The Gohmert-Greene Stupidity Scale, Updated

I first introduced the Gohmert Stupidity Scale in June of 2021, and published the first explanation of its structure and guidelines just a few days later. I updated the scale in March of 2023, expanding the guidelines to account not just for ignorance, but also for greed and malice as factors in the assessment of the individual, rather than the nation level of stupidity as measured by the DUMBCON. That update also changed the name to the "Gohmert-Greene Stupidity Scale," in recognition of another toweringly stupid member of Congress. The basic unit of stupidity is the gag*, defined as "the stupidity value of a single action dumb enough to earn one or more of the following: an eye roll, a head shake, or a forehead slap."

But things have changed rapidly since the inception of the scale, and not for the better. The reelection of Der Furor as PINO, the ascendency of President Musk, and the total servility of the Republican Party in the advancement of an increasingly fascistic program call for improved ways to measure individual levels of stupidity, as well as the overall National Stupidity Condition. Having reset the DUMBCON level yesterday, today I release version 4.0 of the Gohmert-Greene Stupidity Scale: 

If the chart does not click open for easier reading, here it is in non-tabular format:

Score in gags: 0-1,000. 

General Description: Harmless. Makes mistakes and is able to admit error and self-correct once action has been recognized as stupid. 

Examples/Comments: Me* and most people with whom I choose to associate.

Score in gags: 1,001-2,500. 

General Description: Ignorant. Commits dumb acts out of ignorance, and can usually self-correct when stupid action is pointed out. 

Examples/Comments: Person who drives slower after getting a speeding ticket.

Score in gags: 2,501-10,000. 

General Description: Really Ignorant. Commits dumb acts out of ignorance and refuses to change mind when presented with proof of error. 

Examples/Comments: Person who argues with a police officer giving them a ticket.

Score in gags: 10,001-25,000. 

General Description: Extremely Ignorant. Commits dumb acts out of ignorance and refuses to change mind when faced with proof of error. Relies on personal beliefs and power of personal position to impose stupidity on others. 

Examples/Comments: Annoying neighborhood busybodies; extreme homeowners association nazis.

Score in gags: 25,001-50,000. 

General Description: Stupid. Views own opinions and those of persons with similar beliefs as gospel and rejects contrary information. This is the level at which stupidity begins to have harmful consequences beyond the individual. 

Examples/Comments: Education reform zealots; self-appointed censors and book-burners; eco-terrorists; extreme animal rights advocates.

Score in gags: 50,001-100,000. 

General Description: Really Stupid. Doubles down on stupid actions and beliefs when confronted with evidence; believes persons with contrary positions are obviously wrong and must be resolutely opposed. Individuals at this level and above should never occupy positions of leadership and responsibility.

Examples/Comments: Ordinary MAGAts; election deniers; racists (regardless of color); conspiracy theorists; gun rights advocates, intolerantly religious individuals.

Score in gags: 100,001-350,000. 

General Description: Extremely Stupid. Easily swayed by individuals or groups that reinforce personal beliefs. Believes individuals or groups holding contrary points of view are not only wrong, but deliberately malicious. At this level malice and unfocused anger begin to magnify stupidity.

Examples/Comments: Anti-vaccination zealots; white supremacists.

Score in gags: 350,001-750,000. 

General Description: Amazingly Stupid. Utterly devoid of self-doubt. Refuses to listen to other points of view and is totally convinced of the infallibility of deeply-held personal, especially religious positions. Potential for danger to self and others. 

Examples/Comments: Religious fundamentalists; political extremists;  MAGAts who fly multiple giant US and/or Der Furor worship flags from oversized vehicles. 

Score in gags: 750,001-1,500,000. 

General Description: Dangerously Stupid. Aggressively denies validity of any other point of view, rejects all compromise, and refuses to acknowledge any possibility of personal error or responsibility. May be dangerous to self and others when contradicted. At this level greed begins to significantly magnify stupidity. 

Examples/Comments: Extreme hard-core, in-your-face MAGAts, especially those who wear outlandish clothing inspired by Der Furor; Second Amendment zealots; self-styled militia members; oligarchs.

Score in gags: 1,500,001-3,000,000. 

General Description: Normal Extreme Upper Limit of Stupidity. Completely refuses to accept the validity of any points of view other than their own and rejects all contrary information and evidence as “fake news.” Believes aggressive and confrontational response to opposing views, up to and including physical violence, is justified. Dangerous to self and others. 

