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#2027870 02/28/08 05:05 PM
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I read your reply in Josie's thread to Mulan and had to send you this poem.... <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Quote (from Mimi):
________________________________________

I love this, too.

"BOUNDARIES ARE CASTLE WALLS."

________________________________________


Quote
The only problem I see with the castle wall metaphor is the castle wall metaphor. Walls.

But I get your meaning, and it's a good one.

-ol' 2long



Something there is that doesn't love a wall, (an ol' 2long perhaps? )
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,

And spills the upper boulders in the sun;

And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.

The work of hunters is another thing:

I have come after them and made repair

Where they have left not one stone on a stone,

But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,

To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,

No one has seen them made or heard them made,

But at spring mending-time we find them there.

I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;

And on a day we meet to walk the line

And set the wall between us once again.

We keep the wall between us as we go.

To each the boulders that have fallen to each.

And some are loaves and some so nearly balls

We have to use a spell to make them balance:

'Stay where you are until our backs are turned!'

We wear our fingers rough with handling them.

Oh, just another kind of outdoor game,

One on a side. It comes to little more:

There where it is we do not need the wall:

He is all pine and I am apple orchard.

My apple trees will never get across

And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.

He only says, 'Good fences make good neighbors.'

Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder

If I could put a notion in his head:

'Why do they make good neighbors? Isn't it

Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.

Before I built a wall I'd ask to know

What I was walling in or walling out,

And to whom I was like to give offense.

Something there is that doesn't love a wall,

That wants it down.' I could say 'Elves' to him,

But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather

He said it for himself. I see him there

Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top

In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.

He moves in darkness as it seems to me,

Not of woods only and the shade of trees.

He will not go behind his father's saying,

And he likes having thought of it so well

He says again, 'Good fences make good neighbors.'

From The Poetry of Robert Frost by Robert Frost, edited by Edward Connery Lathem. Copyright 1916, 1923, 1928, 1930, 1934, 1939, 1947, 1949, © 1969 by Holt Rinehart and Winston, Inc. Copyright 1936, 1942, 1944, 1945, 1947, 1948, 1951, 1953, 1954, © 1956, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1962 by Robert Frost. Copyright © 1962, 1967, 1970 by Leslie Frost Ballantine.

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That's absolutely beautiful!

I've never read that before.

Quote
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.

That's 4 deep, right? <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Sorry! I *did* watch Benny Hill!

-ol' 2long

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<img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> You're fresh, funny guy!

I'm glad you liked it.

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It is so, so, so very, very appropriate 2 the cynicism on the boards these days.

Thanks again!

-ol' 2long

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That's 4 deep, right? <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Sorry! I *did* watch Benny Hill!

-ol' 2long

I have one!
There once was 2long from marriage builders
Who decided to.....
oh nevermind.


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But more importantly, and closer 2 home...

This poem is for my W and I.

-ol' 2long

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"Outside The Wall" - Pink Floyd

"All alone, or in 2s
The ones who really love you
Walk up and down outside the wall.

Some hand in hand
Some gather 2gether in bands.
The bleeding hearts and the artists
Make their stand.

And when they've given you their all
Some stagger and fall - after all it's not easy
Banging your heart against some mad buggers Wall."

-ol' 2long

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As metaphors go, walls are bad, more often than they're good.

So are fences. I had forgotten one of my favorite Peter Gabriel songs from many years ago, that I've quoted a few times on MB but not recently.

"Come Talk To Me" - Peter Gabriel

"The wretched desert takes its form, the jackal proud and tight.
In search of you, I feel my way, though the slowest heaving night.
Whatever fear invents, I swear it make no sense.
I reach out through the border fence
Come down, come talk to me.

The swirling, curling storm of desire - unuttered words hold fast.
With reptile tongue, the lightning lashes - towers built to last.
Darkness creeps in like a thief and offers no relief.
Why are you shaking like a leaf?
Come on, come talk to me.

Ah please talk to me!
Won't you please talk to me?
We can unlock this misery!
Come on, come talk to me!

I did not come to steal.
This all is so unreal.
Can't you show me how you feel now?
Come on, come talk to me.
Come talk to me.
Come talk to me!

The earthly power sucks shadowed milk from sleepy tears undone.
From nippled skin as smooth as silk the bugles blown as one.
You lie there with your eyes half closed like there's no-one there at all.
There's a tension building on your face
Come on, come talk to me.

Won't you please talk to me?
If you'd just talk to me.
Unblock this misery!
If you'd only talk to me.

Don't you ever change your mind.
Now your future's so defined.
And you act so deaf, so blind.
Come on, come talk to me.
Come talk to me.
Come talk to me!

I can imagine the moment,
Breaking out through the silence,
All the things that we both might say.
And the heart it will not be denied,
'Til we're both on the same damn side,
All the barriers blown away!

I said please talk to me.
Won't you please come talk to me?
Just like it used to be!
Come on, come talk to me.
I did not come to steal.
This all is so unreal.
Can you show me how you feel now?
Come on, come talk to me.
Come talk to me.
Come talk to me!

