Vernon Cooper and George Iles

These days people seek knowledge, not wisdom. Knowledge is of the past, wisdom is of the future.

- Vernon Cooper

Whoever ceases to be a student has never been a student.

- George Iles

Aftermath – Longfellow

photo credit: Jeff W Brooktree

Aftermath

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

When the summer fields are mown,
When the birds are fledged and flown,
And the dry leaves strew the path;
With the falling of the snow,
With the cawing of the crow,
Once again the fields we mow
And gather in the aftermath.
Not the sweet, new grass with flowers
Is this harvesting of ours;
Not the upland clover bloom;
But the rowen mixed with weeds,
Tangled tufts from marsh and meads,
Where the poppy drops its seeds
In the silence and the gloom.

Emily Dickinson

I HAVE no life but this,
To lead it here;
Nor any death, but lest
Dispelled from there;

Nor tie to earths to come, 5
Nor action new,
Except through this extent,
The realm of you.

1924.

Obama and the 65th Anniversary of Normandy landings

I will start adding speeches along with poetry every few weeks. This one is an excerpt from President Obama at the 65th Anniversary of the Normandy Landings a few days ago on June 6th, 2009 at the Normandy American Cometary and Memorial overlooking Omaha beach.

Youtube source.

We live in a world of competing beliefs and claims about what is true. It is a world of varied religions and cultures and forms of government.

In such a world, it is rare for a struggle to emerge that speaks to something universal about humanity.

The Second World War did that. No man who shed blood or lost a brother would say that war is good.

But all know that this war was essential. For what we faced in Nazi totalitarianism was not just a battle of competing interests. It was a competing vision of humanity.

Nazi ideology sought to subjugate, humiliate, and exterminate. It perpetrated murder on a massive scale, fueled by a hatred of those who were deemed different and therefore inferior.

It was evil.

Full Transcript

The Beaches of Normandy

photo credit: Robert F. Sargent (USCG), 1944. Click to view in High Resolution.

The Landing at Normandy

by Benjamin1987

Off of the
landing craft
and running
into danger

Bullets flying
all around like
a hive of
angry bees

Fellow soldiers
falling all around

And medics running
all over taking
care of wounded

The shooting
of rifles
and the
barking of machine guns

Screaming
and yelling
all around you

If you would like to read the rest, please visit Benjamin’s blog here at Everypoet.

Break, break, break – Alfred Lord Tennyson

Break, break, break

by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Break, break, break,
On thy cold gray stones, O sea!
And I would that my tongue could utter
The thoughts that arise in me.

O, well for the fisherman’s boy,
That he shouts with his sister at play!
O, well for the sailor lad,
That he sings in his boat on the bay!

And the stately ships go on
To their haven under the hill;
But O for the touch of a vanished hand,
And the sound of a voice that is still!

Break, break, break,
At the foot of thy crags, O sea!
But the tender grace of a day that is dead
Will never come back to me.

All That is Gold Does Not Glitter – JRR Tolkien

All That is Gold Does Not Glitter

by J.R.R Tolkien

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.

(Excerpt from: The Fellowship of the Ring, 1954)

Learning Korean

A college education plays a vital role in paving the way for a successful career.   Too often, students of Philosophy, History, Communications, and Art (the list can go on) face adversity in the job market. As a Political Science student I have made it my mission to become a valuable asset after graduation.  To do that, I have chosen to learn a critical language to both the government and business arenas.  

I considered Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. The importance of Korea can not be overstated in the upcoming decades.  The fact that no peace treaty was signed with the North, ongoing nuclear and missile testing (North) and our presence of 20,000 soldiers along the DMZ in South Korea, the area will be prominent in our lifetime.

As with any language learning Korean will take practice and patience. The following poem is by Oh Sae-young a Modernist Poet (b. 1942) in South Korea.

Music

by Oh Sae-young
When their leaves have fallen
the winter trees
turn into musical instruments,
instruments
ringing out at the wind’s fingertips
following the notes hanging in the sky.
(more…)

A Lone Pine Cone

photo credit: Cam & Zoe Manderson

A Lone Pine Cone

There lies a pine cone on top of the freshly cut grass,
In June it sticks out like a sore thumb among the green mass.

How did it end up in the middle of the field,
Hidden from the machine’s blades — it remains concealed.

The towering forests cast their shadows overhead,
Offering protection to the cone’s attempt to spread.

It has avoided creatures, elements and people — it now waits,
There is no certain future for the cone as it lies in dire straits.