in February..

in February i will start something new.

i'm going to post for 28 days on 28 things I LOVE about this city.

Today, though, this is the best thing I've seen so far. I love poems that capture a certain energy and urgency about life - whether they're ee cummings or this one from Longfellow:

A Psalm of Life

Tell me not in mournful numbers,

"Life is but an empty dream!"

For the soul is dead that slumbers,

And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!

And the grave is not its goal;

"Dust thou art, to dust returnest,"

Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,

Is our destined end or way;

But to act, that each to-morrow

Find us further than to-day.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,

And our hearts, though stout and brave,

Still, like muffled drums, are beating

Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world's broad field of battle,

In the bivouac of Life,

Be not like dumb, driven cattle!

Be a hero in the strife!

Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant!

Let the dead Past bury its dead!

Act -- act in the living Present!

Heart within, and God o'erhead!

Lives of great men all remind us

We can make our lives sublime,

And, departing, leave behind us

Footprints on the sands of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another,

Sailing o'er life's solemn main,

A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,

Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing,

With a heart for any fate;

Still achieving, still pursuing,

Learn to labour and to wait.

edit: I'm adding in the video of it I liked the most:


unfortunately, the only labour i'm doing this afternoon is analyzing squiggles on a page that represent heart rhythms. and there's value in that, as there is in all work.

but i have some more meaningful things planned in the next couple days too

• - next Monday a few of us have resume night- people from my church from fields as diverse as early childhood education, retail and nonprofit getting together to make resumes and pray for the job search
• - Hamilton Civic League meetings are starting up again and i'm really, really excited about the possibilities and plans for this year.
• - tonight is Alpha - which i have a love-hate relationship with, but i think it's working in this context.
• - i should, this month, be found qualified to study images on a monitor instead of just squiggles on a page which would be very helpful :)

and that's it for now :)