Chamblee54

There was a poem , of unknown origin, found in a Baltimore church in 1692. It was revived by a Lawyer, who lived in Terre Haute, IN. He liked to read it his friends, and his lips were moving. The attorney, Max Ehrmann copyrighted this poem in 1927. Another persistent rumor has it that the manuscript was in an ambulance Mr. Ehrmann was following. How the accident victim came to possess this document is a mystery.
Mr. Ehrmann,(the poet laureate of Terre Haute, ) wrote in his diary “I should like, if I could, to leave a humble gift — a bit of chaste prose that had caught up some noble moods”. The poem is “Desiderata,” and is a favorite of gift shops the world over.
In 1956, Rev. Frederick Kates became the rector of Old St. Paul’s Church in Baltimore, MD. He had found a copy of “Desiderata”, without the copyright notice. He printed a handout for his congregation on church stationary. At the top of the page was the notation “Old St. Paul’s Church, Baltimore A.C. 1692”. As the sixties devolved, the poem became famous.
“Desiderata” was the text of a recording made by Les Crane, who found the poem on a poster. He thought the text was in the public domain, when in fact it is copyrighted. Mr. Crane was taken to court, and forced to pay the owners of the copyright. The matter has been in court on other occasions. It seems that Mr. Ehrmann used “Desiderata” in a Christmas greeting, without citing the copyright. Later,during World War II, Ehrmann allowed a friend – Army psychiatrist Dr. Merrill Moore – to hand out more than 1,000 copies of the poem to his soldier-patients, without the copyright.
PG admits to confusion on this issue. Don’t copyrights expire, get renewed, and then expire again? If a work was written in 1927, doesn’t it go into the public domain 83 years later. The wikipedia article about copyrights is long and confusing. Remember, we are dealing with a legal concept as it relates to a poem written by a lawyer.
A site called fleurdelis says the matter depends on your point of view and place of residence. ( Shcredo says flatly that “Desiderata” is public domain.) (Robinsweb tells of being forced to remove “Desiderata” from her site because of a complaint by the copyright owner.) If you want to be inspired, click on the videos embedded in this post.
In 1972, the National Lampoon produced a new translation, Deteriorata.

Desiderata belongs to a category that might be called commodity wisdom. It sounds good, and may inspire some people. To others, the D-poem is a lot of nonsense. PG typed the words “Desiderata skeptic” into google, and saw what came up.
There is a forum, The skeptics guide to the universe. On March 17, 2012, mwilley contributed “Skeptical Desiderata.” It begins “Go skeptically amidst the lies and the guile, and take comfort in whatever rationality there may be. As far as possible, without being an asshole, question established orthodoxies and fatuous argument.” As a fortune cookie said, “Few things are as bad as enthusiastic ignorance.” A few spots down is the text of “Deteriorata.”
There is the possibility that desiderata is plural. Maybe the famous text should be desideratum.
One result is a copy resistant google book, Beyond “Justification”: Dimensions of Epistemic Evaluation By William P. Alston “Part II Ultimate Questions: The Epistemology of Epistemology” i. The Demand for a Final Settlement ii. The Inevitability of a Regress iii. Attempts to Avoid the Regress: Doxastic Practices iv. Epistemic Circularity v. The Pervasiveness of Epistemic Circularity.”
One of the results was profiles, that mention desiderata, at OK Cupid.
kahmiel 25 / F / Bi / Single Denton, Texas
This is my life philosophy:Max Ehrmann Desiderata Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.
Ebonheart 24 / M / Straight / Seeing Someone Birmingham, Alabama
My real name is Desi, as in the poem Desiderata as it were, i try to live according to the guidelines this poem sets because i believe that it is the best way to live peacefully.
Anhkah 45 / F / Straight / Single Murphy, North Carolina
There is no life guide better than the Desiderata .
GLilyDances 46 / F / Bi / Single Virginia Beach, Virginia
“- Friedrich Nietzsche My Woo Jack from cresal :Desiderata
filosof 32 / F / Straight / Married Krasnoyarsk, Russia
“— Sparkling gems of wisdom that I live by, from Desiderata, by Max Ehrmann .
SC_PrinceOfTide 53 / M / Straight / Single Columbia, South Carolina
And if you’re that special someone who also knows the words to DESIDERATA, we’re Kindred Spirits!
B_cubed 27 / M / Gay / Seeing Someone Chicago, Illinois
Like poetry but dont read it much; Desiderata and A certain slant of light = the favs.
nightbirdflying 28 / F / Straight / Single Tucson, Arizona
I believe in the poem Desiderata even if I can’t abide by all it’s suggestions.
Andrinara 25 / F / Bi / Seeing Someone Chicago, Illinois
I like getting tattoos and have many, the most recent being a few stanzas of Desiderata down my ribs.
oriondreamdance 58 / M / Straight / Available Ladson, South Carolina
If you believe that Heinlein was a visionary, Desiderata is your bible, or Richard Bach’s Illusions spoke to your soul.
Part one of this feature is a repost. Pictures are from The Library of Congress. These are Union Soldiers from the War Between the States. They were not concerned with Epistemic Circularity. This was written like Ursula K. Le Guin.