Examples/Comments: Hardest of the extreme hard-core MAGAts, especially those who sport ostentatious tattoos of Der Furor; extreme militia members who stockpile weapons; extreme religious fundamentalists; violent racists.

Score in gags: > 3,000,000. 

General Description: Level of Stupidity Is No Longer Measurable by Rational Standards. Individual should not be allowed to breed. 

Examples/Comments: Anyone willing to vote for Der Furor again, having seen the results.

That is the updated Gohmert-Greene Stupidity Scale, effective April 2, 2025. Comments welcome. Use as you wish. 

Have a good day. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

* For "Gohmert and Greene," of course.

** I like to think so, anyway.

DUMBCON Update

Today is Tuesday, April 1st, April Fool's Day. Thus, it is an appropriate day to reassess the National Stupidity Condition - the DUMBCON.

We last raised the DUMBCON in February of this year, when I determined that the prevailing level was insufficient to account for the astounding level of stupidity in modern America. Indeed, the level had risen so sharply that I had to reach back to a version of the scale with enough levels to accommodate it, AND to raise the level by not one, but two steps. But now, things are even more stupid. To name just a few instances:

The Secretary of Defense, National Security Advisor, Director of National Intelligence, CIA Director, Secretary of the Treasury (?). and other administration officials traded sensitive operational military information on a commercial messaging app, not realizing that they had also invited a reporter to be a member of the group.

PINO Der Furor, descending to new levels of pettiness, issued a new royal decree executive order pompously titled "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History," in which he accused the Smithsonian Institution of "[conducting] a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth" and of "improper ideology;"

Der Furor also issued another royal decree executive order, "Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections," which places new restrictions and limitations on voting rights; 

In a calculated provocation and insult to the governments and populations of Denmark and Greenland, "Vice President" Vance and his wife, uninvited, visited a US Space Force facility in Greenland, where Mr Vance doubled down on US aims to take over Greenland, while soft-peddling previous administration threats to absorb it by force if necessary; and,

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly allowed his wife, an executive producer at Fox News with no known security clearances or need to know, to attend multiple high-level meetings with foreign military officials where sensitive national security information was discussed.

I don't think I could make a better argument that it's time to reset the DUMBCON than this administration makes for itself every day. When I last set the level, I deliberately left room for subsequent adjustment ... and now it's time.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, I am raising the DUMBCON Level to

DUMBCON MINUS FOUR

("Time to Get Ready for That One-Way Mars Mission")

You will note that this version of the DUMBCON index has ten levels. When I first created the system, I never imagined that I might need more than the five levels that mirror the military's DEFCON system ... much less ten levels. I have no idea where we go from here.

And we're only two months into this administration.

Have a good day, and remember the time when we complained about a government that, whether you agreed with it or not, was not actively criminal, unconstitutional, amoral, incompetent, and hell-bent on undoing almost 250 years of our experiment with self-governing democracy. We'll be a long time getting the country back, if it's even possible.

More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

The Birds Have Arrived!

Last week I told you the story of our new, space-age bird feeder and of my frustration that the birds seemed to be ignoring it.

No longer!

The birds have discovered the feeder and are evidently enjoying the premium birdseed I've put out for them ...

Of course, others have found the feeder, too ...

It appears that I'm not mixing enough cayenne pepper into the seed mix to discourage him. 

So, the birds and the beasts are here. Any suggestions on discouraging the beasts are welcome.

Have a good day. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

Poetry Sunday

Every once in a while, you can find a poem that speaks directly to the moment in which you're living. This is one.

Questionnaire

by Wendell Berry

How much poison are you willing

to eat for the success of the free

market and global trade? Please

name your preferred poisons.

For the sake of goodness, how much

evil are you willing to do?

Fill in the following blanks

with the names of your favorite

evils and acts of hatred.

What sacrifices are you prepared

to make for culture and civilization?

Please list the monuments, shrines,

and works of art you would

most willingly destroy

In the name of patriotism and

the flag, how much of our beloved

land are you willing to desecrate?

List in the following spaces

the mountains, rivers, towns, farms

you could most readily do without.

State briefly the ideas, ideals, or hopes,

the energy sources, the kinds of security;

for which you would kill a child.

