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(Apropos of Halloween)

The last sad note hath died away
Of the pealing organ’s sound;
The priest hath said his parting say,
And left the dead with chaplets crowned.

What dead? Upon that bier of roses
Is it a maid in beauty’s bloom?
Or wife, beloved, that there reposes
Calm amid that sepulchral gloom?

The victor chief of hard-earned fight-
His warfare o’er-may there be laid?
Some gallant youth in manhood’s might,
Or monarch that a sceptre swayed?

Ah, no! It is a cherub head-
A babe, a babe, a mother’s joy!
Breathe softly, oh, then softly tread,
There’s angel beauty in the boy!

“Fair of all fairest things most fair-
He in our heart of hearts was cherished;
On earth sent like a falling star,
As fleeting in its brightness perished.

“The bright-eyed fawn, at gleesome play,
Is blithesome: thus my prattler wild;
The glorious morn of coming day
Gives promise to my death-crowned child.

“My bud of beauty, and now here,”
Wildly spoke a mother, weeping.
A miracle has touched the bier,
The baby is not dead but sleeping!

He woke! and raised his hands to clasp
The flowery wreaths around him lying;
When she her living joy did grasp,
The mother, not the boy was dying.

(Godey’s Lady’s Book and Magazine, 1866)

Há uma luz em cada sorriso
há uma nova chance em cada sorriso
há um espaço em cada sorriso
há uma possibilidade de progresso em cada sorriso
Não importa a natureza da sua dor
Ela se desvanecerá diante de um sorriso.

(Luiz Gasparetto)

PS: Amiga Raquel, obrigado pelo poema.

The missing “a” in Neil Armstrong’s famous transmission during the moon landing was found.  Without the “a“, “That’s one small step for man” implies mankind, bungling the meaning of the entire sentence.