Tuesday Titters: If Einstein wrote poetry

I’ve read in the bowels of Google that Einstein’s favorite limerick was:

There was an old lady called Wright
who could travel much faster than light.
She departed one day
in a relative way
and returned on the previous night.

Guess it’s going to be a Howie day

Arrgh!

Earworm.

So, to make a simple tale convoluted, when I bought my “smart” TV, it came with some streaming links to things like Netflix, YouTube, and Hulu.  Stuff I recognized.  But it also came with a link to iHeartRadio.

Well in my enthusiasm for my new TV I tried out the iHeartRadio and found the Coffee Shop Radio station.  I liked it.  I found out that I can listen from my little netbook that I take to school every day, too.  So, I’ll put it on low volume while I’m at work measuring seeds; it’s great soft background noise while I’m doing mindless work and it won’t offend anyone else in the lab who happens to not have their own headphones on (I tried headphones, but I do have to move around a lot and so the cord kept getting in the way).

As it would happen, it plays the song, Collide, by Howie Day, quite often.  I find it very catchy, and I rather like it so it’s no hardship.  But, eventually I decided I had to know what Howie was actually saying as the first verse and the chorus was about all I could decipher.  Now I can’t get the tune out of my head.

One might say, my lab was quiet, you know.  It’s made a first impression and I find I’m scared to know it’s always on my mind.  Although not all the song words rhyme.  Out of the doubt that filled my mind, I some how find, Howie Day and I collide.

Collide

-Song by Howie Day

The dawn is breaking
A light shining through
You’re barely waking
And I’m tangled up in you
Yeah

But I’m open, you’re closed
Where I follow, you’ll go
I worry I won’t see your face
Light up again

Even the best fall down sometimes
Even the wrong words seem to rhyme
Out of the doubt that fills my mind
I somehow find, you and I collide

I’m quiet, you know
You make a first impression
I’ve found I’m scared to know
I’m always on your mind

Even the best fall down sometimes
Even the stars refuse to shine
Out of the back you fall in time
I somehow find, you and I collide

Don’t stop here

I’ve lost my place

I’m close behind

Even the best fall down sometimes
Even the wrong words seem to rhyme
Out of the doubt that fills your mind
You finally find, you and I collide

Don’t know the song I’m talking about?  Check out Howie on YouTube.

Thursday Quote Du Jour #4 on Happiness and Sorrow

In an effort to improve and enhance my literary knowledge and skills I decided to take up my book of One Hundred Famous Poems.  It was given to me as a young person, and I’ve barely read more than a handful of the poems within.  Now I find them a bit more interesting.  I may move on to Shakespeare’s Sonnets later.  Maybe.  Okay, probably not, but it sounds good.

In general I’ve never been much a of a fan of poetry, but I do have a few favorites.  This is one of them, and it frequently suits my frame of mind.  I had to memorize it and recite it in grade school so the lines are easy to recall and fondly familiar.  It’s a bit longish for a blog post quote, but it’s one of my favorites so I hope you’ll humor me and give it a go.  I also wanted to post the whole poem because most people will recognize the first stanza while the rest is lost to common memory, but the whole poem is really marvelous and it all deserves to be remembered.

Laugh; and the world laughs with you,

Weep, and you weep alone.

For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth,

But has trouble enough of its own.

Sing, and the hills will answer;

Sigh, it is lost on the air.

The echoes bound to a joyful sound,

But shrink from voicing care.

Rejoice, and men will seek you;

Grieve, and they turn and go.

They want full measure of all your pleasure,

But do not need your woe.

Be glad, and you friends are many;

Be sad, and you lose them all.

There are none to decline your nectared wine,

But alone you must drink life’s gall.

Feast, and your halls are crowded;

Fast, an the world goes by.

Succeed and give, and it helps you live,

But no man can help you die.

There is a room in the halls of pleasure

For a long and lordly train,

But one by one we must all file on

Through the narrow aisles of pain.

-Ella Wheeler Wilcox

As a tween I intellectually understood the message of this poem, but reading it again this summer that meaning some how becomes more personal and intimate.  Perhaps I frequently feel so alone because I share too much of my sorrow.  But then, not sharing it is it’s own form of isolation.  Pasting a fake smile one’s face may be a temporary fix that will please others, but does not solve any problems or cure any woes and ultimately just makes one feel worse.  Perhaps this was a woman’s lot in past times.  But is it really any different today?