CelticStoic 🏴
@celticstoic.bsky.social
Chipping away at literature, history, and other interests, whilst navigating stormy seas and a lee shore. #WhitmanWednesday 🌾
Locus: New England & the abyss of MECFS / FQAD
🌤️Sol Omnibus Lucet
– Petronius
Locus: New England & the abyss of MECFS / FQAD
🌤️Sol Omnibus Lucet
– Petronius
Pinned
#WhitmanWednesday 🌾
"We carry our fresh air with us, wherever we go. He who has it, has it anywhere — nothing can rob him of it."
- Walt Whitman
From my wife's walk:
"We carry our fresh air with us, wherever we go. He who has it, has it anywhere — nothing can rob him of it."
- Walt Whitman
From my wife's walk:
More snow today❄️
"If you walk through a grove of balsam trees
You will notice that the young trees are silent; they are listening.
But the old tall ones—especially the firs—are whispering."
- Christopher Morley (1890-1957)
"If you walk through a grove of balsam trees
You will notice that the young trees are silent; they are listening.
But the old tall ones—especially the firs—are whispering."
- Christopher Morley (1890-1957)
February 7, 2026 at 8:19 PM
More snow today❄️
"If you walk through a grove of balsam trees
You will notice that the young trees are silent; they are listening.
But the old tall ones—especially the firs—are whispering."
- Christopher Morley (1890-1957)
"If you walk through a grove of balsam trees
You will notice that the young trees are silent; they are listening.
But the old tall ones—especially the firs—are whispering."
- Christopher Morley (1890-1957)
L'ENVOl, from Bar-Room Ballads
by Robert W. Service (aka "The Bard of the Yukon")
"I've come to know that storing health
Is better far than storing wealth;
That smug success has little worth
Beside the simple joys of earth;
[+]
🎨Northern Lights (1891) by Theodor Severin Kittelsen.
by Robert W. Service (aka "The Bard of the Yukon")
"I've come to know that storing health
Is better far than storing wealth;
That smug success has little worth
Beside the simple joys of earth;
[+]
🎨Northern Lights (1891) by Theodor Severin Kittelsen.
February 6, 2026 at 9:41 PM
L'ENVOl, from Bar-Room Ballads
by Robert W. Service (aka "The Bard of the Yukon")
"I've come to know that storing health
Is better far than storing wealth;
That smug success has little worth
Beside the simple joys of earth;
[+]
🎨Northern Lights (1891) by Theodor Severin Kittelsen.
by Robert W. Service (aka "The Bard of the Yukon")
"I've come to know that storing health
Is better far than storing wealth;
That smug success has little worth
Beside the simple joys of earth;
[+]
🎨Northern Lights (1891) by Theodor Severin Kittelsen.
"And through it all, with a serenity and certitude that was terrifying, continued to rise the form of that monster of the ages, the Oligarchy."
- Jack London, c. 1908
- Jack London, c. 1908
February 6, 2026 at 7:11 PM
"And through it all, with a serenity and certitude that was terrifying, continued to rise the form of that monster of the ages, the Oligarchy."
- Jack London, c. 1908
- Jack London, c. 1908
#TodaysPoem 🕊️
Each that we lose takes part of us;
A crescent still abides,
Which like the moon, some turbid night,
Is summoned by the tides.
- Emily Dickinson
Each that we lose takes part of us;
A crescent still abides,
Which like the moon, some turbid night,
Is summoned by the tides.
- Emily Dickinson
February 5, 2026 at 11:07 PM
#TodaysPoem 🕊️
Each that we lose takes part of us;
A crescent still abides,
Which like the moon, some turbid night,
Is summoned by the tides.
- Emily Dickinson
Each that we lose takes part of us;
A crescent still abides,
Which like the moon, some turbid night,
Is summoned by the tides.
- Emily Dickinson
"Times have changed since Christ's day. A rich man to-day who gives all he has to the poor is crazy. There is no discussion. Society has spoken."
- Jack London, c. 1908
- Jack London, c. 1908
February 5, 2026 at 3:10 PM
"Times have changed since Christ's day. A rich man to-day who gives all he has to the poor is crazy. There is no discussion. Society has spoken."
- Jack London, c. 1908
- Jack London, c. 1908
#WhitmanWednesday 🌾
"We carry our fresh air with us, wherever we go. He who has it, has it anywhere — nothing can rob him of it."
- Walt Whitman
From my wife's walk:
"We carry our fresh air with us, wherever we go. He who has it, has it anywhere — nothing can rob him of it."
- Walt Whitman
From my wife's walk:
February 4, 2026 at 6:24 PM
#WhitmanWednesday 🌾
"We carry our fresh air with us, wherever we go. He who has it, has it anywhere — nothing can rob him of it."
- Walt Whitman
From my wife's walk:
"We carry our fresh air with us, wherever we go. He who has it, has it anywhere — nothing can rob him of it."
- Walt Whitman
From my wife's walk:
"His spirit was too gentle. It had not been mighty enough to face the organized wolf-pack of society."
