Wine, poetry, and chocolate

Last night we invited some friends (Marty and Laura) over for dinner. Erik made his incredible "Cookbook Cover Chicken" - it's soooooooooo beautiful and yummy, along with some roasted potatoes, and steamed asparagus. I made a spinach salad and a lemon puff pastry dessert. Throughout the evening we shared 2 and a half bottles of vino, 2 beers, a pot of decaf coffee, and some hot tea.

After dinner we retired to the living room and discussed topics of interest to us such as current employment issues we're all facing, family, moving, home ownership, hopes, dreams, and then concluded with some poetry. During this time I brought out some chocolates. Wine, poetry, and chocolate along with good friends makes for a very enjoyable evening. I can't wait to do it again!

Here is just a sample of the poems that were read last night:

The Moron - Author Unknown

See the happy moron,
He doesn't give a damn!
I wish I were a moron-
My God! Perhaps I am!


It Couldn't Be Done - Edgar Guest

Somebody said that it couldn't be done,
But he with a chuckle replied
That "maybe it couldn't," but he would be one
Who wouldn't say so till he'd tried.
So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn't be done, and he did it.

Somebody scoffed: "Oh, you'll never do that;
At least no one ever had done it";
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat,
And the first thing we knew he'd begun it.
With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn't be done, and he did it.

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
There are thousands to prophesy failure;
There are thousands to point out to you, one by one,
The dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle in with a bit of a grin,
Just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start to sing as you tackle the thing
That "cannot be done," and you'll do it.


The Inner Man - Plato

Beauty depends on simplicity - I mean the true simplicity
of a rightly and nobly ordered mind and character.
He is a fool who seriously inclines to weigh the beautiful by
any other standard than that of the good.
The good is the beautiful.
Grant me to be beautiful in the inner man.


One Year to Live - Mary Davis Reed

If I had but one year to live;
One year to help; one year to give;
One year to love; one year to bless;
One year of better things to stress;
One year to sing; one year to smile
To brighten earth a little while;
I think that I would spend each day,
In just the very self-same way
That I do now. For from afar
The call may come to cross the bar
At any time, and I must be
Prepared to meet eternity.
So if I have a year to live,
Or just a day in which to give
A pleasant smile, a helping hand,
A mind that tries to understand
A fellow-creature when in need,
'Tis one with me; -- I take no heed;
But try to live each day He sends
To serve my gracious Master's ends.