dreaminginthedeepsouth:detailsofpaintings:Mary L. Macomber, Night and her Daughter Sleep (detail) 19
dreaminginthedeepsouth:detailsofpaintings:Mary L. Macomber, Night and her Daughter Sleep (detail) 1902 * * * *‘Carpe diem’ doesn’t mean seize the day - it means something gentler and more sensible. ‘Carpe diem’ means pluck the day. Carpe, pluck. Seize the day would be 'cape diem,’ if my school Latin serves … What Horace had in mind was that you should gently pull on the day’s stem, as if it were, say, a wildflower or an olive, holding it with all the practiced care of your thumb and the side of your figure, which knows how to not crush easily crushed things … Pluck the cranberry or blueberry of the day tenderly free without damaging it, is what Horace meant - pick the day, harvest the day, reap the day, mow the day, forage the day. Don’t freaking grab the day in your fist like a burger at a fairground and take a big chomping bite out of it.Nicholson Baker. With thanks to Whiskey River. [via Crashingly Beautiful] -- source link