What I Believe

When no one was looking I had a great idea...while driving alone in the car I used to compose and recite to myself my credo: what i believe. Whitmanesquely I would list ideas and
personal philosophy intending to write it down someday and inspire my friends to do the same. But then about four years ago NPR started a segment called 'This I Believe' in which
they do that very thing eclipsing my idea and making me redundant (which so often happens). So 'what i believe' is unnecessary and hence I've forgotten what i believe but
'This I Believe' has produced two books full of articulate and insightful compositions by many famous and non-famous people of the world. (The series is going to end this year).
I was reminded of this when i recently read this poem which i like very much:

What I Believe
by Michael Blumenthal

I believe there is no justice,
but that cottongrass and bunchberry
grow on the mountain.

I believe that a scorpion's sting
will kill a man,
but that his wife will remarry.

I believe that, the older we get,
the weaker the body,
but the stronger the soul.

I believe that if you roll over at night
in an empty bed,
the air consoles you.

I believe that no one is spared
the darkness,
and no one gets all of it.

I believe we all drown eventually
in a sea of our making,
but that the land belongs to someone else.

I believe in destiny.
And I believe in free will.

I believe that, when all
the clocks break,
time goes on without them.

And I believe that whatever
pulls us under,
will do so gently.

so as not to disturb anyone,
so as not to interfere
with what we believe in.

"What I Believe" by Michael Blumenthal, from Days We Would Rather
Know. © Pleasure Boat Studio, 2005.

On a completely different note:
February 28th is the birthday of Daniel Handler, (books by this author) born on
this day in San Francisco (1970). He's most famous for his
best-selling series of macabre children's books, A Series of
Unfortunate Events, which he wrote under the pen name Lemony Snicket.
The books follow the adventures of the orphaned Baudelaire children —
Violet, Klaus, and Sunny. Their parents die in a fire, and after that,
things keep getting worse and worse. There are 13 novels in A Series
of Unfortunate Events, including The Bad Beginning (1999), The
Carnivorous Carnival (2002), and The Penultimate Peril (2005).
Daniel Handler said, "A library is like an island in the middle of a
vast sea of ignorance, particularly if the library is very tall and
the surrounding area has been flooded."