Name, please, the children whom

you would be willing to kill.

If DOGE hasn't gotten around to sending you your personal copy of this questionnaire, don't worry - I'm sure they'll get around to it soon.

Have a good day and enjoy the rest of your weekend. Hope for the best, plan for the worst.

More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

Cartoon Saturday

You've almost made it to the end of March, and the news hasn't been any better this week than in the other weeks ... it has, in fact, been worse.

Der Furor placed a 25% tariff on all imported cars, a move all but certain to add thousands of dollars to the cost of new cars and drive down auto sales ... and warned the auto industry not to raise prices because of those tariffs; the top national security officials of the US government traded sensitive operational military information on a commercial messaging app, not realizing that they had also invited a reporter to be a member of the group, then minimized the scale of the security disaster and blamed everyone but themselves; a Kansas babysitter who looked under a child's bed to prove that there not a monster there discovered a man hiding there, who fled and was later arrested by police; a group of masked men, not in uniform and claiming to be federal agents, abducted a 30-year-old Turkish graduate student in Boston, put her into an unmarked car, and shipped her to a prison in Louisiana, allegedly because she had “engaged in activities in support of Hamas;” and in Texas, a man has sued the person who keyed his Tesla in an airport parking lot for $1 million, citing damage to the car, lost wages, and "emotional duress." 

This week, because the price of eggs is something that Der Furor still hasn't done anything to address, being too busy churning out royal decrees executive orders to address his personal bugbears, let's enjoy a collection of cartoons about chickens. 

I wonder if her Medichick benefits cover it ...

I can see where this would be a problem ...

It's not a good sign ...

Well, that sums it up pretty well ...

For sending fowl language messages ...

For the literature fans among you ...

I always wondered how that was done ...

Uh, oh ...

Well, yes, but ...

From the International Division of the Really Awful Pun Agency ...

And there you have it - proof positive that Bilbo will never chicken out on his responsibility to get you a few laughs in this far-from-funny time!

Have a good day and a great weekend. More thoughts tomorrow, when we have our last Poetry Sunday of the month. See you then!

Bilbo

Great Moments in Editing and Signage

As your reward for surviving until Friday, here's your last collection of Great Moments in Editing and Signage for the month ...

It's always nice to have your contributions appreciated, but ...

Not something I need right now, but maybe I should keep the ad on file ...

This ranks right up there with the real artificial snow you can buy for Christmas decorating ...

Well, I guess I wasn't hungry anyhow ...

I really don't know what to say about this one ...

It'll be a bigger obstable when Der Furor finally manages to kill off the Department of Education ...

Um ... I think maybe I'll eat someplace else ...

I somehow wonder about this relationship ...

For the elegant table setting at your next party ...

Wild-caught imitation crab legs are easily cut with your Chinese imitation Swiss Army knife ...

And that's our wrapup edition of Great Moments for March. Don't worry - it'll be back again to help you survive April.

Have a good day, and come back tomorrow for the last Cartoon Saturday of March ... a few laughs to get you over the crazy. More thoughts then.

Bilbo

Newspeak, Wordsmithing, and the Semantics of Security

If you've read George Orwell's classic dystopian novel 1984 (do it now, if you haven't), you know the concept of "Newspeak," the language imposed by the government to manipulate its version of both history and current events and to prevent independent thought.

Newspeak is alive and well in 2025 in the service of President Musk, PINO Der Furor, and the organs of their administration. Examples:

The deadly riot and storming of the Capitol on January 6th, in which five people were killed and millions of dollars in damage done to the Capitol Building was a "normal tourist day," and a "day of love."

Tesla Swasticars Cybertrucks tend to shed pieces of themselves on the highway as a result of "environmental embrittlement," rather than, "use of cheap glue instead of actual structural connectors."

SpaceX rocket boosters are lost not because of fiery explosions, but as a result of "rapid unscheduled disassembly."

An election won by 2,300,000 votes - 77,303,000 to 75,018,000 -  is an "historic," "powerful," and "unprecedented" mandate."

It is also alive and well as a bevy of administration officials who ought to have known better twist themselves into semantic knots to explain away their incompetence and stupidity in discussing an upcoming military strike in a commercial communications system known to be vulnerable to compromise. Nothing to see here, folks, just move along. It's not classified, and if it is classified it's not important and anyways, Hillary Clinton's e-mails were far more dangerous than the possible loss of our military personnel conducting a strike whose secrecy had been compromised. And oh, by the way, the reporter is a sleazebag who contributes to Democrats.

