New Year's Eve

Yesterday, I finally got the new furnace installed, after eight days with no heat.

On the night before Christmas Eve, we'd had a lot of snow. Then, during the day on the 24th, it started to rain. I'd already got the driveway cleared and then the plow went by -- twice. I was digging out from that before it had a chance to freeze when, around the corner came a young man (late teens, maybe) running with a shovel in his hand. He knew me from my work at the convenience store but hadn't realised I lived so close. He wouldn't accept any payment for his help.

He also told me about the local people with snowblowers clearing the sidewalks. I had initially been impressed by the speed with which our sidewalks were cleared -- except that the 'walls' of snow were neatly cut verticals, not pushed clumps like a sidewalk plow would do. Turns out, there's a blind woman in the neighbourhood who likes to go for walks. I'd seen her a couple of times in the summer. Each owner of a snowblower clears the sidewalk as far as the next house with a snowblower, so that she can get around without difficulty. These are the kind of people who live in my new neighbourhood.

At the convenience store, I'm continually impressed by the young people who get change back and immediately ask where our "charity box" is.

Now, I'm off to bed, so that I can be alert for work tonight. It should prove interesting.

I wish all of my readers (both of you) the best for 2009, with love from the Sonneteer.

Well, so much for that idea ...

I had hoped to put down about half of what my ex gave me on the house but, now, I'm glad I held onto it for the moment.

Monday night, I realised that my furnace had died. I wasn't able to get through to the people who schedule the technicians until late Tuesday morning. Wednesday (Christmas Eve), the technician came. He hasn't seen one of these furnaces for about fifteen years. Apparently, it was on borrowed time. Tuesday afternoon I shopped for a new furnace. There was a possibility that I could have had it installed today, but they would have been here by eight if it was happening today ... so I guess it's tomorrow. That's okay, too, because I still have some large boxes to move before the installers get here.

Unfortunately, because of all the kafuffle involved with the furnace on Wednesday, I was awake during the day and unable to attend my planned holiday celebrations in the evening before going to work. I needed to sleep instead.

Yesterday, I went to see my Godkids and give them their gifts. They are so wonderful and I love them all so much. They gave me a lovely scarf in blues and greens. It's long and thin, so it can be folded widthwise and still be long enough to pull the ends through the loop -- as is the current fashion.

So, here I sit at my computer, huddled in my duvet, eating the last of my latest tortiere experiments. I have a heater going in the 'furnace' room, to keep the pipes from freezing in the two bathrooms and laundry room. Upstairs, I have the oven on with the door open while I'm here, but turn it off before I go out.

All in all, not a great week, but the visit with the kids more than made up for everything else.

Alex has discovered phone cords

Alex keeps cutting off my conversations by playing with the phone cords. Hmm. This could be a hint.

Started work

So much has changed.

1) My writing course is amazingly interesting. It's being taught by Margaret Christakos, a poet who lives in Toronto. She's very good.

Last week, we did a session on sounds, and our homework involved looking for alliteration in newspaper headlines and advertising. This week we did one exercise which involved writing in the dark, and another one with coloured pencils.

2) Monday, I started working at a 7-Eleven around the corner from me.

Pluses:
- I won't have to use the car to get to work.
- I've requested the overnight shift, which will allow me to take courses whenever I want without having to negotiate a different time off each term.
- It will be an income!

Minuses:
- I'm starting at minimum wage, which isn't great, but better than nothing.
- I'm starting off as part time, but hope to work up to full time soon, because I could really use the benefits.

3) The new man in my life was having some problems with blood in his stools. After a couple of tries, I think we've finally figured out the problem; the food I was giving him appears to have been too harsh for his digestive system. He's now on prescription food. Good thing I've got work now.

More revising to come

Finished revising some voters' lists yesterday. Next, we'll be working at the university, getting students from the residences enumerated for the election on October 14.

On Tuesday I'll be starting my writing class. It should be interesting, but I have to say, I'm a little bit nervous. This will be the first time I've tried writing prose fiction at the university level.

C.J.'s new name

After trying out several (dozen) names on the new man in my life, I had narrowed it down to Alex, Fuzzface, or Sweetums. He answered to every other name twice, as if seeing how it would fit, and then stopped.

After several more tests, Alexander the Great rules!

Abandonment issues

My cat seems to have real abandonment issues.