- Jack London (Ch. XII, The Bishop)
[+]
- Jack London (Ch. XII, The Bishop)
[+]
February 3, 2026 at 5:13 PM
"His spirit was too gentle. It had not been mighty enough to face the organized wolf-pack of society."
- Jack London (Ch. XII, The Bishop)
[+]
- Jack London (Ch. XII, The Bishop)
[+]
"You've merely got a foretaste of the Iron Heel."
- Chapter X, The Vortex
- Chapter X, The Vortex
February 3, 2026 at 4:44 PM
"You've merely got a foretaste of the Iron Heel."
- Chapter X, The Vortex
- Chapter X, The Vortex
Some relief today from the recent bitter cold...
From my wife's walk:
From my wife's walk:
February 2, 2026 at 10:05 PM
Some relief today from the recent bitter cold...
From my wife's walk:
From my wife's walk:
#MelvilleMonday
"And beauty is like piety—you cannot run and read it; tranquillity and constancy, with, now-a-days, an easy chair, are needed."
- Melville, The Piazza (1856)
[+]
"And beauty is like piety—you cannot run and read it; tranquillity and constancy, with, now-a-days, an easy chair, are needed."
- Melville, The Piazza (1856)
[+]
February 2, 2026 at 7:16 PM
#MelvilleMonday
"And beauty is like piety—you cannot run and read it; tranquillity and constancy, with, now-a-days, an easy chair, are needed."
- Melville, The Piazza (1856)
[+]
"And beauty is like piety—you cannot run and read it; tranquillity and constancy, with, now-a-days, an easy chair, are needed."
- Melville, The Piazza (1856)
[+]
#MelvilleMonday
For how, otherwise, could it have entered the builder's mind, that, upon the clearing being made, such a purple prospect would be his! — nothing less than Greylock, with all his hills about him, like Charlemagne among his peers.
- The Piazza
Mount Greylock, 1873, by Jesse Talbot.
For how, otherwise, could it have entered the builder's mind, that, upon the clearing being made, such a purple prospect would be his! — nothing less than Greylock, with all his hills about him, like Charlemagne among his peers.
- The Piazza
Mount Greylock, 1873, by Jesse Talbot.
February 2, 2026 at 4:32 PM
#MelvilleMonday
For how, otherwise, could it have entered the builder's mind, that, upon the clearing being made, such a purple prospect would be his! — nothing less than Greylock, with all his hills about him, like Charlemagne among his peers.
- The Piazza
Mount Greylock, 1873, by Jesse Talbot.
For how, otherwise, could it have entered the builder's mind, that, upon the clearing being made, such a purple prospect would be his! — nothing less than Greylock, with all his hills about him, like Charlemagne among his peers.
- The Piazza
Mount Greylock, 1873, by Jesse Talbot.
From the last snowstorm . . . angle of repose
February 1, 2026 at 6:18 PM
From the last snowstorm . . . angle of repose
When I drain life's glass
Of all its rainbow gleams,
The hapless plight of eternal night
Shall be none too long for my dreams.
- Jack London, c. 1908
[+]
Of all its rainbow gleams,
The hapless plight of eternal night
Shall be none too long for my dreams.
- Jack London, c. 1908
[+]
January 31, 2026 at 8:36 PM
When I drain life's glass
Of all its rainbow gleams,
The hapless plight of eternal night
Shall be none too long for my dreams.
- Jack London, c. 1908
[+]
Of all its rainbow gleams,
The hapless plight of eternal night
Shall be none too long for my dreams.
- Jack London, c. 1908
[+]
@yoonkim.bsky.social : So kind of you.🫶
January 30, 2026 at 9:20 PM
@yoonkim.bsky.social : So kind of you.🫶
"In Soapy's opinion the Law was more benign than Philanthropy. […] As Cæsar had his Brutus, every bed of charity must have its toll of a bath, every loaf of bread its compensation of a private and personal inquisition."
- O. Henry, c. 1904
- O. Henry, c. 1904
![Born William Sydney Porter in Greensboro, North Carolina, 1862.
Died in New York City, 1910.
📷 Porter, age 35 +/-, probably while residing in Texas. [Source: Corbis.]
Public domain.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:c7ex5lsw6ieo65txcbw7of2r/bafkreibdor3qub7jywgdzvipddnuprql3s5kz6x4gqoirhar5bfxb4kowe@jpeg)
January 30, 2026 at 5:49 PM
"In Soapy's opinion the Law was more benign than Philanthropy. […] As Cæsar had his Brutus, every bed of charity must have its toll of a bath, every loaf of bread its compensation of a private and personal inquisition."
- O. Henry, c. 1904
- O. Henry, c. 1904
Under a frosted canopy...gazing back in time
From my wife's walk:
From my wife's walk:
January 29, 2026 at 11:35 PM
Under a frosted canopy...gazing back in time
From my wife's walk:
From my wife's walk:
![• Frontispiece engraving of Walt Whitman [age 36] by Samuel Hollyer, based on a daguerreotype by Gabriel Harrison, for the first edition of Leaves of Grass, 1855, which was self-published.