I said please talk to me.
If you'd just talk to me.
Unblock this misery.
If you'd only talk to me.
I did not come to steal.
This all is so unreal.
Can't you show me how you feel now?
Come on, come talk to me.
Come talk to me.
Come talk to me!"



That's still how I feel, and now it's what I will do.
-ol' 2long

Last edited by 2long; 02/28/08 07:43 PM.
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I'm not a regular poster (long-time lurker), but I have to post my favorite wall song.

I´m woven in a fantasy, I can´t believe the things I see
The path that I have chosen now has led me to a wall
And with each passing day I feel a little
more like something dear was lost
It rises now before me, a dark and silent barrier between,
All I am, and all that I would ever want be
It´s just a travesty, towering, marking
off the boundaries my spirit would erase

To pass beyond is what I seek, I fear that I may be too weak
And those are few who´ve seen it through to glimpse the other side,
The promised land is waiting like a maiden that is soon to be a bride
The moment is a masterpiece, the weight of indecision´s in the air
It´s standing there, the symbol and the sum of all that´s me
It´s just a travesty, towering, blocking out the light and blinding me
I want to see

Gold and diamonds cast a spell, it´s not for me I know it well
The treasures that I seek are waiting on the other side
There´s more that I can measure in the treasure of the love that I can find
And though it´s always been with me, I must tear down the Wall and let it be
All I am, and all that I was ever meant to be, in harmony
Shining true and smiling back at all who wait to cross
THERE IS NO LOSS

The Wall, Kansas
from Leftoverture album

2long - I wish you well.

findingstrength

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My favorite "walls" lyrics...

"Fortress Around Your Heart" -- Sting

Under the ruins of a walled city
Crumbling towers and beams of yellow light
No flags of truce, no cries of pity
The siege guns had been pounding all through the night
It took a day to build the city
We walked through its streets in the afternoon
As I returned across the field's I'd known
I recognized the walls that I once made
I had to stop in my tracks for fear
Of walking on the mines I'd laid

And if I built this fortress around your heart
Encircled you in trenches and barbed wire
Then let me build a bridge
For I cannot fill the chasm
And let me set the battlements on fire

Then I went off to fight some battle
That I'd invented inside my head
Away so long for years and years
You probably thought or even wished that I was dead
While the armies are all sleeping
Beneath the tattered flag we'd made
I had to stop in my track for fear
Of walking on the mines I'd laid

And if I built this fortress around your heart
Encircled you in trenches and barbed wire
Then let me build a bridge
For I cannot fill the chasm
And let me set the battlements on fire

This prison has now become your home
A sentence you seem prepared to pay
It took a day to build the city
We walked through its streets in the afternoon
As I returned across the fields where I'd once played
I had to stop in my tracks for fear
Of walking on the mines I'd laid

And if I built this fortress around your heart
Encircled you in trenches and barbed wire
Then let me build a bridge
For I cannot fill the chasm
And let me set the battlements on fire


If God is a DJ, life is a dance floor, you get what you're given, it's all how you use it... Pink
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For your walls thread 2long.

He was so great in concert... in Berkeley.

Walls~ Tom Petty

Jilly


Maybe it is Rocket Science...
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Quote
But more importantly, and closer 2 home...

This poem is for my W and I.


The gaps I mean,

No one has seen them made or heard them made,

But at spring mending-time we find them there.



I love this poem when I think about my marriage and relationships in general.... and I love Robert Frost, as a rule. <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I hope your talk went well. I think I'll download the songs that have been posted since and get a good think going.

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Quote
"Come Talk To Me" - Peter Gabriel

2long, I love Peter Gabriel! Here's one for you from your MB family:

DON'T GIVE UP- by Peter Gabriel.

In this proud land we grew up strong
We were wanted all along
I was taught to fight, taught to win
I never thought I could fail

No fight left or so it seems
I am a man whose dreams have all deserted
Ive changed my face, Ive changed my name
But no one wants you when you lose

Dont give up
cos you have friends
Dont give up
Youre not beaten yet
Dont give up
I know you can make it good

Though I saw it all around
Never thought I could be affected
Thought that wed be the last to go
It is so strange the way things turn

Drove the night toward my home
The place that I was born, on the lakeside
As daylight broke, I saw the earth
The trees had burned down to the ground

Dont give up
You still have us
Dont give up
We dont need much of anything
Dont give up
cause somewhere theres a place
Where we belong

Rest your head
You worry too much
Its going to be alright
When times get rough
You can fall back on us
Dont give up
Please dont give up

got to walk out of here
I cant take anymore
Going to stand on that bridge
Keep my eyes down below
Whatever may come
And whatever may go
That rivers flowing
That rivers flowing

Moved on to another town
Tried hard to settle down
For every job, so many men
So many men no-one needs

Dont give up
cause you have friends
Dont give up
Youre not the only one
Dont give up
No reason to be ashamed
Dont give up
You still have us
Dont give up now
Were proud of who you are
Dont give up
You know its never been easy
Dont give up
cause I believe theres the a place
Theres a place where we belong


W (me) 44
H 43
Married 19 years
DS 17
DS 15
DD 13
DD 8

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