"youth full of grace, force, fascination..."

now only do i know you,
o fair auroral skies -- o morning dew upon the grass!

and these i see, these sparkling eyes, these stores of mystic meaning, these young lives,
building, equipping like a fleet of ships, immortal ships,
soon to sail out over the measureless seas,
on the soul's voyage.....

ah more, infinitely more....





the house is cold again. the trees sport new clothes for spring and parade them outside my windows with wind and zest and zephyr. with a creak and a sigh the afternoon presses on.

the men of the house sleep long and hard. the neighbor's dog barks long and low. sunday pulls and pushes our dragging legs and limbs over into the work week. new espresso perks brown and bubbly on the stove. the floor is a map of blocks and scarves and miniature african safari animals.

suitcases and bags, pillows and shoes, an explosion is brewing from a week-long free-for-all in and out of water, a day of shark and dolphin, late nights, late mornings, no laundry, no routine, resting, sleeping, reading, playing, watching, horribly large breakfasts, snacks, coke, gum, the beginnings of colds with thick green snot and deep, garbling coughs, new friends with food and friends again and new food, driving with napping boys in the gray of friday, home with long grass and the beginnings of a newly painted neighboring house, forgotten toys and forgotten work and forgotten internet.

"home is where one starts from," and, so, here we are again.