Coming home in the car from the Humane Society, he was subdued; very quiet. All week he was extremely well behaved.

Then I had to take him to the vet's for a check up. He was hyperventilating so badly that I stopped at a park and got out, walking around with him in my arms. He cuddled right up to me, and held on tight. He was well behaved at the vet's, but had another hyperventilating session on the way home. I let him out in the front hall and, I've never seen surprise register so clearly on a cat's face before.

That was when I realised that he thought I was getting rid of him -- taking him back to the Humane Society, perhaps -- for some crime, real or imagined.

It will take a while for him to realise that I am in this for the long haul.

Some more work

Because of the byelection getting cancelled, I will be working as a revision agent for the general election. Eight thousand students need to be added to the list.

This is going to keep us busy. I'm looking forward to working with Carmel again. She is so much fun!

Skogwalkers

Today, for the first time in my life, I walked for charity.

I've sponsored many people over the years, but this was the first time that I actually asked people to sponsor me. I managed to raise $430 for ovarian cancer research and support, so I was very pleased.

Half of the team (five of us) walked in Toronto, while the other half walked in Ottawa.

Why did we choose the team name of Skogwalkers? We did it for our friend Sandra who has been battling ovarian cancer for over two years. I have two other friends who are also battling it and that was where my mother's cancer had started, as well.

Why now? Because this year a friend turned 40 in January. She decided to have an 'event' each month in order to celebrate, and to invite friends to take part in each one. For example, she had never been to a spa, so January's adventure was a spa day. Another month, it was a helicopter ride over Niagara Falls. This walk was September's outing.

Already, the Toronto team is talking about doing it again next year.

Godson's birthday

Today is my godson's birthday and the party is tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to this. After the party, I'll take him to a toy store and he'll get to chose something. He's been collecting a set of Mediaeval knights and there are two left that he doesn't have. If he gets one of them at the party, I'll be able to get the other one for him. If they aren't too pricey, I may get one for myself, too.

New man in my life!

I got a cat yesterday. He's a big beautiful mellow fellow who loves to be petted.

It started like this: On Sunday morning, I was reading the paper in order to put off doing housework before the arrival of visitors on Monday. I saw a lovely cat named Freya up for adoption, so I hustled over to the Humane Society to see if she was still available. Well, she was; but she and I didn't see eye-to-eye on cuddling. So I put her back and wandered down the cages to see if there was anyone else.

At the very end of the row, was this cat. He's four years old and had already been tested and diagnosed as FIV positive, which means I shouldn't have any other cats. That's okay by me.

As I brought him home in the car, he was very quiet. It was as if he was wondering what was going to happen now. I brought him in and let him out in my bedroom -- which is quite large -- where I had food and water for him, as well as a litter box.

He stepped out of the carrier and looked around. After he had investigated my bedroom thoroughly, and I learned that my efforts at removing dust from under the furniture had been somewhat less than successful, we had an afternoon nap on my bed. Later, I set up the 'kitty tv' for him -- also known as filling the bird feeder.

I had been told to keep him in one room for 24 hours, but he wanted into the rest of the house after our naps, so I opened the door and we walked through the house together, examining his new home. He kept purring and rubbing against me.

While I was on the computer earlier, he stretched out under the desk and snoozed. He seems to like being with me, and that was exactly what I was hoping for.

His name is CJ, but he doesn't answer to that -- or to anything else I've tried, so far. We'll have to figure out something.

Some friends are here ...

Some friends from Ottawa have been here for the past couple of days. They went to see The Music Man at Stratford yesterday and, today, he went to Point Pelee while his wife and I did some errands and I showed her around some of the prettier areas of Guelph. Unfortunately, they are going home tomorrow. I'll be sorry to see them go, because they are fun people to have around -- excellent guests. I showed them where everything was in the kitchen and they let me sleep in.

Sonnet 29

I ought to wear a mask lest I, by loving glance,
Divulge the yearnings that are running through my mind,
Betraying my regard to others of my kind
Although I sometimes think that I might take that chance.
I ought to bind my hands lest I, by gentle touch,
Declaim the wild desires coursing through my veins
I’m left with deep frustration for my silent pains:
I never thought to care for any man this much.
With all my dreaming, my imagination flies.
I must be mute, for I may never tell a soul.
It’s never easy to maintain such strong control
I cannot purge my thoughts, no matter how I try:
To rest within your arms has been my greatest wish,
But meat for scandal’s never been my favoured dish.

