They read a lot of fairy tales to me. Every day and every night.
My daughter Bethany is eleven. What one book do you suggest to her as a “can’t miss it” book?
I can’t name just one. Have Bethany check out my blog for ideas to see what may interest her.
Summer Reading: 52 Picks for the Hols
I used to love to read the British slang in books by C.S. Lewis, E. Nesbit, P.G. Wodehouse, and others. It took me a long time to figure out that those kids weren’t carrying actual torches in their pockets (how?), but rather normal old flashlights. And “hols” were holidays, any break from school.
Some of the books on the following list are old, some are new. Some I’ve read and loved, and others I plan to enjoy this summer. So, whether you’re taking a break from school for next few months/weeks or just easing into a different routine for the summer, here are some summer-y suggestions for your reading pleasure:
Picture Books: (Preschool/Kindergarten)
1. Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey.
2. The Storm Book by Charlotte Zolotow. About a summer thunderstorm.
3. Roxaboxen by Alice McLarren. A group of children in Arizona or New Mexico, somewhere dry and desert-y, make a play town out of old woden crates, rocks, cacti and desert glass. The illustrations are by Barbara Cooney. This book reminds me of the story Engineer Husband tells of making towns in the dirt in his backyard and then flooding them with the garden hose. Except I don’t think Roxaboxen ever suffered any floods.
4. Nothing To Do by Russell Hoban. I love this book. Unfortunately, it’s out of print. Walter Possum, a Frances-like character but related only by author, is bored and can find nothing to do. When he complains his father gives him a “magic stone”at will give him ideas if he will only rub it and think really hard and wait for the ideas to come. This one is just as good as the Frances books.
5. Harry by the Sea by Gene Zion. Harry, a white dog with black spots, tries to find a way to cool off at the seashore.
6. Cranberry Summer by Wende Devlin.
7. Hot Air Henry by Mary Calhoun. Henry the cat takes an accidental trip in a hot air balloon.
8. The Summer Noisy Book by Margaret Wise Brown.
9. On A Summer Day by Lois Lenski. Out of print and hard to find. Try your library. Isn’t the cover delightful?
10. A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle.
Younger Readers: (Ages 5-9)
11. Because of Winn-DIxie by Kate DiCamillo.
12. Betsy’s Busy Summer by Carolyn Haywood. Ms. Haywood’s books are delightfully old-fashioned and fairly easy to read. I may read this one with Z-baby.
13. Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White.
14. All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor.
15. Many Moons by James Thurber. THere’s a newer version of this classic about a princess who wanted the moon with illustrator Marc Simont. It’s OK, but I like Slobodkin’s watercolors.
16. Moxy Maxwell Does NOT Love Stuart Little by Peggy GIfford.
17. Alvin Ho: Allergic to Camping, Hiking, and Other Natural Disasters by Lenore Look.
18. Henry and Mudge in the Green Time by Cynthia Rylant. (very easy)
19. Summersaults by Douglas Florian. Kid poetry for summer.
20. The Littles and the Big Storm by John Peterson.
Middle Grade Readers: (Ages 9-13)
21. Any Which Wall by Laurel Snyder. Four children find a wall that can transport them through time and space. Semicolon review here.
22. The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy by Jeanne Birdsall.
23. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis. The Dawn Treader movie is supposed to come out in December, so this summer would be a good time to read the book if you haven’t already done so. It has one of the best opening lines in literature, and Eustace’s redemption is a beautiful story. “There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.”
24. Henry Reed, Inc. by Keith Robertson. A great old-fashioned book about a boy who spends the summer in a small town with his uncle and aunt. Exciting things happen whenever Henry is around!
25. SIx Innings by James Preller. Baseball and summer just go together. Semicolon review here.
26. Leepike RIdge by N.D. Wilson. Semicolon review here.
27. The Girl Who Threw Butterflies by Mich Cochrane. Semicolon review here.
28. Umbrella Summer by Lisa Graff.
29. Spiderweb for Two: A Melendy Maze by Elizabeth Enright. It doesn’t take place in the summer, but I thought it did. It would make a great summer adventure.
30. Galveston’s Summer of the Storm by Julie Lake. Very lazy Texas summer with Texas foods and hot weather and front porches and grandmother’s house. Then disaster!
