To be or Not to Be
The story of Hamelet as told by Shakespeare.
Follow the above link.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
What The Heart Of The Young Man Said To The Psalmist.
Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.In the world’s broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act,— act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God o’erhead!Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.
I was made to do a short Hamlet, as a school play.
We had to perform it, in front of other schools.
We even had to dress up, in period costumes.
My part was the introduction, by memory.
I can’t remember making to much sense, of the play.
Language has changed, questioning today’s relevance.
Not that I have read it, but I do have the book of his work.
Purchased in a charity shop, in Foxton.
There is literally thousands upon thousands, of sentences.
Like the posts sentence, many must be eternally relevant.
A little piece of philosophy, that never changes.
The post implies choice, the sentence like a law of nature.
Comment by DJ Ward — Mon 9th January 2023 @ 12:35 pm
Longfellow’s poem was written in 1842 (A Psalm of Life in order to inspire his readers to live actively, and neither to lament the past or take the future for granted) It wasn’t specifically about suicide so much as grief, depression and recovery in general.
Also around the time of the treaty in New Zealand where the romantic myth exists of the last frontier country.
Of course the reality is quite different, with rogue soldiers being the first prisoners transported to Tasmania and it was not uncommon for men to dig their own grave before dying in it.
The desperation brought about the establishment of the first asylums around 1850, perhaps as an alternative to bad publicity for the developing nation.
Desperation is universal whether we like it or not even though it gets a white wash more often than success gets a mention.
Comment by Evan Myers — Mon 9th January 2023 @ 2:28 pm
Do you do something, or not do anything.
What is a debt ceiling, if it’s always raised.
Politicians to blame, one after the other.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/us-canada/300784560/us-to-take-extraordinary-measures-to-avert-a-catastrophic-debt-default
“Some economists and bond strategists are warning of the kind of turmoil seen in 2011, when a debt-ceiling standoff saw S&P Global Ratings downgrade the sovereign US rating from AAA.”
Geez they have a rating, when they are months from bankruptcy.
Certainly it’s time for bravery, to stop the madness.
Where are the politicians, demanding the balanced budget.
As a rouge group you don’t need many, to block the republicans.
You can nearly guess, Democrat votes will be needed,
Those willing to try something, inevitably failing.
Trillions and trillions, more debt and more bankrupt.
Inevitably without fiscal responsibility, you reach the debt ceiling.
It’s only a reprieve to raise it, until the next bankruptcy crisis.
We can only watch helpless, as common sense fails.
At least the rouge politicians, can say they tried.
Who owns the trillions, that they cant or won’t pay back.
Comment by DJ Ward — Sat 14th January 2023 @ 11:26 pm
That was the question,,, but no more,,,, Yeehaha to all!!!!
Comment by mama — Thu 19th January 2023 @ 6:35 pm
“ Learn to labor and to wait.”
What wise words, for the troubled soul.
In a journey of life, what else can you do.
You must work for things, and they take time.
There is no shortcut to life, the result is always the same.
“ And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;”
All of us do it, influencing the universe.
To the extreme, just moving changes gravity.
Our words, making others happy or sad.
We can decide to risk life, some losing.
We leave behind memories, even things we made.
But even those things, finally disappear.
In the present, we are at the extreme.
But with time, everything becomes meaningless.
“To be, or not to be.”
Some leave footprints, the poet builds a sculpture.
Comment by DJ Ward — Fri 24th February 2023 @ 12:09 pm
Today I began writing, with pen and paper.
Preparing, for my court appearance.
I know the subjects well, all that’s needed is notes.
Addresses to a few comments here, explaining things.
Few things are better evidence, than a diary entry.
And some lists, so I don’t forget things.
If I went on memory alone, I would be useless.
To be, or not to be.
Should I fight, for young men.
Should I use what I write on paper, or not.
Who then, would fight for young men.
Are they not, one of the most hated groups.
If I surrender now, none will be saved.
Dare not, I make predictions.
The judge not coping, passing the case on.
Comment by DJ Ward — Fri 17th March 2023 @ 12:31 pm