White House Press Secretary Katherine Leavitt dismissed the incident with her usual huff of contempt

“The Atlantic has conceded: these were NOT ‘war plans' ... This entire story was another hoax written by a Trump-hater who is well-known for his sensationalist spin.”

Her boss, Der Furor himself, characterized what was widely recognized by experts as an extraordinary security breach as a "minor transgression," and that the outrage over it constituted a "witch hunt." The Orange Airhorn's decades of deep experience with military operations, intelligence, and security evidently empower him to make such dismissive judgements.

But as military veteran and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a post on Bluesky,

"They're not going to get out of this by playing semantics ... Sending detailed information about an upcoming military strike on unclassified channels (and even to the wrong guy) is wrong, reckless, and obviously a threat to American troops."

Yes, Dear Readers, Newspeak is alive and well in Der Furor's America, and even some of the most die-hard conservative commentators can't stomach it ... right-wing shouting head Tomi Lahren wrote on X, 

“Trying to wordsmith the hell outta this signal debacle is making it worse. It was bad. And I’m honestly getting sick of the whatabout isms from my own side. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. Admit the F up and move on.”

Well, yes ... but don't move on. Demand the accountability that Der Furor and his minions always demand of others. You won't ever see it, but you'll feel better for at least having asked.

Have a good day. Don't use Newspeak if you can help it, and don't let your elected reprehensibles use it, either.

More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

Ass Clown Special Award

I try not to give out too many out-of-cycle Ass Clown Special Awards because I don't want to dilute their meaning and impact ... but I absolutely cannot let this one go by.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, the latest

Ass Clown Special Award

is presented to

The "National Security" Establishment

of

Der Furor's Administration

In a staggering breach of operational security, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and a group of administration civilian advisors planned and carried out a military strike against Houthi rebels in Yemen using the encrypted messaging app "Signal," which is not approved for use by government agencies. Worse, the chat group accidentally included Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, who went on to break the story after the strikes had taken place.

The reactions from the adults who are no longer welcome in the room were swift in coming. Historian Heather Cox Richardson summarized many of them in her latest "Letters from an American," posted last night:

Former commanding general of United States Army Europe and the Seventh Army Mark Hertling called the story “staggering.” 

Former CIA officer Matt Castelli posted: “This is more than ‘loose lips sink ships’, this is a criminally negligent breach of classified information and war planning involving VP, SecDef, D[irector of the] CIA, National Security Advisor—all putting troops at risk. America is not safe.” 

Former transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg, who spent seven years as an intelligence officer in the Navy Reserve, posted: “From an operational security perspective, this is the highest level of f**kup imaginable. These people cannot keep America safe.”

Rhode Island senator Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said: "If true, this story represents one of the most egregious failures of operational security and common sense I have ever seen. The carelessness shown by President Trump's cabinet is stunning and dangerous. I will be seeking answers from the Administration immediately." 

Armed Services Committee member Don Bacon (R-NE), a former Air Force brigadier general, told Axios that “sending this info over non-secure networks” was “unconscionable.” “Russia and China are surely monitoring his unclassified phone.”

This horrendous breach of security and simple common sense is all the more incredible given the number of Republican heads which exploded after the endlessly-trumpeted security incidents in Democratic administrations (remember Hillary Clinton's e-mail server?). Indeed, SecDef Hegseth in 2016 rhetorically thundered,

"How damaging is it to your ability to recruit or build allies with others when they are worried that our leaders may be exposing them because of their gross negligence or their recklessness in handling information?"

As you might suspect from an administration purposely staffed by amateurs selected specifically for their incompetent subservience to Der Furor, the immediate reaction was to wave the whole thing off. House Speaker Mike Johnson, for instance, dismissively commented that

“I’m told they’re doing an investigation to find out how that [Mr Goldberg's] number was included [in the classified discussions over Signal], and that should be that ... I’m not sure that it requires much additional attention.”

But, as Professor Richardson pointed out,

"When they [Republicans] were accusing then–secretary of state Hillary Clinton of such a breach, they called for firings, accountability, and perhaps criminal charges. Indeed, [Der Furor] rose to power in 2016 with the charge that Clinton should be sent to prison for using a private email server. 'Lock her up!' became the chant at his rallies."