Yesterday was National Sex Day

Apparently, there is a young man in Vancouver who is trying to get August 21 listed as a holiday in Canada -- as National Sex Day. This isn't just a day to have sex because that, of course, is any day we want -- especially every day. This is a day to celebrate sex.

Hands up, everyone who celebrated it yesterday! Oh, you're still busy ... sorry for intruding!

Well, I found out that ...

... a volunteer position, that I had applied for back in June, has actually come to me! This is going to be an interesting situation, because it's a small group that needs a jolt of energy. I just hope that I'm up to the job.

Godson's visit and starting work

Thursday I was trained for the new job I'm doing. During the afternoon, I did the reading I was supposed to, so I was able to pick up my godson Thursday evening and bring him home for a visit. We had some good times, reading and so on, as well as a trip to London to buy some soap stone. On Saturday, he called his parents to let them know everything was going well. He said to his mom (my long-time friend) "Auntie hasn't killed me yet!"

Yesterday, I started my new job ... as a revising agent for the upcoming Federal Byelection. I have an entire week of work on this! I even voted today!

My sister-in-law and nephew were here for a few days.

We went to Niagara and took him to Marineland, Ripley's Museum, and Ripley's Moving Theatre on the first day. My nephew wanted to see a rockface with trees growing out of it. We drove home by way of Milton, where I knew we'd get a pretty good view of the rockface on the Escarpment. Fortunately, there were some trees growing out of it as well. I'd hoped there would be but, because I'm always the driver, I couldn't be certain.

The next day, we took him on a tour of The Falls, including a ride on Maid of the Mist V, a wander onto an observation deck, a visit to the Whispering Cave, and a 3D movie, Thunder of the Falls. Later, we saw the falls with the lights on it.

July 26 - St. Anne's Day - patron of literacy

I've been to see "There Reigns Love" at Stratford again this week. It's a one man show devised and performed by Simon Callow. He is absolutely brilliant in this piece. If you have any chance to see it before it leaves on July 31, I recommend it highly. I hope to go again next week.

I even did something I've never done before -- I wrote a fan letter, and had it delivered by the House Manager.

After the show, people had the option of waiting while Callow changed his clothes and he returned to the stage and to answer questions from the audience.

At the Stratford Festival bookstore, I bought a copy of the sonnets on CD. I won't say who did it, because what I have to say is quite unkind: it is the coldest, most bloodless reading of the sonnets I've ever heard. It's better than a schoolchild's version because it actually works with the punctuation, instead of going to the end of a line and pausing there.

I do wish the Festival would consider taping Callow's performance and selling copies. He conveys such fire and a passion for the poems -- and I would dearly love to be able to see (or at least hear) it over and over again.

Norse Beads

I went to a bead making yesterday at Ragnar and Kadlin's. This was one in a series of experiments about trying to do it in the way the Norse did, about a thousand years ago.

Aislinne walked me through the first couple that I did. I ended up making four beautiful beads -- well, I thought they were beautiful -- but they all cracked. In fact, the group of us (five, in all) tried to make about 30 beads, and all but two cracked. We're not sure what we're doing wrong.

Aislinne was providing Ragnar with some ideas about parameters that we might want to change (one at a time, of course) for later experiments, as we let the fire die down.

Simon Callow

Mandy and I went to Stratford today and saw Simon Callow perform 80 of Shakespeare's sonnets. He did a wonderful introduction, as well as commentary throughout, that gave context to these supposedly random verses, based on Padel's work.

It was amazing. It inspired me to write, yet again.

Unfortunately, there were no CD's or DVD's available. Oh, well. I think I will suggest it to them.

8 more done

I emptied another eight boxes of books since my previous post. I had no idea I had that many cookbooks. What I'll do with them all is a mystery to me. I've only ever used about three or four.

I had completely forgotten how many art books I had, too. Of course, this involved removing a couple of topics from that set of shelves and carefully putting the art books in place -- enjoying each one as I did so. At least I finally found my book of Maxfield Parrish works.

It was a real pleasure to find my grandmother's photo album, too. I think I'll take a wander through that for an hour or so tonight. It should help me relax and sleep.

Books, and more books

Life is so good. It's nice to feel upbeat instead of morose.

