We’re Gonna Be Friends

Norman Rockwell

A Scholarly Pace

We’re Gonna Be Friends

Fall is here, hear the yell

Back to school, ring the bell

Brand new shoes, walking blues

Climb the fence, books and pens

I can tell that we are gonna be friends

I can tell that we are gonna be friends

Walk with me Susie Lee

Through the park and by the tree

We will rest upon the ground

And look at all the bugs we've found

Safely walk to school without a sound

Safely walk to school without a sound

Here we are no one else

We walk to school all by ourselves

There's dirt on our uniforms

From chasing all the ants and worms

We clean up and now it's time to learn

We clean up and now it's time to learn

Numbers letters learn to spell

Nouns and books and show and tell

Play time we will throw the ball

Back to class through the hall

Teacher marks our height against the wall

Teacher marks our height against the wall

And we don't notice any time pass

We don't notice anything

We sit side by side in every class

Teacher thinks that I sound funny

But she likes the way you sing

Tonight I'll dream while I’m in bed

when silly thoughts go through my head

about the bugs and alphabet

And when I wake tomorrow I'll bet

That you and I will walk together again

I can tell that we are gonna be friends

Yes I can tell that we are gonna be friends

~ The White Stripes ~

An Old Song

Pablo Picasso

The Old Blind Guitarist

An Old Song

If only

I may have,

at death,

a friend's hand

laid upon

my forehead.

~ Tomaz Salamun ~

Is My Team Ploughing?

David Burliuk

Peasant Working in a Field

Is My Team Ploughing?

"Is my team ploughing,
That I was used to drive
And hear the harness jingle
When I was man alive?"

Ay, the horses trample,
The harness jingles now;
No change though you lie under
The land you used to plough.

"Is football playing
Along the river shore,
With lads to chase the leather,
Now I stand up no more?"

Ay, the ball is flying,
The lads play heart and soul;
The goal stands up, the keeper
Stands up to keep the goal.

"Is my girl happy,
That I thought hard to leave,
And has she tired of weeping
As she lies down at eve?"

Ay, she lies down lightly,
She lies not down to weep,
Your girl is well contented.
Be still, my lad, and sleep.

"Is my friend hearty,
Now I am thin and pine,
And has he found to sleep in
A better bed than mine?"

Yes, lad, I lie easy,
I lie as lads would choose;
I cheer a dead man's sweetheart,
Never ask me whose.

~ A. E. Housman ~

Suicide

Edouard Manet

Le Suicide

Suicide

Let me bleed away my pain,

Melt away from all my fears.

These wounds get deeper as I go,

I've chocked back all my tears.

The hurt inside my darkest dreams,

Shows through my stone cold eyes.

To open them would tear my soul,

For half the night I waste in sighs.

Suicide is my only friend,

To help me through my tasks.

Suicide is the only friend,

To let me forget my past.

I do not ask for many things,

So of you I ask this;

Will suicide be my only friend?

Or will you save me from this misery?

~ Sarah Ghawi ~

To You

Jill Rupinski

To You

Let us twain walk aside from the rest;

Now we are together privately, do you discard ceremony,

Come!
Vouchsafe to me what has yet been vouchsafed to none—

Tell me the whole story,

Tell me what you would not tell

your brother, wife, husband, or physician.

~ Walt Whitman ~