blog name: inspired by Tennyson

Alfred Lord Tennyson has inspired this blog name. He wrote one of my favorite poems, "Ulysses." I won't quote the whole poem, but here are the relevant lines:

...
"The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks;
The long day wanes; the slow moon climbs; the
deep
Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends,
'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyong the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down;
It may be that we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we
are,-
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."

Oh, how I love the stubborn insistence that we can and will go on, we will continue to strive no matter our infirmities, until the last breath. Not because we must, or because we have no choice, but because life has been such a precious gift, and the only way to honor it is to live it fully even to its wondrous end.

This is true even for those of us who have suffered unbearable losses--we seek life, and joy, and love, knowing the terrible sorrow that awaits us when it ends, but knowing, too, that the amazing happiness and contentment is worth the risk. "'Tho much is taken, much abides..."

And, of course, the sentiment I heartily embrace: There is always a cause, there is always something else to be achieved, there is always a way, if there is a will, to make things better. Readers of this blog, I exhort you:

"Come, my friends, 'tis not too late to seek a newer world."


Fran