"There are no rules of architecture
for a castle in the clouds." ~ G.K. Chesterton



Where I come from, the day after Labor Day was -- ironically -- the hottest day of the year. But the recent heat wave was mercifully short, and when I went out last night before bed to look at the sky, you could feel both rain and change in the air. The brief rainfall gave way this morning to a glorious sky ... much like this ...

When I ate supper last night, it was still a hot, dry summer. This morning, it's delightfully cool and ... simply ... autumn. And a gorgeous autumn I hope it will be in my castle in the clouds.

How can I keep my soul in line, so that it doesn't touch
your soul?
How can I raise it high enough, past you, to other things?
I would like to shelter it, among remote lost objects,
In some dark and silent place that doesn't resonate
when your depths resound.
Yet everythng that touches us, me and you,
takes us together like a violin's bow,
which draws one voice out of two separate strings.
Upon what instrument are we two spanned?
And what musician holds us in his hand?
Oh, sweetest song.

❦ Rainer Maria Rilke (Love Song)

Much have I traveled in the realms of gold,
And many goodly states and kingdoms seen;
Round many western islands have I been
Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold ....

❦ John Keats (On First Looking Into Chapman's Homer)

I cannot help it,
I couldn't stop it if I tried,
The same old heartbeat fills the emptiness I have inside,
And I've heard that you can't fight love so I won't complain
'Cause why would I stop the fire that keeps me going on ....

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where
I love you directly without problems or pride;
I love you like this because I don't know any other way to love,
except in this form in which I am not nor are you,
so close that your hand upon my chest is mine,
so close that your eyes close with my dreams.