On Turning Ten ~ Billy CollinsThe whole idea of it makes me feellike I'm coming down with something,something worse than any stomach acheor the headaches I get from reading in bad

light--a kind of measles of the spirit,a mumps of the psyche,a disfiguring chicken pox of the soul. You tell me it is too early to be looking back,but that is because you have forgottenthe perfect simplicity of being oneand the beautiful complexity introduced by

two.But I can lie on my bed and remember every

digit.At four I was an Arabian wizard.I could make myself invisibleby drinking a glass of milk a certain way.At seven I was a soldier, at nine a prince.

But now I am mostly at the windowwatching the late afternoon light.Back then it never fell so solemnlyagainst the side of my tree house,and my bicycle never leaned against the garageas it does today,all the dark blue speed drained out of it.

This is the beginning of sadness, I say to myself,as I walk through the universe in my sneakers.It is time to say good-bye to my imaginary friends,time to turn the first big number. It seems only yesterday I used to believethere was nothing under my skin but light.If you cut me I could shine.But now when I fall upon the sidewalks of life,I skin my knees. I bleed.

Palliative Approach to Wound-care

Some basic principles

• Prevent it, if it can be prevented;• If dry – moisten it;• If wet – dry it;• If sticky – it might be painful;• If malodorous – consider infection.

Other wounds

• Fungating mass:– The young man who always wore trousers

• Eroding mass:– The marine and anatomy lesson

This comes from a children’s book by Lemony Snicket “Dewey was wrong when he said that being noble enough is all we can ask for in thisworld, because we can ask for much more than that. We can ask for a second helping of pound cake, even though someone has made it quite clear that we

will not get any. We can ask for a new watercolor set, even though it will be pointed out that we never usedthe old one, and that all of the paints dried into a crumbly mess. We can ask for Japanese fighting fish, to keep us company in our bedroom, and we can ask for a special

camera that will allow us to take photographs even in the dark, for obvious reasons, and we can ask for an extra sugar cube in our coffees in the morning and an extra pillow in our beds at night.

We can ask for justice, and we can ask for a handkerchief, and we can ask for cupcakes, and we can ask for all the soldiers in the world to lay down their weapons and join us in a rousing chorus of “Cry me a River” if that happens to be our favorite song.

But we can also ask for something we are much more likely to get, and that is to find aperson or two, somewhere in our travels, who will tell us that we are noble enough, whether it is true

or not. We can ask for someone who will say, ‘You are noble enough,’ and remind us of our good qualities

when we have forgotten them, or cast them into doubt.”

RumiLove is reckless, not reason;

reason seeks a profit. Love comes on strong,

consuming herself, unabashed.

Yet, in the midst of suffering, Love proceeds like a millstone,

hard surfaced and straightforward.

Having died of self-interest, she risks everything and asks for nothing.

Love gambles away every gift God bestows.

Without cause God gave us Being. Without cause, give it back again.