I actually feel like I'm starting to get somewhere with my boxes (72 of them) of books. I emptied 6 more of the boxes last night. It's a good thing I hired packers because I would have tried to box the books according to subject matter and historical period. Because they were not thusly encumbered, I'm having fun with the surprises I'm pulling out of the boxes.

Now, I have piles for: Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Viking, ... and every century after that. Then there's the pile for books that span multiple centuries -- like H. G. Wells' Outline of History; Counties of Britain (in two fat volumes); several heraldry books that I wasn't able to sell last year for extra cash.

Just seeing the books makes me more cheerful.

Decorating

Trying to decorate the new house on a minimalist budget isn't easy. I've needed several new bookcases. They're not too expensive at Ikea, but the nearest Ikea is a 45 minute drive from here -- in Burlington.

Meanwhile, I'm proving to myself, once again, that "tool-using woman" is not an oxymoron.

I also saw a really nice stainless steel-topped work bench for $199. If only I could get far enough into my shop to measure and see if it would fit!

Once I get all the books away, I'll be able to organise the shop more effectively.

Sonnet 28

Judge not my love by what I blithely say
When in the company of many men.
For I would have them think that we but play
And my most trusted ally is my pen.
Judge not my love by where my feet do go
When I’m encircled by a boist’rous crowd.
For I would have them think that I am so
Oblivious to you, you would be proud.
Judge not my love by my indifferent look
When you do flirt for ladies’ merriment.
You know, too well, that you have but to look
At me that charming way and I’ll relent.
I pray you, judge my love by what I do
When no one else is watching me with you.

Dominion Day

July 1.

I still think of it as Dominion Day, rather than Canada Day.

Meanwhile, my strawberries are ripening beautifully. The hail we had a couple of weeks ago didn't affect them at all. Now to fend off the birds, squirrels, and chipmunks!

Too bushed to boogie

Here it is, Saturday night and I'm sitting at my computer -- not that I'm complaining. Many of my friends are at an event near Oshawa, Ontario. With all the thunderstorms this weekend, I'm really glad that I realised, well in advance, that I couldn't afford to go.

I spent most of the day unpacking and sorting books. Fortunately, they are not the type I'd be inclined to sit down and read -- just to see if they're as good as I remember.

Today it was office books -- reference materials, thesauruses (or thesauri; apparently either one is correct because the word came to us through the Latin from the Greek), business guides, style books, etc. There seemed to be so many more of them in my tiny little office on Holmwood. Now that I'm here, I'm wondering what to do with all the space. I know I didn't lose any boxes of these books because I numbered them and brought them to the new house myself. They are all here.

Of course, I don't have all the clutter of other things on the shelves that were wedged in to keep the cats from chewing them. I guess, over the next little while, I will be getting rid of even more clutter than I did in the months before I moved.

I seem to have a great many more bookmarks than I remember, too, but one can never have too many bookmarks.

Had another job interview ...

At least this one wasn't asking more questions about my health than my qualifications but, even so, I got the distinct impression that he thinks I am too old to learn.

Amazing Goldsmith

I attended the opening of Quint*Essential's latest show tonight. Their work is truly beautiful!

I came away with a pair of earrings for a friend's birthday next week. Maybe a bit more than I should have spent, but she's worth her weight in gold ... no, make that worth her weight in chocolate! (It's far more valuable to those of us in the know!)

Not that I could possibly be biased about the value of my friends!

Insomnia

I've been having trouble sleeping -- every second night.

Part of it is that I am a night owl by nature. As soon as the lights are out, my mind starts racing with all the ideas and plans and things to add to the to-do lists. As soon as the lights come on, I'm drowsy again.

And in another twenty minutes the birds will start! Then it will be dawn and I will sleep for a couple of hours, but I'll be restless because there are errands that I need to do -- like groceries and dropping off library books.

I've been exercising every day, trying to tire myself out so that I can sleep, but I guess I'm not exercising my mind sufficiently. I need to work on my novels more.

Sonnet 27

Phoebus would not find favour in my eyes
Placed beside thee that tak'st my breath away
With thy fair countenance, so truly wise,
That gives thee total power o'er my heart's sway.
If thou were nimble Hermes with the lyre,
I'd love thee less. Thou would'st not me enfold --
Presenting me with flowers I admire,
The dulcet rose, the lys and marigold.
For knights or dukes or titles I've no care.
I'm happiest when we share a peaceful time.
If ought in me could be considered fair,
A tribute 'tis to thee, for I am thine.
Be thou my inspiration and my king.
Accept my heart and all the love I bring.

