To-night the west o’er-brims with warmest dyes; Its chalice overflows With pools of purple colouring the skies, Aflood with gold and rose; And some hot soul seems throbbing close to mine, As sinks the sun within that world of wine.
II.
I seem to hear a bar of music float And swoon into the west; My ear can scarcely catch the whispered note, But something in my breast Blends with that strain, till both accord in one, As cloud and colour blend at set of sun.
III.
And twilight comes with grey and restful eyes, As ashes follow flame. But O! I heard a voice from those rich skies Call tenderly my name; It was as if some priestly fingers stole In benedictions o’er my lonely soul.
IV.
I know not why, but all my being longed And leapt at that sweet call; My heart outreached its arms, all passion thronged And beat against Fate’s wall, Crying in utter homesickness to be Near to a heart that loves and leans to me.
This poem is in the public domain
No Copyright Music – Chill Lo-Fi hip hop beat FREE music by LAKEY INSPIRED (Copyright Free Music)
Fair river! in thy bright, clear flow Of crystal, wandering water, Thou art an emblem of the glow Of beauty, the unhidden heart, The playful maziness of art In old Alberto’s daughter;
II.
But when within thy wave she looks, Which glistens then, and trembles, Why, then, the prettiest of brooks Her worshiper resembles; For in his heart, as in thy stream, Her image deeply lies, His heart which trembles at the beam Of her soul-searching eyes.
This poem is in the public domain
No Copyright Music – Chill Lo-Fi hip hop beat FREE music by LAKEY INSPIRED (Copyright Free Music)
She Walks in Beauty By George Gordon Byron – 1788-1824
I.
She walks in beauty, like the night Of cloudless climes and starry skies; And all that’s best of dark and bright Meet in her aspect and her eyes: Thus mellowed to that tender light Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
II.
One shade the more, one ray the less, Had half impaired the nameless grace Which waves in every raven tress, Or softly lightens o’er her face; Where thoughts serenely sweet express How pure, how dear their dwelling place.
III.
And on that cheek, and o’er that brow, So soft, so calm, yet eloquent, The smiles that win, the tints that glow, But tell of days in goodness spent, A mind at peace with all below, A heart whose love is innocent!
Written June 12, 1814. This poem is in the public domain
Music – Instrumental Piano and Violin [Copyright Free Music] – ‘Luz de Luna’ by Juan Sánchez
John Hoyte began flying in 1976 on unpressurised aircraft until 1989 when he changed to fly Bae-British Aerospace 146 jets with pressurized ‘bleed air’ for safety and good long term stability with TNT on night freight flying. He suddenly experienced debilitating ill health in the spring of 1990 which he put down to night flying and told no one for fear of losing his job. He left night flying in 1998 as he was burnt out and experienced severe neurological symptoms of memory & poor speech and decided to begin day flying on the BAe 146 for Flybe. By then he was more like a vegetable but he still told no one as he needed his job.
The mystery ill health intensified until 2004/5 when he failed safe by walking off airliners as a BAe 146 Training Captain rather than risk his passengers’ lives as he was burnt out and unfit to fly.
In early 2006 he was tested along with 26 other BALPA Union pilots by University College London – all of whom (100%) had a cocktail of chemicals in their blood /fat including organophosphates and poor cognition.
On 22nd May 2006 JH made a formal Statement that he had been poisoned by organophosphate and other chemicals.
On 18th June 2007 he founded the Aerotoxic Association to help other survivors and the website www.aerotoxic.org continues to support others around the world with unsupported financial gain.
Their objectives of forcing airlines to filter ‘bleed air’, monitor the poisonous air and change to safer oil have been successful as Easyjet have been in a Paris criminal Court since 2016 and by the time of the 13th Annual Cabin Air conference in September 2019, it will be the first airline in the world to fit all of the known and available solutions, yet governments and regulators still claim ‘no positive evidence’.
Dan Flanigan is a novelist, poet, playwright, and practicing lawyer. Born and raised in Kansas City, Kansas, he received his Ph.D. from Rice University and J.D. from University of Houston. After a teaching stint at UVA, he returned home to work on the original Kansas City School Desegregation case. Later, he entered private practice, became a name partner at Polsinelli, created and chaired its Real Estate & Financial Services Department for two decades, and established their NYC office where he remains managing partner.
Taking a break from law from 1983 to 1985, he and his wife, Candy, founded Sierra Tucson, a prominent drug treatment center located in Tucson, Arizona.
Dan’s recently published novel, Mink Eyes, is set in 1986 in a place very much like Kansas City and the Missouri Ozarks. Dan intends to bring this group of characters from the 1980’s through the present day. He has developed screenplay version of Mink Eyes as well as pilot for a TV series called O’Keefe.
Dan’s other publications include Tenebrae: A Memoir of Love and Death, a poetry collection dealing with the illness and death of his wife, and Dewdrops, a collection of short fiction. He has also written several plays: Secrets (based on Eleanor Marx, Karl Marx’s daughter, a social and political force in her own right in late Victorian England); Moondog’s Progress (based on Alan Freed, the disc jockey who “discovered” and was the major original promoter of rock n roll);and Dewdrops, a tragedy set in a drug and alcohol treatment center (this received a staged reading at the Theatre of the Open Eye in New York).
His inspirations include J.S. Bach, Shakespeare, Rumi, Bob Dylan, Secretariat (yes, the horse), Joseph Campbell, Turgenev, Yeats, Joyce, Robert Stone, and E.L. Doctorow.
He has also co-authored several books about business, finance, and real estate. He enjoys theater and believes in doing what’s best for the planet. He has a particular interest in orcas.
Join me and Dan on my podcast “The 3 Pillars” on Wednesday 13 May…
Dan Flanigan is a novelist, poet, playwright and a practicing lawyer in Kansas City and New York. He has also co-authored several books about business, finance & real estate.