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Tell Him So
If you hear a kind word spokenOf some worthy soul you know,It may fill his heart with sunshineIf you only tell him so. If a deed, however humble,Helps you on your way to go,Seek the one whose hand has helped you,Seek him out and tell him so! If your heart is touched and tenderToward a…
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The Manly Man
The world has room for the manly man, with the spirit of manly cheer;The world delights in the man who smiles when his eyes keep back the tear;It loves the man who, when things are wrong, can take his place and standWith his face to the fight and his eyes to the light, and toil…
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Ash Wednesday
I Because I do not hope to turn againBecause I do not hopeBecause I do not hope to turnDesiring this man’s gift and that man’s scopeI no longer strive to strive towards such things(Why should the agèd eagle stretch its wings?)Why should I mournThe vanished power of the usual reign? Because I do not hope…
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Mary, Queen of Scots
I looked far back into other years, and lo, in bright arrayI saw, as in a dream, the form of ages passed away.It was a stately convent with its old and lofty walls,And gardens with their broad green walks, where soft the footstep falls;And o’er the antique dial stones the creeping shadows passed,And all around…
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The Last Hymn
The Sabbath day was ending in a village by the sea,The uttered benediction touched the people tenderly,And they rose to face the sunset in the glowing lighted WestAnd then hastened to their dwellings for God’s blessed boon of rest.But they looked across the waters and a storm was raging there.A fierce spirit moved above them–the…
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The Fighter
I fight a battle every dayAgainst discouragement and fear;Some foe stands always in my way,The path ahead is never clear! I must forever be on guardAgainst the doubts that skulk along;I get ahead by fighting hard,But fighting keeps my spirit strong. I hear the croakings of Despair,The dark predictions of the weak;I find myself pursued…
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It Couldn’t Be Done
Somebody said that it couldn’t be done But he with a chuckle repliedThat “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin On his face. If he worried he hid it.He started to sing as he tackled the thing That couldn’t be done,…
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Memory and History
Inspired by the passage from Plutarch quoted below. Memory[i] and history are inextricably linked, the latter having its origin in the former. With their typical perceptiveness the Greeks recognized this lineage, all the arts descend from memory and the God. Hesiod: [The muses] in Pieria[ii] did Mnemosyne (Memory), who reigns over the hills of Eleuther,…
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2019 in Books
Prior years Compared to other years, 2019 was a bit odd. My reading was dominated by two long series, Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin books, about which more below, and Ross Macdonald’s Lew Archer books (which were good, but not truly excellent detective novels). Together, these accounted for more than 20% of all the books I read.…
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The Loom of Time
Man’s life is laid in the loom of timeTo a pattern he does not seeWhile the weavers and the shuttles flyTill the dawn of eternity Some shuttles are filled with silver threadsAnd some with threads of goldWhile often but the darker threadsAre all that they may hold. But the weaver watches withSkilful eyeEach shuttle fly…
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Dan Yingst 