Viva Sweet Love, No Photography Allowed

One of several activities yesterday was an Aurora Chorus concert that took place in a church late in the afternoon, with magenta light streaming through the stained glass windows. No photography allowed, but I sneaked this one during intermission. All the songs were about love. One of the songs was a poem by Friedrich Rüchert, "Du Bist die Ruh," set to music by Franz Schubert. The words, translated into English by Lynn Thompson, express exactly how I've been feeling lately:

You are peace,
the mild peace,
you are longing
and what stills it.

I consecrate to you
full of pleasure and pain
as a dwelling here
my eyes and heart.

Come live with me
and close
quietly behind you
the gates.

Drive other pain
out of this breast,
may my heart be full
with your pleasure.

The tabernacle of my eyes
by your radiance
alone is illumined.
O fill it completely!

Tomorrow I am a speaker at a Superthank Event--a gathering to express stories of gratitude. I'm going to be talking about the Occupy movement, how grateful I am for it. I'm busy writing my contribution. More after it's done. No comments possible just now.

P.S. Ran into the grocery store to grab some milk and an avocado and saw Ursula Le Guin shopping with her husband. My heart pounded. I politely did not stare too long nor say anything, but oh, I do admire that woman. Offstage, drifting through the grocery store like any other person in their mid-80s, she looks fragile and vulnerable; but I would swear there was a halo of genius floating around her. She's someone else I'm grateful for.