Sir Launfal and his search for the Holy Grail. Good stuff.

When I lived in Kansas City, I lived in an area of the Plaza called Poet's Corner. It was a grouping of 5 or 6 1920's apartment buildings that were each named after a different American poet. My building was "The Lowell" in honor of James Russell Lowell.

I'd never heard of him.

At the time, of course, I wasn't exactly a huge fan of poetry:)

During an American Lit class late in my college career, I was introduced to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. I immediately recognized his name as the inspiration for the apartment building next door to my own. It was a pleasant surprise to discover that I actually liked some of Longfellow's poems. I won't claim they spoke to me but they, at the very least, made sense to me.

This discovery started a cautious and limited friendship with poetry. I even went as far as to buy a volume of Longfellow's work. Out of a kind of loyalty, I halfheartedly searched for a similar volume by James Russell Lowell. I was unsuccessful on my initial attempt and haven't put forth any additional effort since.

5 plus years later while choosing a birthday card for a friend, I recently came across the following Lowell quote:

. . . Whether we look, or whether we listen,
We hear life murmur, or see it glisten . . .

I wasn't looking. Or listening. But I saw it, then I heard it. And ya know what? I kinda liked it.