Young Adult:
31. The Last Summer of the Death Warriors by Francisco X. Stork. Brought to my attention by Mitali at Mitali’s Fire Escape. Semicolon review here.
32. A Ring of Endless Light by Madeleine L’Engle. One of my favorites. I think it’s time for a re-read.
33. Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene. A 12 year old Jewish girl from Arkansas meets a German prisoner of war and helps him to escape. As her family life deteriorates, her emotional involvement with her German friend grows.
34. Monsoon Summer by Mitali Perkins. Semicolon review here.
35. Heist Society by Ally Carter. I haven’t read this one yet, but I want to.
36. They Never Came Back by Caroline B. Cooney. Another one the I want to read. Here’s Jen’s review.
37. The Chosen by Chaim Potok.
38. Watership Down by Richard Adams. Hey, LOST (TV) isn’t really over, is it, until we’ve read all the books that LOST references? Watership Down was one of Sawyer’s reads, and even Boone said that he’d read it in Australia. If you haven’t, you should. It’s about bunny rabbits.
39. Ask Me Anything by J. Budziszewski. Professor Theophilus gives provocative answers to college students’ questions. The book is written by a professor of government and philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin.
40. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. The final book in the Hunger Games trilogy will be out AUgust 24th. Still summer, but barely.
Adult Fiction and Nonfiction
41. The Summer of the Great-Grandmother by Madeleine L’Engle.
42. Bring Me a Unicorn: Diaries and Letters of Anne Morrow Lindbergh, 1922-1928. Before she was married to famous aviator Charles Lindbergh, Anne Morrow, daughter of the American ambassador to Mexico, kept a journal and wrote a plethora of letters. This book is the first of five volumes of collected letters and journal entries of Anne Morrow soon-to-be Lindbergh. The others are called: Hour of Gold Hour of Lead, Locked Rooms Open Doors, The Flower and the Nettle, and War Within and Without.
43. An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser. It’s been a long time since I read this classic, but I remember it as a very summery book. Sad and summery.
44. Miracle in Philadelphia by Caroline Drinker Bowen. Read about that hot summer in Philadelphia 1787, and and celebrate the miracle that is the U.S. Constitution.
45. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. June selection for the Semicolon Book Club.
46. Mrs. Buncle’s Book by D.E. Stevenson. July selection for Semicolon Book Club. I just read my first book by D.E. Stevenson, and I’m looking forward to another.
47. 1776 by David McCullough. Another summertime American history book.
48. Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry. Just read it. It’s wonderful.
49. Walk Across America by Peter Jenkins. Every summer should include travel and adventure.
50. The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott by Kelly O’Connor McNees. Reviewed by Florinda at the 3 R’s.
51. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley. Everyone recommends this one. This summer I’m going to read it.
52. Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork. I guess this one is really a YA fiction title, but I ran out of room on that list, and it’s just as good for adults. Marcelo’s summer job at his father law office teaches him about the real world, but his co-workers learn a few things, too, from the wonderfully honest and autistic Marcelo. Semicolon review here.
I case that’s not enough, here a few more lists:
Death in Summer: Mysteries for Hot Days
Summer Reading: 2006
This post is linked to Armchair BEA because these are the books I’d be talking about, and in some cases looking for, if I were there. Come back tomorrow for an interview with a very special and stunningly beautiful blogger and Armchair BEA participant. And Thursday I’ll give you a list of all the books I’d like to snag see if I were at BookExpo America this week. Those of you who are ther: enjoy!
Lots of LOST Thoughts; Probably More to Come
Idol or icon?
LOST, Lord of the Rings, the books referenced in LOST, even the Bible itself can become idol rather than icon if we become enmeshed in the details of the stories or of the Word and never see through to the Author, to God Himself.
It is possible to find True Truth in LOST or in LOTR or in Kierkegaard or Augustine or in Matthew Henry’s commentaries, but if we look to any story or philosophical treatise or commentary as the Source of Ultimate Truth, that work of literature has become an idol rather an icon that points us to the Ultimate Truth of God in Christ Jesus. Stories and poetry, and in our culture movies and television, are powerful icons that can point us to the source—because in the end all Truth is God’s truth (which is NOT the same thing as saying all religions lead to the same Source).
