what we want

by Linda Pastan
from Carnival Evening

What we want
is never simple.
We move among the things
we thought we wanted:
a face, a room, an open book
and these things bear our names—
now they want us.

But what we want appears
in dreams, wearing disguises.

We fall past,
holding out our arms
and in the morning
our arms ache.
We don't remember the dream,
but the dream remembers us.
It is there all day
as an animal is there
under the table,
as the stars are there

happy birthday to you

Happy birthday kindred soul,
A sea around my heart:
Part shelter, part enduring word,
Part mirror of my art.
You are the calm that drains my rage,

Bliss upon my shores,
Immensity immutable,
Rush that life restores.
To you I wish to be a welcome
Harbor for your ocean,
Destiny and origin,
Aim of your affection,
Yearning of your motion.

By Dimitri Shostakovich

it's beautiful

I do my thing, and you do your thing. I am not in this world to live up to your expectations, and you are not in this world to live up to mine. You are you, and I am I, and if by chance we find each other, it's beautiful.

Frederick E. Perl