The Poet's Lament

Upon the paper the weary man’s eyes were fixed, pen poised above the surface, prepared to skate gracefully across the new page. A single tear wafted slowly to his lips, its sisters hovering gently on soft lashes. Pen to paper he did lay, flying across the leaf on wings of ink.

Here me now, o precious son of Adam, o blessed daughter of Eve. The tribe that long ago rejuvenated this land has all but disappeared to naught. Hear me now, o brother of the earth, o sister of the sea. Our jewels brought life unto the people, lifting them on clouds of bliss and wrapping them in shadows of tomorrow. Leave me now, o father of the wind, o mother of the fiery souls. For only the others of my dying race understand the inner torment of an unshared rhyme. Only they know the life and death given in slavery to the written word. The blood of the soul spread in rhythmic meter for all the world to see. With each recurring heart beat, a mind goes blank; with each intake of breath, this earth loses a maker. Goodbye o beautiful realm of verse and thought, goodbye my lady land.

And here his hand sat resting, an end put to his work. And here his eyes sat reading; his thoughts now come to life. He sighed and set his pen down upon his oaken shelf, and turned never to look again. And there the ink and tears alike, dried by the whisper of a memory.

Global Shame

When I was in Europe, I experienced first hand the globalization that we discussed in Human Geography two weeks ago. For an American visiting foreign countries it was rather embarrassing to see so many American companies influencing the cultures and everyday lives of those other countries. I knew that McDonald's was an international company, but it was still amazing, in an unfortunate way, to see so many of them. However, the most blush-worthy example of globalization that I saw was a GameStop in a small town in rural Ireland. When I saw it I simply stared becuase I couldn't believe my eyes. I can't believe how far the tentacles of American capitalism reach. I was rather looking forward to visiting Paris, the fashion capital of the world, so that I could see all the different French styles and not have to look at Abercrombie, Hollister, Aeropostle, etc. I was rather disappointed when I saw people wearing Hollister sweatshirts and Abercrombie t-shirts. It was embarrassing! Why should other countries have to deal with such blatant expressions of American egotism?