S38

We are capable of resting in a state of mind in which we can abide in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason. Keats called this: negative capability.

B10

The ox desires a saddle;
the packhorse eyes the plows.
The she-goat fancies grazing;
the heifer learns to browse.
The dairyman would like a desk;
the stockbroker, some cows.
The married long for freedom;
the single, wedding vows.


Deborah Warren

S39

Close in the nest is folded every weary wing,
Hushed all the joyful voices; and we, who held you dear,
Eastward we turn and homeward, alone, remembering...
Day that I loved, day that I loved, the night is here.

R. Brooke

A20

G8

When I heard the learn'd astronomer;
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me;
When I was shown the charts and the diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them;
When I, sitting, heard the astronomer,
where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,
How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick;
Till rising and gliding out, I wander'd off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air,
and from time to time,
Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.


Whitman

S29

January

The days are short,
the sun a spark
hung thin between
the dark and dark.

The river is
a frozen place
held still beneath
the trees’ black lace.



Updike

V5

Demain, des l'aube, a l'heure ou blanchit la campagne,
Je partirai. Vois-tu, je sais que tu m'attends.
J'irai par la foret, j'irai par la montagne.
Je ne puis demeurer loin de toi plus longtemps.

Je marcherai les yeux fixes sur mes pensees,
Sans rien voir au dehors, sans entendre aucun bruit,
Seul, inconnu, le dos courbe, les mains croisees,
Triste, e le jour pour moi sera comme la nuit.

Je ne regarderai ni l'or du soir qui tombe,
ni les voiles au loin descendant vers Harfleur,
Et quand j'arriverai, je mettrai sur ta tombe
Un bouquet de houx vert et de bruyere en fleur.


V.Hugo