Ode to Can

Ode to Can

There’s a four lettered word
As offensive as any
It holds back the few
Puts a stop to the many.

You can’t climb that mountain
You can’t cross the sea
You can’t become anything you want to be.

He can’t hit a century
They can’t find a cure.
She can’t think about leaving or searching for more.

Because Can’t is a word with a habit of stopping
The ebb and the flow of ideas
It keeps dropping
itself where we know in our hearts it’s not needed
And saying “don’t go” when we could have succeeded.

But those four little letters
That end with a T
They can change in an instant
When shortened to three.

We can take off the T
We can do it today
We can move forward not back
We can find our own way.

We can build we can run
We can follow the sun
We can push we can pull
We can say I’m someone
Who refuses to believe
That life can’t be better
With the removal of one
Insignificant letter.

Sadly, this lovely poem was written by an advertising executive for a bank ad. The ad features actress Toni Collette who reads this so brilliantly, but again how sad it is a bank ad.  Even so, it is a poem to reflect upon

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Summer melts

We have had temperatures of between 35C and 40C the last couple of days, which even with air conditioning has been more than a little oppressive. It feels like a furnace as soon as I walk out the door, so I have been staying low.

So for all of you on the chilly side of the earth here are some summer images to warm your heart. The nicer side of summer…

circa 1890

Sur La Digue, Chapeau de Marthe Collot, from Gazette du Bon Ton, Issue 6, by Jean Bernier 1924

circa 1920

Action men

circa 1963 television eyeglasses

American Style circa 1927

Asil, Sultan Abdülhamid's horse, with three men in front of a stairway

Australian Beach scene, 1930s by Sam Hood

Australia: Ice mask, C.T. Madigan, between 1911-1914, photograph by Frank Hurley

Australian Musical stars Madge Elliott and Cyril Ritchard's wedding, St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney, 16 September 1935 photograph by Sam Hood

BAINBRIDGE HORNBLOWER 1950s

Billy and Graham Green

circa 1956