I Do Not Ogle Freshmen

One anecdote, then I’ll move on to the meat of this post.

The most awkward scene from Stranger Than Fiction (one of my favorite movies) is when Harold apologizes to Ana for ogling her (“Apology accepted…but only because you stammered”).

I do not ogle freshmen. No. Not even the ones that don’t look like they’re only 18. Definitely not the ones that pass me in the Cannon Center while I’m working. I’m more mature than that. THE END.

Now, this next part might seem a little tame to some of you, but it’s time to pay homage to one of my favorite poets, Mary Oliver. And by “one of my favorites” I mean my FAVORITE poet. And my favorite poem.

When Death Comes

When death comes
like the hungry bear in autumn;
when death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse
to buy me, and snaps the purse shut;
when death comes
like the measle-pox;
when death comes
like an iceberg between the shoulder blades,
I want to step through the door full of curiosity, wondering:
what is it going to be like, that cottage of darkness?
And therefore I look upon everything
as a brotherhood and a sisterhood,
and I look upon time as no more than an idea,
and I consider eternity as another possibility,
and I think of each life as a flower, as common
as a field daisy, and as singular,
and each name a comfortable music in the mouth
tending as all music does, toward silence,
and each body a lion of courage, and something
precious to the earth.
When it's over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.
When it is over, I don't want to wonder
if I have made of my life something particular, and real.
I don't want to find myself sighing and frightened,
or full of argument.
I don't want to end up simply having visited this world.

Mary Oliver
From New and Selected Poems by Mary Oliver (Beacon Press, 25 Beacon St, Boston, MA 02108-2892, ISBN 0 870 6819 5).

Hmmm. Beautiful.

*Mary Oliver-inspired moment of silence* NOW_____________________________________.