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, the second Ass Clown Special Award of 2025 is presented to the dangerously, amateurishly incompetent national security establishment upon which we depend for our defense. By now, leaders in Russia and China are likely running out of champagne corks to pop over their good fortune.

Have a good day. As usual in these times, hope for the best, but expect (and prepare for) the worst.

More thoughts coming.

Bilbo 

The New Bird Feeder

Our house adjoins a large stand of trees on land owned by the county Park Authority, and so we have lots of birds around ... the tree outside my study window usually has birds happily twittering away in it, birds of all sorts perch on our mailbox and on the markers in my garden, and I keep a colorful hummingbird feeder in the garden during the season to enjoy the visits of the energetic little birds. 

To help us better enjoy the local avifauna*, this past Christmas our daughter gifted us a high-tech, camera-equipped, solar-powered, WiFi-enabled bird feeder. The ordering and delivery of the bird feeder is a long story in and of itself, well-told by our daughter, but suffice it to say that a few weeks after Christmas, the space age bird feeder arrived.

Last week, Spring having arrived, I decided it was time to assemble and put up the new feeder. Those of you who know me well know that I am the least handy of men, and so I was somewhat daunted by the apparent complexity of the device and the stressful decision on how and where to hang it, but I gritted my teeth and got to work.

The actual assembly of the feeder itself was pleasantly simple - it consisted only of three parts: the feeder itself, the attached perch, and the camera, and the assembly instructions were clear and amply illustrated. I plugged the camera into a USB charger to juice up the battery and, when it was fully charged, I screwed it into its mount within the feeder. So far, so good.

The next step was to connect the feeder to our home network ... and that was where the trouble started. 

The instructions sternly warned me at every turn that the feeder would not work with a 5G network, only with a 2.4 GHz network. 

Huh? 

I know that we have a network. Signals radiate from a futuristic-looking device perched atop a bookshelf in my study and things talk to each other ... Agnes surfs with her PC, I with my beloved Mac, and our iPads and phones enjoy satisfyingly strong signal strength. But is it 2.4 GHz? Is it 5G? G-whiz? An electronic G-string? I had no idea and, not wanting to do harm to our expensive high-tech feeder, I decided to ask the question of our friendly Verizon help desk. There no longer being any humans around any more, I had to explain my query (several times) to the AI chatbot on Verizon's website ... which timed out before ever answering the question. 

Sigh.

So I gritted my teeth and just went ahead and followed the instructions on how connect to the network. This involved pressing the power button on the camera housing (check) ... waiting for the blue light to come on (check) ... then pressing the power button twice to make the blue light blink (check). Once the blue light began to blink and a three-tone signal to ring out, I was to hold up the QR code to the camera, which would then sacrifice a digital goat in cyberspace, thereby appeasing the gods and allowing the camera to link to our network.

QR code? What QR code?

There was a QR code printed on a card inside the delivery box, but it petulantly refused to do anything when exposed to the camera, which just continued to flash the blue light at me while broadcasting that loud three-tone signal that seemed to roughly translate as "wrong code, dumbass."

Another few minutes of frantic searching in the small print of the instructions yielded a URL that I was to type into my phone to connect to the website that would provide me with the appropriate QR code. I did this (no small feat with my single-finger typing on the minuscule iPhone keyboard), and finally got the right QR code, which gave the secret handshake to the camera, which finally - if grudgingly - connected to our network!

Success!!

By now, it was late in the day, and so I left the assembled feeder sitting on my desk, figuring I could do the outdoor mounting the next day.

Fast forward. Next day, 5:00AM.

Bilbo, carrying his first cup of coffee of the new day, walks into the study ... and the camera dutifully lights up and takes very nice, hi-res video of its first bird: an old buzzard in his underwear. 

%&$#*!

So now, the problem is: how on earth can I delete that video? I can find no instructions in the package or on the app. AARRGGHH!! So (having first turned the damn camera to face the wall) I send an e-mail to the bird network help desk ... and, after a few hours, they respond with the procedure, which I immediately execute.

Whew.

So now, I knew the camera worked, but I still had to mount the feeder and its accompanying solar panel, then connect the two. This required the purchase of a 4x4-inch post, which I cut to length and firmly mounted on the deck. The feeder included two convenient templates to help incompetent installers like yours truly drill the right holes in the right places and then - VOILA!!