Smelting at Vinterheima

Went to D&V's yesterday for another smelting experiment. I thought I was going to be spending my time in the shop, working on my new carving in alabaster, but so few people attended yesterday's event that I was actually able to be part of the team for once -- first as 'charcoal monkey' and then record keeper. It was really exciting to be so close that I could watch everything that was going on and, yet, not be in the way of workers.

Backing up briefly: Two weeks ago I had been at their place in order help with the prep work that had to be done in advance of the smelt. That day, I had mixed the red oxide powder with the stipulated ingredients (as accurately as I could) and water. The red oxide (yes, I was wearing a mask) got into everything. Now, two weeks later, it has only almost disappeared from around my nails -- despite frequent washings performed with great vigour.

The trays with the red oxide compound had been sun dried over the course of the past two weeks and, by the time I arrived on Saturday, had already been broken up and graded into pieces suitable for the smelt.

Shortly after I arrived, the guys got the smelter (which had been built by others on the team two weeks ago, while I was playing with iron oxide) going for the preheating.

The next stage was grading the charcoal. I had volunteered for a dirty job, and that's exactly what I got. There was a wooden stand -- about two feet by three feet -- with a sturdy metal grill set into the top of it. Beneath this grill was a tray that was open at one end. It had a screen for its bottom, and was set into the wooden structure at an angle so that it would be easier to pull out the charcoal that had already fallen through the grill. The screen in the second level allowed the charcoal dust, which wouldn't be much use to us, to fall through into a plastic bin at the bottom. Armed with a mallet, I whacked the charcoal so that it broke into smaller pieces and fell through the grill. This made it an appropriate size for the smelt. What was really weird was that I was going about it all wrong. I hadn't realised that there were correct and incorrect ways to whack charcoal! I was using the same movements that I was taught to use for carving stones, whereas I should have been relaxing the wrists and letting the mallet fall onto the charcoal, aided only a small bit from my arm. I did this for four large bags of charcoal.

Once that was done, our fearless leader asked me to do the record keeping for this smelt. The term 'anal retentive' was bandied about (with many chuckles and guffaws) at this point, but I did it anyway. This activity involved noting the time, elapsed time, and amounts of ore or charcoal being added to the smelter, as well as keeping a running total so that we knew, at a glance, how many kilograms of ore or buckets of charcoal had been used.

They got a very nice bloom (term used for the hunk of iron produced by the smelting process) out of it.

After tidying up the smelting site and putting the tools into the van, we settled down around the cook fire to have a beer. Some of the people went off to try out the glass bead-making oven that had been finished on site that day. My knees were bothering me, however, so I stayed with the beer.

The post-dinner entertainment consisted of holiday snaps from a couple of members of the group who had just returned from a trip to Scotland (including Orkney and Shetland) and Iceland. They were there for the earthquake. There were some great shots of items of historic interest to all of us. They gave us each a stone from Thingvellir.

Thursday

Headache, pain in the joints.

Failed job interview.

Sonnet 26

Years ago, in the late 1970's, a friend was showing me slides of a Mediaeval event she'd attended at the University of Toronto. I was enjoying them, in a relaxed fashion, when I suddenly saw a picture of the most handsome man I'd ever seen.

I joined the group and made a lot of friends but, over the next few years, one friend in particular had taken a dislike to this handsome man -- who'd seemed interested in me. She threw a spanner in the works at every opportunity, although I didn't realise it until years later, with the result that we both ended up married to other people.

This is for my first love ... and for what might have been.

You kiss me firstly with your eyes
Persuading me with burning glance
That sweeps my features and implies
The launching of a grand romance.
And then you kiss me with your voice
The warmth of it surrounding me,
Enticing me to make a choice
And choose your clever repartee.
You kiss me lastly with your hand.
Your touch is gentle on my arm.
It tells me that you understand
Me well, and adds much to your charm.
Mayhap you’ll kiss me with your lips
And give me love in nectar’d sips.

Health is improving

For over twenty years I have had problems with an hiatus hernia and, most of the time, had to sleep propped up in order to avoid stomach pains for half the night.