• Source: Walt Whitman at the Lilly (curated by Christoph Irmscher), Indiana University Library, Bloomington.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:c7ex5lsw6ieo65txcbw7of2r/bafkreih5l35r7kiw3jedkb7cyvkb5qk5jaemyynf7qct53ue6m4fwbs5au@jpeg)
January 28, 2026 at 8:32 PM
#WhitmanWednesday 🌾
"You know how I shy at problems, duties, consciences: you seem to like to trip me with your pertinent impertinences."
- Whitman (to confidant and oral biographer, Horace Traubel)
"You know how I shy at problems, duties, consciences: you seem to like to trip me with your pertinent impertinences."
- Whitman (to confidant and oral biographer, Horace Traubel)
January 28, 2026 at 7:56 PM
#WhitmanWednesday 🌾
"You know how I shy at problems, duties, consciences: you seem to like to trip me with your pertinent impertinences."
- Whitman (to confidant and oral biographer, Horace Traubel)
"You know how I shy at problems, duties, consciences: you seem to like to trip me with your pertinent impertinences."
- Whitman (to confidant and oral biographer, Horace Traubel)
"Your teeth are pulled, gentlemen. Your claws are trimmed. In the day you rise in your strength, toothless and clawless, you will be as harmless as an army of clams."
- Jack London, c. 1908
- Jack London, c. 1908
January 27, 2026 at 8:38 PM
"Your teeth are pulled, gentlemen. Your claws are trimmed. In the day you rise in your strength, toothless and clawless, you will be as harmless as an army of clams."
- Jack London, c. 1908
- Jack London, c. 1908
#MelvilleMonday ⚡️
'Sir,' said I, bowing politely, 'have I the honor of a visit from that illustrious god, Jupiter Tonans? So stood he in the Greek statue of old, grasping the lightning-bolt. If you be he, or his viceroy, I have to thank you for this noble storm you have brewed among our mountains.'
'Sir,' said I, bowing politely, 'have I the honor of a visit from that illustrious god, Jupiter Tonans? So stood he in the Greek statue of old, grasping the lightning-bolt. If you be he, or his viceroy, I have to thank you for this noble storm you have brewed among our mountains.'
January 26, 2026 at 8:11 PM
#MelvilleMonday ⚡️
'Sir,' said I, bowing politely, 'have I the honor of a visit from that illustrious god, Jupiter Tonans? So stood he in the Greek statue of old, grasping the lightning-bolt. If you be he, or his viceroy, I have to thank you for this noble storm you have brewed among our mountains.'
'Sir,' said I, bowing politely, 'have I the honor of a visit from that illustrious god, Jupiter Tonans? So stood he in the Greek statue of old, grasping the lightning-bolt. If you be he, or his viceroy, I have to thank you for this noble storm you have brewed among our mountains.'
#MelvilleMonday
'Who has empowered you, you Tetzel, to peddle round your indulgences from divine ordinations? The hairs of our heads are numbered, and the days of our lives. […]
'Begone! move quickly! if quickly you can, you that shine forth into sight in moist times like the worm.'
'Who has empowered you, you Tetzel, to peddle round your indulgences from divine ordinations? The hairs of our heads are numbered, and the days of our lives. […]
'Begone! move quickly! if quickly you can, you that shine forth into sight in moist times like the worm.'
January 26, 2026 at 7:32 PM
#MelvilleMonday
'Who has empowered you, you Tetzel, to peddle round your indulgences from divine ordinations? The hairs of our heads are numbered, and the days of our lives. […]
'Begone! move quickly! if quickly you can, you that shine forth into sight in moist times like the worm.'
'Who has empowered you, you Tetzel, to peddle round your indulgences from divine ordinations? The hairs of our heads are numbered, and the days of our lives. […]
'Begone! move quickly! if quickly you can, you that shine forth into sight in moist times like the worm.'
January 25, 2026 at 4:55 PM
"Power will be the arbiter, as it always has been the arbiter. It is a struggle of classes. Just as your class dragged down the old feudal nobility, so shall it be dragged down by my class, the working class."
- Jack London, The Iron Heel (1908)
- Jack London, The Iron Heel (1908)
January 24, 2026 at 11:06 PM
"Power will be the arbiter, as it always has been the arbiter. It is a struggle of classes. Just as your class dragged down the old feudal nobility, so shall it be dragged down by my class, the working class."
- Jack London, The Iron Heel (1908)
- Jack London, The Iron Heel (1908)
"He smelled frankly of fish, which he loved to eat, and although he was missing a few teeth, his presence was not displeasing, because of an amiable manner curiously contrasted with mournful eyes."
- Bernard Malamud, The Magic Barrel (1954)
- Bernard Malamud, The Magic Barrel (1954)
January 24, 2026 at 4:37 PM
"He smelled frankly of fish, which he loved to eat, and although he was missing a few teeth, his presence was not displeasing, because of an amiable manner curiously contrasted with mournful eyes."
- Bernard Malamud, The Magic Barrel (1954)
- Bernard Malamud, The Magic Barrel (1954)