"The Cat and the Moon" - by W B Yeats

The Cat And The Moon
------
by
William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939)


THE cat went here and there
And the moon spun round like a top,
And the nearest kin of the moon,
The creeping cat, looked up.
Black Minnaloushe stared at the moon,
For, wander and wail as he would,
The pure cold light in the sky
Troubled his animal blood.
Minnaloushe runs in the grass
Lifting his delicate feet.
Do you dance, Minnaloushe, do you dance?
When two close kindred meet.
What better than call a dance?
Maybe the moon may learn,
Tired of that courtly fashion,
A new dance turn.
Minnaloushe creeps through the grass
From moonlit place to place,
The sacred moon overhead
Has taken a new phase.
Does Minnaloushe know that his pupils
Will pass from change to change,
And that from round to crescent,
From crescent to round they range?
Minnaloushe creeps through the grass
Alone, important and wise,
And lifts to the changing moon
His changing eyes. 

Guns in America - by TPO (a.k.a. J.J. Sefton)

[In response to the reactions about guns following
Saturday's (1/8/11) shootings in Arizona ....]

Perhaps others have said this before and much better than I, I have no doubt. The problem with guns in America is not their proliferation due to lax laws or laws with too many loopholes. The problem really is that old and persistent national hunger for bigger, faster, and more powerful products ... or in a nutshell, the "super-size me!" mentality.

A poignant example of this societal conundrum: People buy and drive trucks when they don't even have the need or use for one-tenth the power they're getting. In the recent snow and ice storms here in the twin cities, nature turned out to be the winner anyways!

And almost everybody knows or is party to the fast-food craze in this country. And despite the health risks (obesity, etc.,) some politicians (you know who they are) want to insist on our God-given right to eat whatever we want! But, I'm fine with that; it's not as scary as the fascination with faster-loading and more powerful guns.