The Ghost of a Flea by William Blake

"fleas were inhabited by the souls of such men 

as were by nature blood thirsty to excess."

William Blake

                                    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ghost_of_a_Flea

“There were no lions any more. There had been lions once. Sometimes in the shimmer of the heat on the plains the motion of their running still flickered on the dry wind — tawny, great, and quickly gone. Sometimes the honey-colored moon shivered to the silence of a ghost-roar on the rising air.” 

from The Lion of Boaz-Jachin and Jachin-Boaz

by Russell Hoban

The Past

I am ensnared currently, on the wheel of the past.

And the quote below is a good reminder,

to shake free of it.

"What I want to say is

that the past is the past,

and the present is what your life is, 

and you are capable 

of choosing what that will be, 

darling citizen." 

from Mornings at Blackwater Pond 

by Mary Oliver

"One morn I miss'd him on the custom'd hill, 

         Along the heath and near his fav'rite tree; 

Another came; nor yet beside the rill, 

         Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he; 

"The next with dirges due in sad array 

         Slow thro' the church-way path we saw him borne. 

Approach and read (for thou canst read) the lay, 

         Grav'd on the stone beneath yon aged thorn." 

from Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard

by Thomas Gray

"My heart is sad and I am in sorrow 

For the only one I love 

When shall I see him?

 Oh no, never, till we meet in heaven above"

from Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow Tree

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWp5ZpGvSJ8

Lessons

"What is the most important lesson life has taught you?"

"Nothing is just. Everything leads to something else."

from an interview with Jennifer Hudson in the Guardian.

Photo of the gate to Holly Village on the way to Highgate Cemetery.

http://www.victorianweb.org/art/architecture/darbishire/1.html

“Big Ben was beginning to strike, first the warning, musical; 

then the hour, irrevocable.” 

from Mrs Dalloway

by Virginia Woolf

“Our memories are like a city: we tear some structures down, 

and we use the rubble of the old to raise up the new ones.” 

from The City's Son

by Tom Pollock

We knew it was coming.

"With a host of furious fancies

Whereof I am commander,

With a burning spear and a horse of air,

To the wilderness I wander.

By a knight of ghosts and shadows

I summoned am to tourney

Ten leagues beyond the wide world's end::

Methinks it is no journey."

from Tom o' Bedlam

 anonymous

The Tourist

“It is difficult to speak adequately or justly of London.

It is not a pleasant place; it is not agreeable, or cheerful, 

or easy, or exempt from reproach. It is only magnificent.” 

Henry James

“As a cloud crosses the sun, silence falls on London; 

and falls on the mind. Effort ceases. Time flaps on the mast. 

There we stop; there we stand.” 

from Mrs. Dalloway

by Virginia Woolf

A New London Rising ?

“London has the trick of making its past, its long indelible past, 

always a part of its present. And for that reason it will always 

have meaning for the future, because of all it can teach about 

disaster, survival, and redemption. It is all there in the streets. 

It is all there in the books.” 

from Imaged London: A  Tour of the World's Greatest

Fictional City

by Anna Quindlen

So how can you tell me you're lonely, 

And say for you that the sun don't shine? 

Let me take you by the hand and lead you through 

the streets of London

I'll show you something to make you change your mind 

Ralph McTell; Streets of London Live

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Whv7MgepUQQ&list=RDWhv7MgepUQQ

Home again, home from our trip to London. 

"By seeing London, I have seen as much of life 

as the world can show."

Samuel Johnson