“Joy, beautiful spark of the gods,

Daughter from Elysium,

We enter, drunk with fire,

Heavenly One, thy sanctuary!”

 

Can you get more pretentious?

And you name it

“Ode to Joy.”

 

Might work better in German:

Freude, schöner Götterfunken,

Tochter aus Elysium,

Wir betreten feuertrunken,

Himmlische, den Heiligtum.

 

Were it not for Beethoven

Schiller’s “ode”

Would likely be forgotten.

 

Together they

Touch a deep chord

People cry in the

Concert hall

And at a street performance

Caught  on Youtube.

 

I’m embarrassed to say I’m

One of them.

Embarrassed by the emotions

Unleashed.

 

The dream,

After so many failures.

That we can come together,

Lay down our swords and shields.

That what has been lost

Might still be found.

 

April, 2018

She’s the biggest, strongest dog on the block.
People keep their distance until they know her.

She’s content to smell the the flowers,
To sit in the snow, or the grass, or the leaves.
Or on our 31st floor terrace,
Keeping an eye on her world.

We don’t move until she’s ready.
And she is as sweet as she is stubborn.

Children can climb on her;
Small dogs needn’t fear her.
A large one might get a bark or three
(with tail wagging).

When she senses danger she stops
And waits, and barks if indicated.

Indoors, she defers to her older sister.
20 pounds to her 98.

Samantha is our Ferdinand.
And my love dog.

April, 2018