Do you ever have so many things to do that you become overwhelmed and end up doing nothing at all? A. A. Milne (Winnie-the-Pooh) captures this perfectly in his poem about a shipwrecked sailor. Although I must say, after all the snow we’ve had in New England this winter, the sailor’s basking on the beach doesn’t sound too dreadful to me; and I would be praying not to be saved!

The Old Sailor

There was once an old sailor my grandfather knew
Who had so many things which he wanted to do
That, whenever he thought it was time to begin,
He couldn’t because of the state he was in.

It is this deep blankness is the real thing strange.

The more things happen to you the more you can’t

Tell or remember even what they were.

from Let It Go by William Empson

Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this, too, was a gift. – Mary Oliver

 

Wish I could give credit for this e.e. cummings and Tyrannosaurus Rex pairing but I have no idea who’s responsible (I found it at The Academy of American Poets). Genius!