trying not to get excited

Today was a hell of a day. It seems like it's been a hell of a week for a couple of friends. The rest of the week/weekend will be busy, mostly fun things which I am looking forward to, and which will speed up my vacation. I am going home to Michigan next week for a week of (hopefully) R&R.

My calendar looks like:
  • Dinner with Julie & Danny, Wednesday night
  • Work related meeting, Thursday night
  • Drinks with John O., Friday night
  • Dinner and drinks for M's bday, Saturday night
  • Sunday-Tuesday work, then off for 13 days straight!!
In feeling a little stressed and like there are a lot of things going on, I do my normal and seek out poetry which is calming. I found this and found it appropriate.

"And we shall not get excited"

And we shall not get excited. Because a translator
May not get excited. Calmly, we shall pass on
Words from man to son, from one tongue
To others' lips, un-
Knowingly, like a father who passes on
The features of his dead father's face
To his son, and he himself is like neither of them. Merely a mediator.

We shall remember the things we held in our hands
That slipped out.
What I have in my possesion and what I do not have in my possession.

We must not get excited.
Calls and their callers drowned. Or, my beloved
Gave me a few words before she left,
To bring up for her.

And no more shall we tell what we were told
To other tellers. Silence as admission. We must not
Get excited.

~ Yehuda Amichai

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