Notes - not me / the cats /

       Mid-morning. Within an hour Jadah found a puddle of sunlight on Carol's side of the bed to curl up and go to sleep in, alas, the puddle is slowly moving down the east side of the bed to the floor leaving the sleeping cat in shade instead. Earlier still, you and Carol had breakfast while exchanging different sections of the paper for reading. Monday only has two sections you both enjoy so they were quick reads. - Amorella

       0921 hours. Your comment reminds me of Elliot's poem "The Hollow Men".

** **

The Hollow Men

Mistah Kurtz-he dead
            A penny for the Old Guy


                       I

    We are the hollow men
    We are the stuffed men
    Leaning together
    Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
    Our dried voices, when
    We whisper together
    Are quiet and meaningless
    As wind in dry grass
    Or rats' feet over broken glass
    In our dry cellar
    
    Shape without form, shade without colour,
    Paralysed force, gesture without motion;
    
    Those who have crossed
    With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom
    Remember us-if at all-not as lost
    Violent souls, but only
    As the hollow men
    The stuffed men.

    
                              II

    Eyes I dare not meet in dreams
    In death's dream kingdom
    These do not appear:
    There, the eyes are
    Sunlight on a broken column
    There, is a tree swinging
    And voices are
    In the wind's singing
    More distant and more solemn
    Than a fading star.
    
    Let me be no nearer
    In death's dream kingdom
    Let me also wear
    Such deliberate disguises
    Rat's coat, crowskin, crossed staves
    In a field
    Behaving as the wind behaves
    No nearer-
    
    Not that final meeting
    In the twilight kingdom

    
                   III

    This is the dead land
    This is cactus land
    Here the stone images
    Are raised, here they receive
    The supplication of a dead man's hand
    Under the twinkle of a fading star.
    
    Is it like this
    In death's other kingdom
    Waking alone
    At the hour when we are
    Trembling with tenderness
    Lips that would kiss
    Form prayers to broken stone.

    
                     IV

    The eyes are not here
    There are no eyes here
    In this valley of dying stars
    In this hollow valley
    This broken jaw of our lost kingdoms
    
    In this last of meeting places
    We grope together
    And avoid speech
    Gathered on this beach of the tumid river
    
    Sightless, unless
    The eyes reappear
    As the perpetual star
    Multifoliate rose
    Of death's twilight kingdom
    The hope only
    Of empty men.

    
                           V

    Here we go round the prickly pear
    Prickly pear prickly pear
    Here we go round the prickly pear
    At five o'clock in the morning.
    
    Between the idea
    And the reality
    Between the motion
    And the act
    Falls the Shadow
                                   For Thine is the Kingdom
    
    Between the conception
    And the creation
    Between the emotion
    And the response
    Falls the Shadow
                                   Life is very long
    
    Between the desire
    And the spasm
    Between the potency
    And the existence
    Between the essence
    And the descent
    Falls the Shadow
                                   For Thine is the Kingdom
    
    For Thine is
    Life is
    For Thine is the
    
    This is the way the world ends
    This is the way the world ends
    This is the way the world ends
    Not with a bang but a whimper.

Selected from -- https://allpoetry.com/The-Hollow-Men

** **

       0940 hours. "Falls the Shadow" is the key because shadow is capitalized. Why capitalize the absence of sunlight? For Thine is the Kingdom (Death) -- in this case, a nearly quiet whimpering Death. The best lines for me, that is the me that is in my head are:

** **

  Between the idea
    And the reality
    Between the motion
    And the act
    Falls the Shadow

** **

       0946 hours. Most of my heart and mind lies "between the idea and the reality; between the motion and the act".

       Where is thy soul while in this bit of poetry, boy? - Amorella

       0948 hours. Whoa. You caught me here. Good question. Where is my soul in lines such as this? It is separate. Away from heartanmind. She leaves me at such a time bare and open to the elements and she sits on a nearby cloud to observe and know my nakedness without her coat, her protection. I like to think I can raise my own light in such a scene, and I can. I have such an imagination I can do this on my own; however it is a flicker or recognition of the possible only in imagination.  I too, fall, a shadow of what reality is. My soul swoops down to catch me up. This leaves me thankful for such an idea, even in the fancy or is it the infancy. Letters are such toys from which ideas spring. It is Death that whimpers, not me. - rho

       Your words are unexpected even from me, boy. Post. - Amorella

       1233 hours. I'm surprised too. For years I have understood that I am not afraid of death but this concluding statement rises up from the unconscious I suppose.

       After playing and catering to Jadah you took a relaxing bath and then frittered more of your time with the cat until she went off to sleep by the window. Carol is out and about paying a bill or two and will pick you up for lunch at Longhorn (Don't forget your coupon.) - Amorella

       1241 hours. Three bucks off with it. We use our coupons most of the time. Save three bucks and add fifty cents and you have one kids' cup Graeter's. We have our priorities. Spooky is sitting on a couple of green and white striped chair pads on her travel house in the living room with the windows up about fourteen inches. She has never tried to go through the screen, at least there is no evidence of it. Spooky is a big girl weighing about sixteen pounds. Jadah weighs seven. They have been getting along very well. Yesterday we watched as Jadah walked up to her while she was in the window and gave her a couple of licks on her face. Spooky then complimented Jadah with a couple of licks, also on the face. I think they have strong bonded  partly because when we are gone to Kim and Paul's or anywhere they only have each other plus Amy who cleans up and gives them food, water and attention once a day when we are gone. They are good girls. Amy is a good woman also, so is Tim. All these years we have been excellent, friendly neighbors to one another.

       You hesitate because the last sentence sounds conceited and that is not the intent. - Amorella

       1254 hours. I don't know how to fix it and keep the original intent.

       Then leave it. Post. - Amorella

     You watched a "NCIS" and a "Madam Secretary" after NBC News. Carol had leftover chicken strawberry salad for supper and you had two hot dogs, cheese and spicy mustard on an English muffin. No more food until after your bloodwork at Dr. B's. tomorrow morning. Relax, watch your show, "Rachel Maddow". No more tonight. - Amorella