More Poetry From WWII - A soldier's letters to his wife

Pin It Just one soldier's letters  home...


As promised in my first post about my grandfather, here is another one of the beautiful poems he sent home to my grandmother:

(click the image for a large view)

By Ian Munro Stevenson, WWII

To Florence:

My Darling when this war is won.

How good I'll be to you, 

My sweetheart when this job is done,

For you the things I'll do.

This War has made me realize,

How much I need you dear,

At each reveille I arise,

To start the day in tears.

For I can think of nought but you,

Yes even in my sleep -

E'en in my dreams I lay and brood,

I dream of you and weep.

Oh let them play their blasted bands,

And let their flags unfurl, 

I long for the touch of your loving hands, 

and your smile, with teeth like pearls.

I'm tired of the marching feet and the rain, 

the slashes like hundreds of whips

I long to be at your side again,

And feel the thrill of your lips.

No more do I look forward to

My leaves, I once was glad,

To get to spend with just us two,

But now I'm much too sad.

You ask me has my love gone cold, 

Since I've come over here,

My sweet it has increased ten fold,

And you've no need to fear.

My sweetheart please don't doubt my love,

I'll never love but you,

I swear by all that's good above,

that I will always be true.

I know my love how hard it is, 

For you at home alone, 

I know how much you miss my kiss,

So much I miss your own.

I know my sweet in every way,

your love for me is true,

But don't forget that every day, 

I love and miss you too.

I know he was my grandfather, but this poetry from the second world war by a soldier to his wife really moves me. I'm floored by how good it is, and would love to hear it put to music, and played for the world to hear (with some minor editing), it should at the very least be published in a World War II book, or a collection of poems on war.

My heart goes out to all the soldiers and their wives or girlfriends, present and past.  This must be so painful and terrifying.

For more poetry from this devoted soldier, click here

Creative Uses Of The New Facebook Profile Pics

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I browse the net on a regular basis in search of something new, inspiring, funny, interesting and/or cool to blog about.

Here's one of my recent finds:

Another Blog I really enjoy, Design Fetish, posted the other day about creative uses of the new Facebook profile pics.

I've posted a couple of pics here (my faves), but click the link below to see the rest.

Creative Uses Of The New Facebook Profile Pics

Isn't that COOL?!  I was inspired to try one myself, but it's more complicated than it looks.  It's one thing to figure out the picture sizes you need, but cutting your original picture into the pieces, and then making them work together seamlessly, well let's just say I didn't succeed very well. 

Let me know if you try it out, I'd love to get a screenshot.  And a lesson on how to do it myself!

A PSA for teenage girls - Another illustrated short story by Felicia Stevenson

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Babies are cute:

exhibit "A"

Then they start to cry.

Exhibit "B"

Sometimes they just won't stop.

Exhibit "C"

Then they're not so cute any more. 
In fact, They can seriously cramp your style!

They won't let you sleep:

They won't let you eat:

Sometimes they won't even let you think:

There are days when it's so bad, it makes you want to run away!

Plus, and this is BIG: it hurts to give birth!

A lot.  

Like, a lot a lot.

I'm not kidding.

Really; I can't emphasize this enough: It hurts!
Way worse than a tattoo.  Even worse than a nipple ring.

I am not making this up.
I know: I gave birth twice, have a tattoo, and had a nipple ring once upon a time (don't ask).

So make him wear a condom.

If he tells you he can't feel anything with a condom, then tell him he'll feel even less if you say No!

Or better yet: make him read this post!

Be safe ladies

How to start off my blog posts? - Deep Thoughts, by Felicia Stevenson

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I was about to write a totally different post on a completely different subject, but as I started to write I had the same problem I always have: how do I start my blog posts?

It feels unnatural to just start typing away, without acknowledging the fact that I'm writing for real life readers, but then, what do I say?

Um... there's the traditional: Dear Readers, 

No - that sounds to formal, and I'm anything but traditional.

Let's see..., how about Dear little monsters?

Shoot - no wait, that's taken already.

By George, I think I've got it! Dear Fellow Lifers!!!

-and by lifers I mean people like I, who have been sentenced to life on earth.  I think I really like that.  

But then I wonder if new visitors will be confused by it.  I mean, I can't be explaining what I mean under every post, now can I? 

Still, I really feel like I need to acknowledge the fact that I know you are there, and that I appreciate it more than I can really say.

Dear most wonderful people in the world because you read my blog,

There.  That says it all now, doesn't it?  A little long winded, but appropriate.

SO, settled.  

Until anyone gives me another really great suggestion, or you know, my crazy/beautiful mind

comes up with something better, that will be it.

PS, as a complete afterthought, I'd like to mention that I know starting a sentence with But or And is grammatically incorrect.  But I mean, call me a rebel, I'm taking artistic liberties.  And I don't care who doesn't like it.   :) 

Lady Gaga: Artist or Gimmick?

Pin It The very first time I saw Lady Gaga, I was just tuning in to something that was already in progress.  The camera was very far from the stage, and all I could see was blond hair. I thought at first that it might be Christina Aguilera.

So obviously, the girl's got chops, 
but being a singer alone does not a true artist make.

The next time I saw her, she was wearing a hugely outlandish costume, and it was completely unflattering; she started to remind me of a cross between Marilyn Manson and Madonna, and I was less than impressed.  It felt like a gimmick to me, not true creative expression.  She didn't have her own identity, she'd taken over two others.  Apparently, I wasn't the only one who saw the resemblance, I found this photo and many others by putting their two names together in Google.

Her first hit that I really knew about was Poker Face, and while the tune was catchy and the lyrics OK, it felt like another "flash in the pan" dance remix that makes a lot of money but makes no difference in the long run of the history of music.

Anyway,

My point is I didn't really feel like Poker Face was exactly going to become a classic, to be played on golden 00's in 30 years, you know?  Not exactly Hotel California material.  Just sayin'.  Although we are still occasionally reminded of NKOTB, so what do I know about staying power? 

As time goes by though, I gain more and more respect for her.  Her music is mostly very good, especially when you strip away that "boom boom" dance club remix it seems songs need nowadays to be a hit.

*What ever happened to the value of great lyrics?  Case in point:  Chris de Burgh, a true lyricist wrote such beautiful words as "For it's a different world when I look into your eyes, it's the closest thing I have seen to paradise, and I know that with you I will be in love forever".  Now those kinds of lyrics can stand on their own. 

The lyrics to "Born this way" are very good, and I'm stuck on "You" right now, which I actually feel has staying power to be played as a classic, and have been hearing on a continuous loop in my head for the past 5 days (it's starting to get to me)

So maybe she's not just a "flash in the pan" after all.  

In conclusion,

I think she truly is an artist.  Tortured and insecure, and the gimmick was just her way of being known.  Now I think it's just fun and too late to turn back.  One thing I'll never understand though, why do the costumes always have to make her so dang ugly??? 

I mean I could see the girly girl in me getting really excited about playing dress up all the time, but it seems to me like I would choose things that would be crazy/beautiful not crazy/ugly:

See what I mean?!

Sometimes I wonder if it's insecurity that leads her to want to hide herself, as we saw in her Monster Ball movie.  

I'll leave you with a link to the video of "You and I", so that you can have it stuck in your head too, isn't that nice of me? ;)  Plus, more crazy costumes.  I do find she looks beautiful when they show her au naturel though.

Thoughts?