A jogger in a red top

Overtook me quickly tonight.

I never even heard him behind me.

But further up the path I noticed he slowed.

If, the wind blows your hair about,

Be grateful.

One for the wind

Two that you live and breathe

I'd write about bondage. But I'd be bound to get it it wrong.

Is it yourself that    won't come in?

It's open if you will enter. 

   I've been waiting.

I'd never wear my hair in a bun. For me that would be a top not.

A kiss is still a kiss

Why make me wait like this?

I lie alone and sigh.

Oh please don't make me cry,

As time goes by.

I lie here waiting: yet

The moon and stars have set,

But still alone I lie.

Still gazing at the sky,

As time goes by.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/sep/05/poster-poems-sappho-reinterpreted-billy-mills

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXwS7yLOYt4

This is a wild flower I spotted today, very close to where I live. I saw it was a cranesbill, called that because plants in this group have seedpods that look like the bill of a crane. They encapsulate a rather neat way of seed dispersal.

But which cranesbill? I've not seen it there before and I wasn't familiar with the species.

A bit of searching showed it is the 'cut leaved cranesbill', widespread in Europe. Although it's not rare at all, I can't remember seeing it anywhere before.

But this same, shy little plant, when introduced into North America, transmuted into an invasive species, and a 'noxious' weed'. I don't think anyone would have guessed that from looking at it.

I found a centipede in my bath

And tenderly preserved it

As proof that I am not alone.

I saw you waiting

Under the outside light.

You turned and smiled

I wish you hadn't.

Just as the sun dropped

At every hand

Thrushes sang.

The title is translated from an ancient Greek epitaph I once read: "Χερε", that is, "Be happy".

Please ask yourself this question before you read further.

On a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 = not at all happy and 10 = completely happy, how happy were you yesterday?

Now you have answered please read on.

A French philosopher once memorably said, "When a man asks himself whether he is happy, he ceases to be so". This is perceptive but it's not a truth of human existence, more an observation that who, or what, asks you a question may influence − not just how you answer, but also what your answer is. This "framing" is the subject of a sketch from "Yes Minister".

However since 2012 the UK has being collecting statistics about whether people rate themselves as happy − as you did a minute or two ago. The Office for National Statistics publishes the results. Over a third of respondents rated their happiness as 9/10 or 10/10. Isn't that surprising? But knowing it made me feel a little happier.

George Sand bought Chopin a Fitbit.

But he never go to grips with it.

Not being at all sporty,

He stuck with the pianoforte.

Here's the prelude 'Raindrop' said to have been inspired by their (unhappy?) holiday together in Mallorca. I didn't know this piece, but heard it one day, and it made me listen to Chopin much more carefully. You can hear it too in this article

Download this video clip.Video player: File:Chopin Prelude Op 28 N 15 Giorgi Latsabidze performs.ogg