Beauty Of life

As I thought more and more about what to write this week all I could think about were the opening lines of “Song Of Myself”:

“I celebrate myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.”

These are by far the most well known lines of the entire poem and to me signify the meaning of the poem. Whitman was a man obsessed with the beauty of life, of everyone’s life. As I read these lines over and over I thought more and more about the poem ” The Laughing Heart” by Charles Bukowski. It is one of m favorite poems and starts out with statement that has a similar sentiment, in my opinion:

“Your life is your life”

Both of these poems try to emphasize how important it is for an individual to appreciate themselves through promoting an understanding of the beauty of life as well how one must be proactive in controlling its direction. I feel that while Whitman and Bukowksi are vastly different people who  viewed the world through two separate points of view they both would agree that life is a precious and beautiful commodity that many people waste through inaction and low self esteem. I’ll end by inserting the full poem as well as a video of Tom waits (Who wrote the song my blog is named after) reading the poem.

The Laughing Heart

your life is your life
don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission.
be on the watch.
there are ways out.
there is a light somewhere.
it may not be much light but
it beats the darkness.
be on the watch.
the gods will offer you chances.
know them.
take them.
you can’t beat death but
you can beat death in life, sometimes.
and the more often you learn to do it,
the more light there will be.
your life is your life.
know it while you have it.
you are marvelous
the gods wait to delight
in you.

Please enable Javascript and Flash to view this Flash video.