these just seemed appropriate...

quote of the day: "Make it too tough for the enemy to get in and you can't get out."

DEDICATION from FAUST
The transient wraiths that filled my troubled brain
In former time, present themselves a-new.
Shall vision try to capture them again?
Shall fancy find the ecstasy it knew?
They crowd on me! So, good, let them remain:
The whisperings of wizardly pursue
These paths where they emerge from vaporous mist
And startle youth awake within my breast.

They bring with them the forms of halcyon days:
The shades of many whom I loved are here,
Like ancient music from forgotten lays
First-love and friendships formed in youth appear.
Pain is revived as I retrace the ways
Of life's sad labyrinthine mad career,
Naming the noble souls whom darkness claimed
From happiness, whose cheating fortunes waned.

The souls who heard my early measures climb
Shall never hear the sequel that I bring.
The comradeship is now dispersed and Time
Has muffled every early echo's ring.
Unknown attenders hear the woes I rhyme:
Though they applaud, I'm still afraid to sing.
If those who once enjoyed my poem's birth
Live still, they wander scattered over earth.

A longing, long-resisted year by year,
To walk that solemn spirit-realm again
Holds me. Elusive music fills my ear,
The Aeolian harp of song half-forms its strain,
Yet terror chills me still, tear follows tear
And strength of heart is mollified in pain:
All I possess seems distant and I see
All that I lost as true reality.