Favorite Inspirational Quotes

here is little Effie’s head
whose brains are made of gingerbread
when the judgment day comes
God will find six crumbs

stooping by the coffinlid
waiting for something to rise
as the other something did -
you imagine His surprise

bellowing through the general noise
Where is Effie who was dead?
- to God in a tiny voice,
I am may the first crumb said

whereupon its fellow five
crumbs chuckled as if they were alive
and number two took up the song,
might i’m called and did no wrong

cried the third crumb, I am should
and this is my little sister could
with our big brother who is would
don’t punish us for we were good;

and the last crumb, with some shame
whispered unto God, my name
is must and with the others i’ve
been Effie who isn’t alive

just imagine it I say
God amid a monstrous din
watch your step and follow me
stooping by Effie’s little, in

(want a match or can you see?)
which the six subjunctive crumbs
twitch like mutilated thumbs:
picture His peering biggest whey

coloured face on which a frown
puzzles, but I know the way -
(nervously Whose eyes approve
the blessed while His ears are
crammed

with the strenuous music of
the innumerable capering damned)
- staring wildly up and down
the here we are now judgment day

cross the threshold have no dread
lift the sheet back in this way.
here is little Effie’s head
whose brains are made of gingerbread.

e. e. cummings

This poem is a bit hard to read and understand, at least to me. But the gist I get, with help from Dyer’s essay, is that there is no soul, no something, to rise from the body of little Effie come judgment day because all she had in her mind were the six crumbs: may, might, should, could, would, and must.

Effie had abdicated her life and soul to the control and dictates of society, all those people and institutions (including the media) that are constantly telling us what we should do, what we must do, what we might do or are allowed to do.

When something bad happens, most people jump right into wanting a new law passed to regulate our lives more so that doesn’t happen again. That is terrible that we are so quick to jump to have someone else tell us what we can and can’t do.

We learn to ask authority “May I?” for so much it’s frightening. We end up not creating our own world.

We don’t take action based on our own thoughts. We would if we could but the right circumstances are never there. Right?

Dyer suggests taking these words out of our vocabularies. Maybe I should. What is really good advice to myself is simply to think through what I say, do and feel. Do I do whatever because I think I should? Do I do it because I might get into trouble if I don’t? I will make my own decisions based on what I find to be true, not because I may, might, should, could, would, or must.

Tags: journaling