The Twenty-Ninth Bather
Twenty-eight young men bathe by the shore,
Twenty-eight young men and all so friendly;
Twenty-eight years of womanly life and all so lonesome.
She owns the fine house by the rise of the bank,
She hides handsome and richly drest aft the blinds of the window.
Which of the young men does she like the best?
Ah, the homeliest of them is beautiful to her.
Where are you off to, lady? for I see you,
You splash in the water there, yet stay stock still in your room.
Dancing and laughing along the beach came the 29th bather,
The rest did not see her, but she saw them and loved them.
The beards of the young men glistened with wet, it ran from their long hair,
Little streams passed all over their bodies.
An unseen hand also passed over their bodies,
It descended tremblingly from their temples and ribs.
The young men float on their backs, their white bellies swell to the sun . . .
They do not ask who seizes fast to them,
They do not know who puffs and declines with pendant and bending arch,
They do not think whom they souse with spray.
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Walt Whitman
"Leaves of Grass"
Painting: "Bathers" by Paul Cezanne
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Today seems to be a day of personal independence for me.
I woke up in a good mood!
I'm not sure how it happened!
Musta been a gift from the Universe;
I know it didn't come from me.
I once had a friend (more than a friend) who has a PhD in reading.
She said I read in a different way than most people.
(I think she was just trying to win me over!)
But maybe I do - because the more I read,
the more I understand, and the more I feel "healed."
And there is never of shortage of tid-bits to read.
It's right there in black and white.
No codes, no interpretation - just pretty basic facts.
Twice I've "read all about it." Three times. Four times.
I'm not longer mortified!
I'm changing the graphic on the banner...
Although it's been up for months.
Probably symbolic of the changes I'm making in my mind.
Which if anyone reads here lately, you know I've been all over the map.
Literally and figuratively.
But in a good way. Finally in a good way.
Thank you all for your happy thoughts and well wishes.
They finally got through to me.
Happy Independence Day to you!
I'm going to spend the rest of the day
being carried down a quiet path in summer.
But only if You come with me!
