Friday, May 22, 2009

Astonishment

Astonishment


1. The condition of one who is stunned. Hence: Numbness; loss of sensation; stupor; loss of sense.
2. Dismay; consternation.
3. The overpowering emotion excited when something unaccountable, wonderful, or dreadful is presented to the mind; an intense degree of surprise; amazement.
4. The object causing such an emotion.


Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary,
© 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.





"Explanation separates us from astonishment, which is the only gateway
to the incomprehensible."

(Eugene Ionesco)






What Lips My Lips Have Kissed, And Where, And Why (Sonnet XLIII)

What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why,
I have forgotten, and what arms have lain
Under my head till morning; but the rain
Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh
Upon the glass and listen for reply,
And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain
For unremembered lads that not again
Will turn to me at midnight with a cry.
Thus in winter stands the lonely tree,
Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,
Yet knows its boughs more silent than before:
I cannot say what loves have come and gone,
I only know that summer sang in me
A little while, that in me sings no more.

Edna St. Vincent Millay