Haaave you met.............??

Introductions... It's all about that first moment. I'm not talking about the first time you meet someone . ( I refer to immaterial things here ) I'm talking about the first time you actually realize the 'essence' of something... Anything. Which probably later on grows to play a very substantial part in your life...your persona even.  And for that, just one "real" introduction is usually enough. Enough to make it a part of you.

Since i can remember, I've always been pulled in by books (strictly fiction mind you)... the pictures, the characters, the smell. Yes, the smell, especially the old ones that have gone yellow. I'm sure my fellow book wormies will relate to what i'm trying to say here. Books have a world of their own. And it's very easy to get sucked into it. I still remember the day i borrowed my first copy of Enid Blyton from the school library. Oh what a read! I completely owe it to her for getting me addicted to reading. So "she" was my real introduction to books.

I remember being an overt cynic about people who booze. Occasional cravings, i understand. But i could just never figure out why some of the thirsty souls, had these overwhelming desire to get drunk, only to do things you're sure to regret later. Throw up or pass out or even worse, both! Be a pain in the ass (pardon the language) for the other sober people along, who apparently come with the intention of having a fun weekend after a long hard working week, NOT to clean up your mess and apologize to strangers for your dorky behavior. Okay! So the cynic in me has not yet fully recovered, but alcohol doesn't even taste that good! Or so i'd thought... until i found my "Introduction". Hail 'Barman's Pitcher'! (Nonetheless, spare me the spews and lech drunkards!)

The reason that prompted me to write this post is my new-est 'Introduction'... Poems! Ya ya.. i know. But seriously, i must've read some hundred poems, since i can remember, but none managed to really affect me the way they're supposed to. I could never feel the soul or the romance in them. Until i met Elizabeth Barrett Browning. She makes me want to read every of her poems over and over again... There's an innocence and downright honesty about her work which kind of pulls at my heartstrings. Nothing too sophisticated that's aimed to impress, just a collection of random passing thoughts. I've just started reading her, and every poem keeps getting added to my favorites' list. Nonetheless, i'd like to share a specific one i sooo relate to...

                           All are not taken; there are left behind
                           Living Beloveds, tender looks to bring 
                           And make the daylight still a happy thing,
                           And tender voices, to make soft the wind:
                           But if it were not so- if i could find  
                           No love in all this world for comforting,
                           Nor any path but hollowly did ring
                           Where 'dust to dust' the love from life disjoin'd;
                           And if, before those sepulchres unmoving
                           I stood alone (as some forsaken lamb
                           Goes bleating up the moors in weary dearth)
                           Crying,'Where are ye, O my loved and loving?'
                           I know a voice would sound, 'Daughter, I AM.
                           Can i suffice for Heaven and not for earth?'
                           -Elizabeth Barrett Browning


Life goes on... You'll keep working or studying, do your daily chores, look after family, worry about your children. But your Introductions to life is what gives meaning to it.
So what have you been introduced to lately??