The Brook

By: Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892)

I come from haunts of coot and hern,
I make a sudden sally,
And sparkle out among the fern,
To bicker down a valley.

By thirty hills I hurry down,
Or slip between the ridges,
By twenty thorps, a little town,
And half a hundred bridges.

Till last by Philip's farm I flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on forever.

I chatter over stony ways,
In little sharps and trebles,
I bubble into eddying bays,
I babble on the pebbles.

With many a curve my banks I fret
by many a field and fallow,
And many a fairy foreland set
With willow-weed and mallow.

I chatter, chatter, as I flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on forever.

I wind about, and in and out,
with here a blossom sailing,
And here and there a lusty trout,
And here and there a grayling,

And here and there a foamy flake
Upon me, as I travel
With many a silver water-break
Above the golden gravel,

And draw them all along, and flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on forever.

I steal by lawns and grassy plots,
I slide by hazel covers;
I move the sweet forget-me-nots
That grow for happy lovers.

I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance,
Among my skimming swallows;
I make the netted sunbeam dance
Against my sandy shallows.

I murmur under moon and stars
In brambly wildernesses;
I linger by my shingly bars;
I loiter round my cresses;

And out again I curve and flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on forever.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

The Greater Danger...

“The greater danger for most of us

lies not in setting our aim too high

and falling short;

but in setting our aim too low,

and achieving our mark.”

~Michelangelo

This quote by Michelangelo is about setting goals, not archery, but the only thing that I could think of to go with it was an archer aiming, with shadows behind him and light ahead. After searching in vain on the internet, I gave up and drew the picture I needed. Now this was not very difficult as I consider myself a bit of an artist, the hard part was that I draw in pencil, which does not show up very well when scanned, so I had to go over it in pen (I'd actually never done that before!) I never draw in pen, it is to risky, but this time I had to do it. I set my aim high, and achieved my mark.