She quoteth Shakespeare

     Come, night; come, Romeo; come, thou day in night;
     For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night
     Whiter than new snow on a raven's back.
     Come, gentle night, come, loving, black-brow'd night,
     Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die,
     Take him and cut him out in little stars,
     And he will make the face of heaven so fine
     That all the world will be in love with night
     And pay no worship to the garish sun.
     O, I have bought the mansion of a love,
     But not possess'd it, and, though I am sold,
     Not yet enjoy'd: so tedious is this day
     As is the night before some festival
     To an impatient child that hath new robes.

I recited this piece in junior high school for extra credit and got a fair grade on it, bolstering my English class grade to above an A. What a good student (a.k.a. kiss-up) I was! I read it with as much feeling as I could muster at that age, never having had a specific person in mind, never having experienced even slightly the degree of emotion that a Juliet could have encountered while speaking this way. I recited it with sufficient rhythm to make my teacher smile and pat my on the head. That was enough for me at the time.

Now, as I reread this selection, I want to sing the words aloud and dance in a circle around my desk. Oh how mere words can claim one's soul and wrench a heart from the confines of its chest!

Have I ever felt passion before? Of this I cannot be sure. Have I ever reveled in my own madness and laughed boldfaced in the onslaught of obstacles hurled at me from all possible directions? I do now.

I can no longer contain what has built up inside me and what threatens to seep out through the seams of my sanity. I will emerge a new being, yet I hope to maintain all this love, all this pure energy, and direct it towards what inspires it. I only hope that its source can not only support this newfound excitement, but regenerate it into something fruitful and everlasting. Until then, I count the days with eager and unrestrained anticipation.

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