In the two weeks since I moved into my new house, I am suddenly not having any stomach problems at all. Now, I am sleeping on one pillow.

Nothing Like

Obviously, this isn't a sonnet, but I've been filling out insurance forms for the past few days, preparing to buy a new house on my own. This has brought back, in hideous clarity, my mother's battle with cancer.

*

My mother ran our household
with single-minded rule.
She made our choices for us
for clothes and work and school.
With little say, my Gran and I
looked sadly at each other.
I murmured hopeful words to her
"I'm nothing like my mother."

My mother was well-organized
but lacked imagination.
She claimed I was endeavouring
to rise above my station.
I thought of the ideas she
was quick enough to smother,
and then I said, defensively,
"I'm nothing like my mother."

My mother died of cancer; she
was ill for several years.
I see the way I'm headed and
I'm trying to still my fears.
At the funeral, my friends and I
just looked at one another.
I mouthed, again, the desperate words
"I'm nothing like my mother."

The Three Divos

This is not a poem, but about voices that are sheer poetry.

On Saturday, I attended the debut concert of The Three Divos in Ottawa, Canada. They are three talented men with incredibly beautiful voices, who have worked hard to achieve their high level of excellence and we are extremely fortunate that these men chose to come and live here.

They are:
Franko Tenelli, tenor
Igor Emelianov, baritone
Alexander Savtchenko, bass
and they were accompanied by the equally talented Julia Gavrilova on the piano.

The first part of the evening's entertainment consisted of nine selections from Italian operas. The second half consisted of Russian pieces -- some operas and some folk songs. All three voices were amazing in the different arias presented but one, in particular, gripped my soul. I speak of Igor Emelianov, who put exquisite emotion into the words without coming across as overblown.

I felt as though Mr. Emelianov's voice had surrounded me with warmth and energy. It made me want to sigh, and laugh, and cry at the various situations presented by the music. I cared about what was happening. Was it the selections he sang that prompted such a reaction from me? It's possible, of course, but I don't think so for I was familiar with some of the pieces sung by the other men and, while I enjoyed them prodigiously, I didn't feel the same emotional reaction as I did to Mr. Emelianov.

I have been hearing all their voices for the last few days, remembering the music and the delightful presentation of it. But I hold Mr. Emelianov's singing in a special place in my heart.

Triolet

I was in a class on Saturday and the exercise was to take one of the famous Mediaeval or Renaissance first lines that had been chosen by the teacher and write a new ending for it.

This first line is from the Lais of Marie de France by Yonec. It was written about A.D. 1170. The word 'paved' does not have the accent in any of the translations I've seen; I added it because I thought the line worked better that way.

The form used here is a triolet and the rhyme scheme is: ABaAabAB

In a big room, pavéd with stone
Lies my love; pale, cold, dead, and grieved.
He’s in his coffin, his face shown
In a big room, pavéd with stone.
He was the sweetest man I’d known
And his demise leaves me bereaved.
In a big room, pavéd with stone
Lies my love; pale, cold, dead, and grieved.

Sonnet 24

I don't know how I'm going to be able to work on the novel that goes with this sonnet sequence. I can't concentrate enough to do any writing.

This sonnet is one that I wrote for my ex when we were dating. I like to think that I've improved as a poet. I may end up using it in the sequence anyway.

I've heard that there are people who can care
As much for jewelled knives and cloth-of-gold
And that which, in a market, can be sold
As for their lover's thoughts. Some people dare
To claim the robes which they so proudly wear
Are finer still than all love's whispers. Bold
Are the people who think that owning gold
Is sweeter than the kisses that they share.
But you and I know better than to leave
The sweetness of our lover's lips unkissed.
No fools are we who'd rather spend our days
Embraced. By living thus, we shall not grieve
For all the times and chances we have missed.
We'll share our love. The rest may go their way.

Sonnet 23

How can my tongue be still, while my heart cries
To tell you of my love in song and tale?
How can my silence reign, when timely sighs
Would tell you more than words could e'er unveil?
Think not that by my silence I must fail
To see the glory that is yours alone.
If love could, over silent lips prevail,
My heart would then, to your heart, be well known.
Your aspect renders words mere commonplace.
And yet the thought of speech fills me with flame.
If I could no more look upon your face,
No Christian stone would ever bear my name.
Through silence I will love in my own ways,
And deem the most effusive words poor praise.