Cuse and Lindelof (LOST producers) wisely refused to answer all the questions raised over the course of six seasons of LOST for at least two reasons. First of all they don’t have all the answers. LOST raised many philosophical questions for which the answers are incomplete in any story. Cuse and Lindelof and the writers of LOST are telling us, “LIFE/LOST is messy. We have faith that it does have meaning, but the whole thing is a group project. No man is an island. We live in community, whether we want to or not, and we work out our salvation in fear and in trembling and in community.”
Secondly, and related, the answers are not neat packages. Each answer leads to more questions. LOST is like life. Things happen that seem meaningless and even perverse, and only later on can we see the meaning and the reason. Other parts of life we never do understand. Perhaps those incomprehensible and seemingly random events (Jack getting pounded in Thailand, Walt’s special abilities) also have meaning, but it’s a meaning that we are unable to discern even from the vantage point of the future. Like Jack and Hurley and the rest of the LOSTies, we just have to muddle through, having faith that there is a light at the center of the universe and a place and time where all be made clear.
In the end the LOST writers, the story itself, came down on the side of faith. Granted, it was faith in anything or everything, Buddha or Jesus, take your pick. But that’s our culture. That’s the part of the story that’s misleading and untrue. Still, some of the themes were truth-filled. It does take a community to work through your issues and help you to become the person you were meant to be. Human beings do have choices, and choices do matter, even when it seems as if everything is predestined and predetermined. Forgiveness is important and healing. In one sense, what happened, happened. You can’t change the past. But in another sense, nothing is irreversible. Resurrection and redemption are possible. (“Christian Shepard? Are you kidding?”)
And faith is vital. Not faith in oneself, as was implied in certain lines of dialog in the season finale, but rather faith in a God who is there and who is weaving meaning into every single event and relationship of our lives. In fact, we have a God who is so much bigger than Jacob or Jack or the Island itself. We have a Savior who by His sacrifice on the cross gave meaning to all the little mirror sacrifices that we sometimes make for each other. Jack and Desmond and Charlie and Jin and even Kate were all little Christ-figures, icons for the true story of sacrifice and servanthood that is found in the Bible. If you’ve never read it and you’re looking for a story to fill the LOST void now that LOST is over, you might try the real thing. God’s story is as mysterious and profound and beautiful and iconic as LOST, and it’s completely True. Time to go further up and further in and enter the Door that is now open into the most exciting story of all.
Nonfiction Monday: Pythagorus and the Ratios by Julie Ellis
Today is “Nontraditional Nonfiction Monday,” as declared by host Travis at 100 Scope Notes. Problem is, my reviews are always sort of non-traditional (scroll down to read my musings on writing book reviews). So, how does a non-traditional book reviewer write a review that’s nontraditional for her?
I got it: farm out the review to Engineer Husband. Engineer Husband is an expert on math and kids, having helped out in the math education of eight urchins (no math majors yet, but he’s still hoping). The book is part of a series called Math Adventures, and I was sent a copy for review.
Without further ado:
Pythagoras and the Ratios is the story of how young Pythagoras helps his cousins prepare for a musical contest by tuning their musical instruments (pipes and lyres). Hearing the difference between the pleasant sound of his own pipes and the unpleasant sound of his cousin’s leads Pythagoras to make observations about the ratios of length of the six pipes in the instrument. By means of measurement and simple mathematics, Pythagoras makes an important discovery and verifies it by modifying his cousin’s pipes so that they are in tune with his own. He next applies his newly-discovered principle to tune the lyres of his other cousins, also with good results. Beautiful color illustrations compliment the story line that includes the following character-building elements: children’s responsibility to obey their parents in completing assigned chores, the helpful attitude that Pythagoras displays toward his cousins, the thankful spirit that Pythagoras shows toward his cousins for their help with one of his chores, the optimistic attitude that Pythagoras displays in response to disaster when he breaks his own instrument in rushing to the musical contest, and, of course, curiosity coupled with observation and the use of mathematics to see relationships that help us understand and explain nature. The author includes a brief scientific explanation at the end of the book.
And that’s how an engineer writes a book review. Just the facts, m’am.
Sunday Salon: On Reviewing Books
I found this list at Janet’s Across the Page blog. It’s a list of ways to respond to a book, questions to think about, ways to engage the author and his work without having to follow the “review formula.”
