Youthopia

I'd like to write a poem about my youth

A thing so sweet and pure

It brings tears to my eyes

Sometimes

I'd like to write a poem about my youth

But maybe I should leave out all the pain

The angry blows that fell upon my back

The days of biking to school through the freezing rain

I'd like to write a poem about my youth

Of days when innocence had long been lost

And love was but a dream I had read in books

And dreams were, like my Barbie dolls,

Into the attic tossed.

I'd like to write a poem about my youth

Of days when hope awoke with the shining sun,

But then was crushed at breakfast with an angry word

And another day of misery was begun.

I'd like to write a poem about my youth

A common youth that I'd like to forget

But still lingers, souring my soul-

I wonder, why are my cheeks still wet?

-Unknown

Dracula

This book by Bram Stoker is a masterpiece in the true sense. I just can't stop reading it! I must have read like about 50 times! It traces the journey of a London lawyer, who has to go and see Count Dracula in his castle. The count wants to buy a property in London, but why one so old, that too near the gravyard? Why does the Count jump at Jonathan's throat when he sees blood? Why is he afraid of the crucifix? Why can't Jonathan see his reflection in the mirror? How can the Count control wolves and rats like he were their master? Why does the old lady at the inn hesitant and afraid of the Count? Soon Jonathan learns the truth and wants to go back, but the Count does not let him go. What can he do, trapped in the power of this evil? Worse still, the power of the Count reaches him to London where his beloved Mina and her friend Lucy are affected. Simply unputdownable! According to me, a must read.

Of yore 'twas my one earnest prayer unto heaven

from the ranks of ascetics no more to be barred,

But now that such glory to me has been given,

O why should the form of my visage be marred?

The end is accomplished, my task is now done,

The prince once my foe is no longer estranged,

But now that the fame I so envied has been won,

O why should the form of my visage be changed?

When joy turns to sorrow, and weal becomes woe,

Patient souls even pleasure may soring from their pain,

But no such distinction of feeling they know,

When the calm of nirvana poor mortals attain.

- Jataka Tales

Robinson Crusoe

Today's book is the wonderful classic of Robinson Crusoe, written by Daniel Defoe. The sole survivor of a shipwreck, Robinson Crusoe gets stranded on an uninhabited island far from any shipping routes. At first he is in despair, but slowly, with patience and ingenity, he transforms his dismal island into a tropical paradise. But for 24 years he has no human company- until one Friday, he rescues a prisoner from a boatload of cannibals. Now he must choose- to live his life as he is living now on a lonely island or go back to the place he was born in.