Last thing on this topic I will ever discuss in this journal.

“Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded with patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader, and gladly so. How do I know? For this is what I have done. And I am Caesar."

-- Julius Caesar on Patriotism

Last thing on this topic I will ever discuss in this journal.

“Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded with patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader, and gladly so. How do I know? For this is what I have done. And I am Caesar."

-- Julius Caesar on Patriotism

I took another walk tonight.

Sometimes that song that the stars sing
Grows to big; it is too much
For only one person to handle
And when it overflows
Into something else
Sometimes it is beautiful
Always it is a relief

(Oh anything
Just keep my mind off of it
Thinking how I had you once
No, I can't forget that
Sometimes I wish
I could lose you again)

And then I realize
When everything is over, said and done and
Buried in the recent past
And distant memory
Sometimes I am more alone
Then I was in the first place

Sometimes that far away music
Chords plucked by unseen fingers of long forgotten constellations
Whose resonance leaves me trembling and still
It grows to be too much
It becomes too much
For one lonely person to take
And it’s so very, very hard
Not to bow and break
Under that delightful pressure

I took another walk tonight.

Sometimes that song that the stars sing
Grows to big; it is too much
For only one person to handle
And when it overflows
Into something else
Sometimes it is beautiful
Always it is a relief

(Oh anything
Just keep my mind off of it
Thinking how I had you once
No, I can't forget that
Sometimes I wish
I could lose you again)

And then I realize
When everything is over, said and done and
Buried in the recent past
And distant memory
Sometimes I am more alone
Then I was in the first place

Sometimes that far away music
Chords plucked by unseen fingers of long forgotten constellations
Whose resonance leaves me trembling and still
It grows to be too much
It becomes too much
For one lonely person to take
And it’s so very, very hard
Not to bow and break
Under that delightful pressure