one thing today

  With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children, England mourns for her dead across the sea. Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit, Fallen in the cause of the free. Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal  Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres, There is music in the midst of desolation And a glory that shines upon our tears. They went with songs to the battle, they were young, Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow. They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted; They fell with their faces to the foe. They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:  Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them. They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;  They sit no more at familiar tables of home; They have no lot in our labour of the day-time; They sleep beyond England's foam. But where our desires are and our hopes profound,  Felt as a well-spring ...

                              DO THE THING 

... Nathaniel Mary Quinn was ruled by an atmosphere of abandonment. His DNA was changed when he was fifteen and returned home from boarding school and his  family  apartment in a Chicago project was empty. His father and four brothers vanished and he never saw them again. He is 49. At the time he decided that academic excellence was non negotiable and his way out. Before she died young, his mother infused him with optimism and faith. Grief has been the constant noise to any success he's achieved. I like him a lot as a person. I don’t like his art. It's been described as retina punishing and reminds me that I am a sucker for a certain degree of beauty. And I can’t believe that Bella Freud didn’t ask him why her thought his family abandoned him. 

It's amazing and wonderful how much we can do for each other. How much we can do and mean and be with each other. It can startle you when it suddenly becomes apparent. Appears. Does its thing. Works.  This is the perfect follow up to yesterday's post. Bobby boy basking in the beautiful bounty of joy on account of another. Others. Important to discover, remember, sense, do. 

 

  Johnny Carsons ex-wife's "spoonful” of Truman Capote's ashes sold at auction in   2016 for $43,750.