Says Janet, “I’ve been trying to brainstorm some writing prompts to help me engage with my reading without falling into ruts or formulas. In fact, I think I’m going to do away with ‘book reviews’ altogether, and switch to ‘book engagements.’ Most of the time, my responses are complex and hard to “score†in the way a book review seems to require.”
Then, I came across this quotation from George Orwell: “Prolonged, indiscriminate reviewing of books is a quite exceptionally thankless, irritating and exhausting job. It not only involves praising trash but constantly inventing reactions towards books about which one has no spontaneous feeling whatever.”
It seems to me that both Janet and George make the same point. I don’t write traditional book reviews, even though I call them “Semicolon reviews” when I link to them. I write whatever the book makes me think about. Sometimes I write down what the book was about and who the characters were because that’s the part of the book I want to remember and the part I think my readers might find interesting. Sometimes I rant about the author’s bias or the characters’ vile behaviors. Sometimes I write about whatever was lovely, true, honest, just, pure, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy in the book. Sometimes I follow a tangential thought that engaged my attention at some point in the reading and never come back to the main point at all. It might even seem to those fellow readers who peruse my non-review that we could not have read the same book since my thoughts are so off the beaten path.
Other times I want to make a list of books or authors that the book under examination reminds me of reading. Or I try to compare novels or ideas or characters or settings. Sometimes it’s a tiny mistake or an insignificant incident that gets my attention. And sometimes I’ll tell you what I learned. All of these responses are useful to me, which is why I write this blog in the first place. I use books and writing to clarify and refine my thinking. I hope some of the rambling is useful to those of you who visit the blog, too. There’s something about writing for others, even if it’s only a few readers, that makes the thoughts come clearer and become more profitable.
Thanks for reading. I’m blessed that this blog gives me the opportunity to write about books (and other things) without having to always score or invent reactions where there are none.
Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
Good story. Annoying political agenda.
The story is about seventeen year old San Francisco high school student Marcus Yallow, who in the wake of a terrorist attack is arrested, held and tortured by the Department of Homeland Security. Marcus is a techno-geek and a smart-aleck, but he’s no terrorist. Well, at least he’s not a terrorist until he comes close to crossing the line when he makes it his goal to thwart the increasingly repressive and totalitarian methods of the DHS in their abortive and draconian attempts to find and arrest the real terrorists.
If you’re a techno-geek, interested in web security, surveillance systems, privacy issues, etc., you’ll enjoy this book. Doctorow explains some of this stuff, but manages to keep the pace of the story moving for the most part. (There were a few pages about something called “keysigning” where my eyes glazed over, and I never did get it.) I was intrigued by the thriller aspect of the story, and I read the book in one sitting to find out what would happen to poor, mistreated, genius Marcus and his war on the DHS.
However, if you’re easily annoyed by an attempt to propagandize for liberal politics, don’t start it. You won’t be able to put it down, but you’ll find the exaggeration and mischaracterization and lack of nuance and balance irritating. Yes, this book is set in a fictional dystopian future, but it’s quite heavy-handed in its blatant attempt to make sure we get the message: “Be careful! This kind of repression could happen here! Especially if those right wing repressive Republican types are in charge!”
I don’t doubt that tyranny and the abrogation of our civil rights could take place in the United States of America, but I don’t see the moves in that direction coming mostly from the right. It’s the leftists who want to define certain words and ideas as “hate speech” and control what we can say and when we can say it. And it’s the Democrats who keep manufacturing and using crises to further their own agenda and take away our freedoms.
The Global Warming Crisis is being used to restrict our freedom of movement and our freedom to live our lives as we see fit, buying and using the energy resources that we want and need to make our lives easier and more enjoyable.
The Health Care Crisis is being manipulated to take away our commercial freedoms to see whatever doctors we choose and pay for whatever health care we can afford.
The Economic Crisis has become an excuse to take away the fruits of our labor in taxes and to mortgage the labor of our children and grandchildren in order to pay off massive debts to China and other lender countries and banks, debts that I did not want to incur and that my representatives in Congress did not vote to authorize. And my children and grandchildren certainly were not consulted about having to work for their entire lives to pay back money that they didn’t ask to borrow.
The So-Called Population Explosion has been for the last forty some odd years one justification for denying the basic right to life (without which there can be no liberty or pursuit of happiness) to millions of unborn babies.
