Who is now reading this?

Here is an untitled poem from "Calamus" (1860), a group of poems in Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass. Intended as a complementary section to the group of poems titled "Children of Adam," the poems celebrate "the manly love of comrades." Calamus is a hardy and aromatic kind of grass or rush, often called sweet flag.

Who is now reading this?

May-be one is now reading this who knows some wrong-doing of my past life,

Or may-be a stranger is reading this who has secretly loved me,

Or may-be one who meets all my grand assumptions and egotisms with derision,

Or may-be one who is puzzled at me.

As if I were not puzzled at myself!

Or as if I never deride myself! (O conscience-struck! O self-convicted!)

Or as if I do not secretly love strangers! (O tenderly, a long time, and never avow it;)

Or as if I did not see, perfectly well, interior in myself, the stuff of wrong-doing,

Or as if it could cease transpiring from me until it must cease.

Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

A Father Who Trusts in the Lord

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,

whose confidence is in Him.

(Jeremiah 17:7)

"But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD,

     whose confidence is in him.

They will be like a tree planted by the water

     that sends out its roots by the stream'

It does not fear when heat comes;

     its leaves are always green.

It has no worries in a year of drought

     and never fails to bear fruit."

(The Bible, New International Version: Jeremiah 17:7-8)

Competition: Runners

THE RUNNER

On a flat road runs the well-train'd runner,

He is lean and sinewy with muscular legs;

He is thinly clothed; he leans forward as he runs;

With lightly closed fists and arms partially rais'd.

Walt Whitman

I can be precise about the day it began. It was December 10, 1974. That was the day I met Billy Sive, and he asked me to coach him.

So begins Patricia Nell Warren's novel The Front Runner (1974), a landmark classic novel that is the most celebrated gay love story of all time. As the back cover of Wildcat Press's 20th Anniversary Edition of that novel says, "Harlan Brown is a tough, conservative track coach -- hiding from his past at a small college. Billy Sive is a brilliant young runner who is homosexual -- and doesn't mind who knows it. When they fall in love, they will enter a race against hate and prejudice that takes them to the '76 Olympics and a shocking, shattering conclusion." To read more about the novel The Front Runner, click here.

Easter, the Day of Resurrection: Mary Magdalene

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

John 20:11-16

But Mary stood without at the sepulcher weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulcher, and saw two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And they said unto her, "Woman, why weepest thou?" She said unto them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him." And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.

Jesus said unto her, "Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou?" She, supposing him to be the gardener, said unto him, "Sir, if thou hast borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away." Jesus said unto her, "Mary." She turned herself, and said unto him, . . . "Master." 

Mary Magdalene

by Richard Burton

At dawn she sought the Saviour slain,

To kiss the spot where he had lain

And weep warm tears, like springtime rain;

When lo, there stood, unstained of death,

A man that spoke with low sweet breath;

And "Master!" Mary answereth.

From out the far and fragrant years

How sweeter than the songs of seers

That tender offering of tears!

Monday in Holy Week

MONDAY IN HOLY WEEK

by Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)

"The Voice of my Beloved."

Once I ached for thy dear sake:

Wilt thou cause Me now to ache?

Once I bled for thee in pain:

Wilt thou rend My Heart again?

Crown of thorns and shameful tree,

Bitter death I bore for thee,

Bore My Cross to carry thee,

And wilt thou have nought of Me?

Salt Water: A Puzzle

"There's room in the world for one historical folk-rock singer to make a decent living, and I happen to be it." So said a famous Scottish musician the letters of whose first and last names can be rearranged to form the phrase SALT WATER. What are that historical folk-rock singer's first and last names?

The answer to this puzzle is here and in the music video below.