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| Ulalume
Edgar Allan Poe
The skies they were ashen and sober;
The leaves they were crisped and sere--
The leaves they were withering and sere;
It was night in the lonesome October
Of my most immemorial year:
It was hard by the dim lake of Auber,
In the misty mid region of Weir--
It was down by the dank tarn of Auber,
In the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.
Here once, through an alley Titanic,
Of cypress, I roamed with my Soul--
Of cypress, with Psyche, my Soul.
These were days when my heart was volcanic
As the scoriac rivers that roll--
As the lavas that restlessly roll
Their sulphurous currents down Yaanek
In the ultimate climes of the pole--
That groan as they roll down Mount Yaanek
In the realms of the boreal pole.
Our talk had been serious and sober,
But our thoughts they were palsied and sere--
Our memories were treacherous and sere,--
For we knew not the month was October,
And we marked not the night of the year
(Ah, night of all nights in the year!)--
We noted not the dim lake of Auber
(Though once we had journeyed down here)--
Remembered not the dank tarn of Auber,
Nor the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.
And now, as the night was senescent
And star-dials pointed to morn--
As the star-dials hinted of morn--
At the end of our path a liquescent
And nebulous lustre was born,
Out of which a miraculous crescent
Arose with a duplicate horn--
Astarte's bediamonded crescent
Distinct with its duplicate horn.
And I said: "She is warmer than Dian;
She rolls through an ether of sighs--
She revels in a region of sighs:
She has seen that the tears are not dry on
These cheeks, where the worm never dies,
And has come past the stars of the Lion
To point us the path to the skies--
To the Lethean peace of the skies--
Come up, in despite of the Lion,
To shine on us with her bright eyes--
Come up through the lair of the Lion,
With love in her luminous eyes."
But Psyche, uplifting her finger,
Said: "Sadly this star I mistrust--
Her pallor I strangely mistrust:
Ah, hasten! -ah, let us not linger!
Ah, fly! -let us fly! -for we must."
In terror she spoke, letting sink her
Wings until they trailed in the dust--
In agony sobbed, letting sink her
Plumes till they trailed in the dust--
Till they sorrowfully trailed in the dust.
I replied: "This is nothing but dreaming:
Let us on by this tremulous light!
Let us bathe in this crystalline light!
Its Sybilic splendour is beaming
With Hope and in Beauty tonight!--
See! -it flickers up the sky through the night!
Ah, we safely may trust to its gleaming,
And be sure it will lead us aright--
We safely may trust to a gleaming,
That cannot but guide us aright,
Since it flickers up to Heaven through the night."
Thus I pacified Psyche and kissed her,
And tempted her out of her gloom--
And conquered her scruples and gloom;
And we passed to the end of the vista,
But were stopped by the door of a tomb--
By the door of a legended tomb;
And I said: "What is written, sweet sister,
On the door of this legended tomb?"
She replied: "Ulalume -Ulalume--
'Tis the vault of thy lost Ulalume!"
Then my heart it grew ashen and sober
As the leaves that were crisped and sere--
As the leaves that were withering and sere;
And I cried: "It was surely October
On this very night of last year
That I journeyed -I journeyed down here!--
That I brought a dread burden down here--
On this night of all nights in the year,
Ah, what demon hath tempted me here?
Well I know, now, this dim lake of Auber--
This misty mid region of Weir--
Well I know, now, this dank tarn of Auber,
This ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir."
{Said we, then — the two, then —" Ah, can it
Have been that the woodlandish ghouls —
The pitiful, the merciful ghouls —
To bar up our way and to ban it
From the secret that lies in these wolds —
From the thing that lies hidden in these wolds —
Had drawn up the spectre of a planet
From the limbo of lunary souls —
This sinfully scintillant planet
From the Hell of the planetary souls ?")
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| I really haven't posted in a while, huh?
Well, a lot has changed since my last post. I've been married now for a month. It's been great to have a month to settle into the house with my husband before chaos ensues. I have started working at a church as a youth director and I've been getting to know my kids a bit before the scheduling and planning aspect starts. The church is... interesting... and Garrett and I are both getting used to life as a church staff... let me explain...
Already, I feel as if the congregation wants me to act like I've been there for ten years. They also want me to do a lot outside of the youth program, which I would love to do, just not until I feel comfortable in the church. It's the same for Garrett, but add in the fact that they want him to be like "co-youth director" with me, despite my flat out telling them that that is not how we work. It's all a learning experience though, I suppose.
well, I don't feel like writing any more, so that's it for now!
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| hm, I guess I'm an adult now, right?
I have officially graduated from Ohio Northern University. It felt so good to graduate but I have not really processed that I am a college graduate.
Garrett and I have moved to Delaware, Ohio. It's strange to go from my crap-hole apartment to a nice house in a nice neighborhood. We have an elementary school in our back yard and plenty of Krogers nearby. Now if only the two of us could find jobs!!
I met with my seminary advisor today and I schedule my classes tomorrow. It's strange to be scheduling my first semester as a seminary student!
Life is moving fast, and before you know it, I'll be married! I can't wait ;)
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| sorry to be brief, but I have to be back in session.
I'm struggling...
The focus of this conference is how the United Methodist Church is attempting to be a more global church. The area of most growth in the UMC is in Africa and that's great!
Here is my concern... Today there was a piece of non-disciplinary legislation about rejecting homophobic violent crimes. I don't know many people that would support kicking the scrap out of a gay person. The problem is that it mentioned homosexuals and people got all riled up.
The one person that really peeved me personally was a central conference (non-USA) delegate. He didn't speak for or against the petition, he spoke against homosexuals as people. If I may quote him, he said, "Homosexuals are a gift from satan."
Now I understand that everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but my issue is that his speech was not relevant to the petition being discussed.
If we are supposed to be a global church, how can we do that at a meeting where the cultural difference are so great we can not function at a level that merits true "holy conferecing."
Ali and I have been talking... How would you feel if the governing law of your church was not written in your language? yes, the Book of Discipline gets translated into many languages, but you must admit there are words and phrases that are hard translate.
How are we supposed to write a universal set of social principals that applies to both the United States and to sub-saharan Africa and everywhere in between? If you find a solution, let someone at General Conference know... we'd really like to figure it out.
What are your opinions on a global church? | | |
| wow... I don't think I've ever been so exhausted in my life.
General Conference is in full swing. It's day four, and things are starting to get pretty heated already. The legislation I am working with is not going in the direction that I would like it to be, and that's kind of frustrating. UM Friends, I don't think the ordination process is going to get changed this time around... sorry...
I really really like Fort Worth. It is one of the cleanest cities I've ever been in, and downtown is great. I haven't seen much else of it, but the downtown area has just about everything you'd need. Last night, I found a dueling pianos bar which was a ton of fun. I might go back tonight if I'm not completely spent by the time I'm out of meetings. I spend the majority of my free time working on my senior essay or studying spanish, but I'm still really nervous about coming back and having to do the rest of my homework in one week. It'll be tough, but I'll make it through.
I'll post more later (I hope) but let me give you the quote of conference so far... "Never trust a thin person!" | | |
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