BETTER

Letting go of a bruised past
The Man stumbles into uncertain paths

He has come so far that He must
NOT EVER
Give His fears room to defeat
The Possibilities of Joy
which He has

Too much has occured

There should be no shouting at the Life
save that by shouting He should make
a Friend of it,
A refuge to hold on to when
Hell comes calling
With Demons no Single Soul could suffer

He has walked far
But He has walked blind
For He felt He was alone
Without hope

And in despair and fear
He fell faint,
weary of His Argument towards Life

And in His weakness
His Friends came to His side
And lent Their strength
When He had none

By Their Love
His Argument was won
And He has made
A Friend of His Life

And He shall go on,
Strong through His Friends

GEP
9-12-94
2:36pm

186 responses total.

Thank all of you who helped me help myself.

You know who you are.
I love you.

That was beautiful.
<dang hugs gerund>

"Little things used to mean so much to SHelly."

"Nothing is trivial."

Love.  

The Crow

Yes, I agree! That was QUITE lovely!
<bhelliom hugs gerundy!>

I believe in saying what I feel.  And I felt thankful.
Thanks... I sorta think in a way it might be the best 'poem' I've ever
written.

umm...good show, mr rund.

I'm not gonna get my dander up... but it's Mr. Word, thank you.

Just how does one get their dander up? <anne wonders>

with a dander brush

Oh, thanks, I've wondered that for a long time now.

welcome back, dear gerundy!  i love the poem, and i hope everything is going
better!

and i promise to stope eating my feet constantly!

Dander up sounds pornographic,

ditto number 11.  Great poem, gerund.

 ;0

Whatever facelift.

Any thoughts on how things change, 'lil gerund?

Well hello there Gerund, Long time no see.

Where ya been?

Many many places.
I live in Spokane now.

So where is everyone now?  I've just moved back to Ann Arbor area
within the last month and a half..  Before that I was in Saginaw...
A lot of time has gone by since this conference started... in the
words of VH1 (among numerous others) What ever happened to...

So share, tell us a story...

I haven't moved.

I'm in Kalamazoo now (have been for over a year), so let me know if you want
to get together.  I have occassional weeknights off.

        Ypsilanti, again.  God I love that city.  Don't ask me to explain it.
It's like the Downtown to Ann Arbor's Uptown, only a little further away than
you'd normally expect.

Amsterdam.
Finally made it back to the place of birth.
Ok, it was a mere shift from the suburbs into downtown (seedier, 
dirtier, more crime, more fires but also more fun and a georgeous 
apartment).

<lee has never been to Amsterdam>

clees, what's it like there?  (*wonders* if you've been to the States or 
else it would be hard for you to compare too...)

        Always wanted to vacation there.  Just to see what it's like to not
live in such an uptight stick-up-the-ass conservativist country.

Wel, I can compare now after been in AA last June so here I go.
What struck me most was the sheer vastness of everything.
A car? Well, in the States (AA, Kalamazoo and I guess all more rural 
parts for that matter) you are lost without it. I finally understood 
this obsession with cars.
Shopping? You got to go to the mall. Where is it? 15 miles down the 
road. My Lord!
Going to the cinema, same story.
Secondly were the size of stuff to eat at any diner. 
Intimidatingly large. 
I reckon you'd be offended to be served what they call a Big Mac in the 
Netherlands.
The climate (hot and humid) and size of things to eat made me actually 
lose weight in the first week when I stayed in the States (ha!).

Amsterdam.
It has got all pretentions of a genuine metropolis like New York.
It has got crime, drugs, prostitution (but that's another story, 
when you take into account that prostitutes in Holland are 
considered small businessess, and when they are employed at some club, 
there's an registered union for them) and many tourists busily being 
ripped off by the merchants, bartenders, cabbies etc.
But Amsterdam, and the rest of the Netherlands, is very compact. Which 
is necessary for our country measures only 40,000 square kilometers.
Owning a car in Amsterdam is not sensible for you can't a parkingspace 
but parkinglots which cost you dearly. Would you find a parking space, 
there'll be slot to pay yet dearly. If you forget to refill the slot 
your car is likely to be towed away after being clamped for a day.
But public traffic is as near to being perfect as possible, but 
expensive.
Amsterdam has got 750 pubs and clubs, and has a vivid night life. Our 
mayor, though doesn't concur too much with this and strives to limit 
licenses.
The old parts are quite beautiful, and nowadays I happen to live 10 
minutes from these parts.
Shopping in Amsterdam is great for there are many small businessess to 
browse around and have a stroll through the old parts of town at the 
same time! (Like London, but almost everything within walking distance).

        I was just reading a book by Edward Hall on how American city designs
are almost literally a disaster waiting to happen, because they're based
on automobile use, which consumes up to 70% of a city (!) and makes it
completely impassible to pedestrians.

Hmm...  That soundslike what our cities are like... however, in Dublin,
there were losts of streets that really didn't have any type of sidewalk...
you just kinda had to try and walk along a curb like place, and not get
pushed out into the street by other walkers, or hit by a car that got too
close to the curnb.

        Paris has streets upwards of 20 meters wide, it's amazing to see.

I remember reading about that...  And how they used to give tours
of the sewers because they were so clean...

Yes I know, Anne collects random bits of information and they just
*never* go out of her head!  You have no idea how cluttered it
is in here. <sighs>  Ah well.

        So clean things up a little bit.  Gotta take pride in the space where
you live, you know. :)

She likes it cluttered. <shrugs>  She was here first, I gotta respect
her. <grins>  She claims she can still find everything.

That's what they all say :)

I know I know, but you tell *her* that! ;)

Oh hush, Mooncat.

Most times that's actually true. A chaotic mind cannot cope with the 
perils of order.

<chuckles>  She may not keep an orderly head, or bedroom, but you
should see her desk at work!  It's incredible really.

Oh that's just professionalism.  I'm always cleaning out the office and my
office-mates think I'm some kind of neat freak.  They haven't seen my room
or my desk in the summer :)

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