A Poem for your pleasure:

Going for Water

by Robert Frost

The well was dry beside the door,  

  And so we went with pail and can  

Across the fields behind the house  

  To seek the brook if still it ran;  

  

Not loth to have excuse to go,

  Because the autumn eve was fair  

(Though chill), because the fields were ours,  

  And by the brook our woods were there.  

  

We ran as if to meet the moon  

  That slowly dawned behind the trees,

The barren boughs without the leaves,  

  Without the birds, without the breeze.  

  

But once within the wood, we paused  

  Like gnomes that hid us from the moon,  

Ready to run to hiding new

  With laughter when she found us soon.  

  

Each laid on other a staying hand  

  To listen ere we dared to look,  

And in the hush we joined to make  

  We heard, we knew we heard the brook. 

  

A note as from a single place,  

  A slender tinkling fall that made  

Now drops that floated on the pool  

  Like pearls, and now a silver blade.

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    I was planning on using a poem by Shel Silverstein for this exercise but - unfortunately - almost all of our books are packed up for moving. So I searched instead for a majestic and intriguing poem by Robert Frost or similar author on the internet, and came up with this. 

    

    In order to receive the full effect of this poem, I read it many times - each time enjoying and understanding it a little more. The perspective of the poem is that of a group of younger children, sent to fetch water from the brook in the woods. It is a great adventure for them, and they run 'as if to meet the moon' - meaning they ran hard and fast as if they had a very long distance to go. I love this poem mostly because of how big Frost has made this simple little task seem, as it was to the group of children. For them it went beyond the normal household chores such as sweeping out the rooms or bringing in firewood to heat the house. It was a task specially given to them - a task that took them beyond the home, and into the magical, open, and free space of the forest. His title makes the job seem minimal and simple to an older mind, but in his poem he makes it clear that fetching the water is much more than that. Overall, I think Robert Frost's presentation of point of view on this subject was outstanding, and accurate. 

The Annoying, Un-decisive Older Sister

"LIV {Clodia to her brother.}


         Don't come here, Brainless. I don't wish to see anyone. I am completely happy as I am"...(insert her various lame reasons for happiness in life)
   
  Later on in the document:
        " Come to Nettuno, Publius. I cannot endure this any longer, but I am not yet ready to come to town.
           For the sake of heaven, come and don't bring anybody with you."
Still later in the document:
        " I hope this letter fails to reach you and that you are already on your way. If not, start at once"
                                                           ~taken from, The Ides of March, by Thornton Wilder
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                     When I fist read this passage, I laughed hysterically! It is important to know that Clodia is thought to have been the older sibling in this scenario. I didn't include all the text - the document is pretty long. But it seems that after relaying to her brother why he needn't come as she is 'completely happy' she convinces herself that she really does need her little brother, and things are not okay.
                     As an older sibling myself, I often find that talking things through with someone often makes you do a double-take on your motive. For example, I corresponded with a classmate this afternoon on the phone about what our strategy is for an upcoming assignment we are doing. Talking with him for a length of time definitely helped me understand what my own point of view was on the matter.
                    Overall, I think this passage is proof that sometimes we may think we've convinced ourselves of something, when really it's best for us to talk it out. In doing this, we often find out more about ourselves.