And Doctorow is worried about The Patriot Act, which is, I agree, flawed, but quite under-utilized and largely ineffective?
OK I didn’t mean to get so politically strident in a book review, but well, my excuse is: Mr. Doctorow did it first!
George Orwell (whose novel 1984 is the obvious inspiration for at least the title of Mr. Doctorow’s book): “In our age there is no such thing as ‘keeping out of politics.’ All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia.”
“Liberal: a power worshipper without power.”
“So much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don’t even know that fire is hot.”
Poem #26: The Tyger by William Blake, 1794
“People should like poetry the way a child likes snow, and they would if poets wrote it.”~Wallace Stevens
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare sieze the fire?
And what shoulder, & what art.
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?
What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
When the stars threw down their spears,
And watered heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
William Blake was an odd sort of genius. He was a poet, a painter, and a printmaker. He did not attend school as a child and was educated at home by his mother. His father bought him some drawings of Greek antiquities, and Blake began to copy them. Then, he took art lessons. Then, he was apprenticed for seven years, from age 14 to 21, to an engraver.
Blake revered the Bible, but had his own idiosyncratic and probably heretical interpretation of it. He hated the Church of England. Blake and his wife Catherine practiced nudity (in their own garden), and he may have proposed that he bring a concubine into their marriage bed, although there’s no evidence that he actually did so. He claimed throughout his life that he saw visions of God and of angels, among other things, and believed that he was personally instructed by Archangels in his work.
I nevertheless have hope that he placed his trust in Christ in spite of his sometimes odd ideas.
George Richmond on William Blake’s death:
He died … in a most glorious manner. He said He was going to that Country he had all His life wished to see & expressed Himself Happy, hoping for Salvation through Jesus Christ — Just before he died His Countenance became fair. His eyes Brighten’d and he burst out Singing of the things he saw in Heaven.
Poem #25: To a Mouse by Robert Burns, 1785
“All slang is a metaphor, and all metaphor is poetry.”~G.K. Chesterton
Neoneocon, Ten Poems to Memorize in School: “The dialect is almost impossible, I know. But with an explanation of the meaning of the obscure, archaic words, I think it’s a poem that will appeal to kids of that age. At any rate, it’s a masterpiece, going from the cute and cuddly (Burns almost overdoes it but stops right at the brink) to the profound.”
Cindy at Ordo Amoris: “Burns will always be my first love. He rhymes in dialect.”
Full title: To a Mouse, On Turning Her Up In Her Nest With the Plough, November, 1785.
Wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim’rous beastie,
O, what a panic’s in thy breastie!
Thou need na start awa sae hasty
Wi bickering brattle!
I wad be laith to rin an’ chase thee,
Wi’ murdering pattle.
I’m truly sorry man’s dominion
Has broken Nature’s social union,
An’ justifies that ill opinion
Which makes thee startle
At me, thy poor, earth born companion
An’ fellow mortal!
I doubt na, whyles, but thou may thieve;
What then? poor beastie, thou maun live!
A daimen icker in a thrave
‘S a sma’ request;
I’ll get a blessin wi’ the lave,
An’ never miss’t.
Thy wee-bit housie, too, in ruin!
It’s silly wa’s the win’s are strewin!
An’ naething, now, to big a new ane,
O’ foggage green!
An’ bleak December’s win’s ensuin,
Baith snell an’ keen!
Thou saw the fields laid bare an’ waste,
An’ weary winter comin fast,
An’ cozie here, beneath the blast,
Thou thought to dwell,
Till crash! the cruel coulter past
Out thro’ thy cell.
That wee bit heap o’ leaves an’ stibble,
Has cost thee monie a weary nibble!
Now thou’s turned out, for a’ thy trouble,
But house or hald,
To thole the winter’s sleety dribble,
An’ cranreuch cauld.
But Mousie, thou art no thy lane,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men
Gang aft agley,
An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promis’d joy!
Still thou are blest, compared wi’ me!
The present only toucheth thee:
But och! I backward cast my e’e,
On prospects drear!
An’ forward, tho’ I canna see,
I guess an’ fear!
If you need a translation, you can get that here. Or just listen to it over and over and let that Scots accent and dialect wash over you until you get the sense of it.