<div dir="ltr"><div>Greetings Beloved Friends, </div><div><br></div><div>I'm including the poem I read earlier this week in Pathwork class, via Zoom, called "Give." Thanks for allowing me to read and that you actually listen to me read, even if it makes ya scratch your head and say, "HuH?!" It makes me do the same, so thanks again for being tolerant. </div><div><br></div>So, it's a month later now than when Lyn & I participated in a 12-hour reading of Homer's Iliad at the Grace Cathedral on May 13th - what an event! I'm embedding a YouTube link of the second part I read/sang about Achilles and the River, and attaching the part I read for you to follow along if you're interested. <div><br></div><div><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne7twbq4IAE">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne7twbq4IAE</a><br></div><div><br></div><div>Many blessings, one and all... </div><div><br></div><div>~ Ed</div><div><br></div><div><p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><u><span style="font-size:18pt">Give</span></u></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"> </p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt">What can I give the world
today </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt">that would help it be a
better place? </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt"> </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt">I wanna hear what others
have to say. </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt">I wanna say what others
don’t have </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt">to wear here on earth anymore. </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt"> </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt">My message is no longer
clear – </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt">In fact, it’s not my message
at all.</span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt"> </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt">If spoken, I would tumble
through it </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt">like an elastic gymnast
bouncing </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt">on padded mats in full extension. </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt"> </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt">Instead, I leave my clipboard
intact back on </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt">the tracks of some
well-worn iron </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt">forged like a truth rammed
into the hair of </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt">an Aries man in graphic
spasms ground </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt"> down south through Tunisian </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent:0.5in;margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt">love
tunnels, dug into</span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in 0in 0in 0.5in;text-indent:0.5in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt">death-trap doors under sea.</span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt"> </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt">But I await an answer with
more sense </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt">than this, where terror is
turned into bliss; </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt">where simplicity pacifies
a soul-saving </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt">solution into a resolution
of desire fulfilled, </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt"> </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt">and I go stumbling
breathlessly into Nirvana – </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt"><i>not the grunge band from
Seattle</i> – but a </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt">parking garage turned into
a palace of </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt">bombastic bliss that I
followed here from afar. </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt"> </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><i><span style="font-size:14pt">“Free all the prisoners!
</span></i></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent:0.5in;margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><i><span style="font-size:14pt">Past,
present, NOW – </span></i></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><i><span style="font-size:14pt">not another moment of
interment!”</span></i><span style="font-size:14pt"> </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt"> </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt">the parking garage
attendant yells at me, </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt">and I pay my parking fee,
slip through the </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt">up-swung gate and roll
down the road, </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent:0.5in;margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt">still
wondering – </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt">what can I give the world
today </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt">that would help it be a
better place? </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt"> </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><a name="_Hlk137539324"></a><a name="_Hlk37055206"><span style="font-family:"Monotype Corsiva"">Edgar Z. Balldinger </span></a></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Monotype Corsiva""> May 2,
2023</span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><i><span style="font-family:"Monotype Corsiva""> © Nublin’s Pub, 202</span></i><i><span style="font-family:"Monotype Corsiva"">3</span></i></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><i><span style="font-family:"Monotype Corsiva""> </span></i></p></div></div>