Joie de Vivre

ONE SINGLE IMPRESSION

http://onesingleimpression.blogspot.com/2010/09/prompt-134-joie-de-vivre.html

JOIE DE VIVRE!

'The Joy of living!' That sounds staid!

But say it in French and you've got it made!

I wonder if 'Le Weekend' sounds pretty good

To the French when it is understood.

Language is strange; some things catch-on;

Others are said but 'Phtt!' they're gone!

'Cul de Sac'! Now there's a phrase!

'Dead-end' was better in many ways,

But someone, somewhere, said 'Cul-de-sac'

And that foreign phrase just never looked back!

An idea that spreads is called a meme,

(Richard Dawkins favourite theme.)

'Waving goodbye' was a meme that spread;

We all followed where someone led.

'Joie-de-vivre' must have sounded right

Having caught the spirit of delight.

So now I say it and so do you!

'The Joy of Living' just will not do.

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PHANTOM MEMORIES

Memories elude us.

They are like

Dot-to-dot pictures

And we cannot quite

Join the numbers.

We think we remember,

But the edges of the memory blur.

Photographs deceive.

They fool our memories.

Our brains

Register a picture,

Nothing more.

'Do you remember?'

We say.

But how can he recall

What I recall?

He wasn't there.

Oh, he was in the room,

But he wasn't there in my place,

Looking through my eyes,

Feeling my emotions.

He looked East.

I looked West.

How can we share a memory?

Sometimes a colour does it!

Suddenly, a fabric

Brings everything into focus.

We are there again.

It is unsettling.

Music does it sometimes.

When I hear Paul McCartney's 'Yesterday'

The nostalgia

Overwhelms me.

But I am deluded once again.

Those are his memories,

Not mine.

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