Word of the Day: Esurient
Esurient (adjective): voracious, greedy
USING ESURIENT IN SENTENCES
The panther regarded me with esurient eyes, despite the fact that I’m not particularly tasty.
An esurient woman of the night approached the young priest with an offer he couldn’t refuse.
“I will devour your kingdom, rape your women, and enslave your men!” said the esurient emperor to the disobedient king.
Poem of the Day
from A PORTRAIT OF A LADY
by T.S. Eliot
“For everybody said so, all our friends,
They all were sure our feelings would relate
So closely! I myself can hardly understand.
We must leave it now to fate.
You will write, at any rate.
Perhaps it is not too late.
I shall sit here, serving tea to friends.”
And I must borrow every changing shape
To find expression … dance, dance
Like a dancing bear,
Cry like a parrot, chatter like an ape.
Let us take the air, in a tobacco trance—
Well! and what if she should die some afternoon,
Afternoon grey and smoky, evening yellow and rose;
Should die and leave me sitting pen in hand
With the smoke coming down above the housetops;
Doubtful, for quite a while
Not knowing what to feel or if I understand
Or whether wise or foolish, tardy or too soon …
Would she not have the advantage, after all?
This music is successful with a “dying fall”
Now that we talk of dying—
And should I have the right to smile?
Thought of the Day
Many people are uncomfortable with ambiguity. It must be one of the reasons people embrace dogmatic religious formulas and so-called truths. Why are some people so convinced that there is a heaven, or life after death, or that Jesus rose from the dead?
I remember once sitting at a café. A small group of young women had gathered at the table next to mine, and I listened in on their conversation. Apparently, they formed some sort of Bible study group. One of the woman had said that heaven must have paved roads, because the inhabitants—dead souls, I suppose—wouldn’t otherwise be able to get around.
This, of course, is an extreme example.
What is certain is that none of knows what happens when we die. It can only be experienced … and those that have done so are unable to tell the living about it.
It may be that truth—or the approximation of truth—often hides in ambiguity and paradox. Takes two or more seemingly antithetical ideas or theories, and the limit of human comprehension is somewhere in between, where opposing realities clash and are reconciled.
30 Blog Posts in 30 Days
My goal is to write thirty blog posts in thirty days. Each post will consist of a Word of the Day, a poem from a famous poet (public domain only), and either a thought or a verse (or two) from yours truly.
First Post: October 11th, 2019
Last Post: November 9th, 2019
Wish me luck!
Every month or so, I’ll send a newsletter via e-mail to my subscribers. More often than not, it will contain a list of my new blog posts. You may find something in it that interests you! Or more likely, you’ll be bored to tears and curse my very existence. In either case, you should sign up. You may unsubscribe at any time!