Naturally, such an ultramodern, high-tech bird feeder can't use just any seed, so I dutifully filled it with "premium" birdseed.

And as of the time I write this, we have had exactly one bird visit the feeder** ... a beautiful cardinal which petulantly perched on the solar panel for a few minutes before flying away without even checking out my premium birdseed. Bastard.

So ...

That's the story of our wonderful, high-tech bird feeder. I'm told that the birds will eventually discover it and we will be able to enjoy the visits of our feathered friends. We will also "enjoy" the visits of the  squirrels and raccoons which abound in our area, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Have a good day. Enjoy your birdwatching, regardless of what sort of feeder you have.

More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

 

* A fancy way of saying "birds" when you want to show off your vocabulary.

** The manufacturer, having somehow learned of my distress, sent me an e-mail telling me that "It takes time for birds to discover and become accustomed to a new feeder. Depending on your location, this process can take anywhere from 2 weeks to 1 month. Once they do find it, they'll spread the word to others!" Sigh. I guess I'll use the waiting time to think about squirrel and raccoon mitigation strategies.

Musical Sunday

German has a reputation for being an "ugly" language, largely because of its numerous guttural sounds and long, complex words. But German can also be beautiful, and I have a lot of favorite songs that I learned while living in Germany ... for instance, this one by the folk singer Reinhard Mey, titled Herbstgewitter über Dächern - in English, Autumn Thunderstorms over the Rooftops ...

Here are the lyrics, first in German ...

Herbstgewitter über Dächern, 

Schneegestöber voller Zorn, 

Frühjahrssturm im Laub vom Vorjahr, 

Sommerwind in reifem Korn. 

Hätt‘ ich all das nie gesehen, 

säh', für alles andre blind, 

Nur den Wind in deinen Haaren, 

sagt' ich doch, ich kenn' den Wind. 

Straßenlärm und Musikboxen 

weh'n ein Lied irgendwo her. 

Düsengrollen, Lachen, Rufen, 

plötzlich Stille ringsumher. 

Hätt' ich all' das nie vernommen, 

wär' für alles taub und hört' 

Nur ein Wort von dir gesprochen, 

sagt' ich doch, ich hab' gehört. 

Bunte Bänder und Girlanden, 

Sonne nach durchzechter Nacht, 

Neonlicht im Morgennebel, 

kurz bevor die Stadt erwacht. 

Wär' mir das versagt geblieben, 

hätte ich nur dich geseh'n, 

Schließ' ich über dir die Augen, 

sagt' ich doch, ich hab' geseh‘n. 

Warten, Hoffen und Aufgeben, 

Irren und Ratlosigkeit. 

Zweifeln, Glauben und Verzeihen, 

Freudentränen, Trunkenheit. 

Hätt' ich all das nie erfahren, 

hätt' ich all das nie erlebt, 

Schlief' ich ein in deinen Armen, 

sagt' ich doch, Ich hab' gelebt.

And now in my very amateur and far-less-poetic English translation ...

Autumn thunderstorms over the rooftops

Angry showers of snow

A spring storm stirring last year's leaves

Summer wind in the ripening corn

Had not seen all that,

Had I seen, blind to everything else, 

Only the wind in your hair, 

I could say I've known the wind

Street noise and music boxes,

A song drifting by,

Jet noise, laughter, shouting,

Suddenly stillness all around - 

Had I never heard all that,

Were I deaf to everything, and heard

Just one word you'd spoken, 

I could say I've heard.

Colored ribbons and garlands,

The sun rising after a wild night,

Neon lights in the morning mist

Shortly before the city wakes - 

Had all that been denied me,

Had I seen nothing but you,

I'd close my eyes over you

And say I've seen.

Waiting, hoping, and surrendering,

Craziness and despair,

Doubting, believing, and forgiving,

Tears of joy, drunkenness - 

Had I never known these,

Had I not experienced them,

If I fell asleep in your arms,

I could say I'd lived.

The real poetry of the German words is impossible for me to adequately translate, but trust me - this is a beautiful song of love and emotion. 

The French couldn't do it any better.

Have a good day and enjoy the rest of your weekend ... you'll need it to face another Monday in this year.

More thoughts coming.

Bilbo