In honor of Poe and his Raven, whose flock is being asked to shepherd a great mass of participants safely into Week Eleven, musings from the man himself.
"Men have called me mad; but the question is not yet settled, whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence -- whether much that is glorious -- whether all that is profound -- does not spring from disease of thought -- from moods of mind exalted at the expense of the general intellect.
There are two bodies -- the rudimental and the complete -- corresponding with the two conditions of the worm and the butterfly. What we call "death," is but the painful metamorphosis. Our present incarnation is progressive, preparatory, temporary. Our future is perfected, ultimate, immortal. The ultimate life is the full design.
They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.
It is more than probable that I am not understood; but I fear, indeed, that it is in no manner possible to convey to the mind of the merely general reader, an adequate idea of that nervous intensity of interest with which, in my case, the powers of meditation (not to speak technically) busied and buried themselves, in the contemplation of even the most ordinary objects of the universe.
It will be found, in fact, that the ingenious are always fanciful, and the truly imaginative never otherwise than analytic."
Poe speaks truly, like the Swami was seated before him asking for a personally evaluative oratory. Swami speaks truly, as well, and expects scores of participants to look for the Ravens to come knocking on victory's door this weekend. However, and despite the obviousness of the Ravens pick, there will be no Ravensing for the Swami and his clan.
I feel the holy light of heaven's army upon me, and whilst they have struggled mightily, so too hast their opponent, and the old adage holds as true today as it did years ago: "why root for one Harbrother when there is another to root against?"
And so the Swami will lay down with the Saints, and hope for divine inspiration at home in the bayou, whilst the boy and girl tab the road-weary Falcons and Steelers for their selections, as we all look to roll effortlessly along.
That is all.
