Eye Candy

somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond

somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond
any experience, your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near

your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skillfully, mysteriously) her first rose

or if your wish be to close me, i and
my life will shut very beautifully, suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending

nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility: whose texture
compels me with the colour of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing

(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens; only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands

--e.e. cummings

What catches you eyes or ears? Have the words of a song, or a book, or even one perfect flower ever made you stop and think, "Wow, I need to slow down more often." In college, I got into the habit of underlying favorite quotes in assigned readings, or writing them down and posting them on my bedroom walls. The first I happened across by chance, when I wasn't paying attention in Spanish 102, when I was doing homework for another course. Of course, most of the time I didn't keep up with the readings, but I did come across a jewel or two, or several dozen. I even have my favorite quote memorized (check out "Old Goriot" by Balzac, it's in there), and I keep the rest in a folder. Most of these come from books I should have read in school, but didn't or didn't enjoy. When I finally read them on my own, and could take my time, sipping at a cup of tea, I enjoyed them so much more. There is just nothing inherently fun when you have to analyze a book. For some literary gems, check out these winners:

Jane Eyre
Prozac Nation
Emma
The Kite Runner
Sense and Sensibility
Little Women
The Great Gatsby
Roots
The Jungle
The Scarlett Letter
Memoirs of a Geisha

I've read and love them all.