...I watch the spring go by and wonder
If I shall ever return home.
- Tu Fu
Chinese flute
"An astonishing book of many merits for readers of intelligent dystopia" - Claire Rhoden review of "House of the Flight-helpers", Tartarus Press UK, 2019
Saturday, 16 June 2012
The days grow long, the mountains beautiful...
...The south wind blows
Over blossoming meadows.
Newly arrived swallows dart
Over the streaming marshes.
Ducks in pairs drowse on the warm sand.
- Tu Fu, 713-770
Over blossoming meadows.
Newly arrived swallows dart
Over the streaming marshes.
Ducks in pairs drowse on the warm sand.
- Tu Fu, 713-770
Friday, 15 June 2012
Sunday, 10 June 2012
...How will it be to lie in the sky...
...without roof or door
and wind for an eye
With cloud for shift
how will I hide?
- May Swenson
Wind sound
and wind for an eye
With cloud for shift
how will I hide?
- May Swenson
Wind sound
Friday, 8 June 2012
In this dark I rest, unready for the light which dawns day after day...
...eager to be shared.
Black silk, shelter me.
I need
more of the night before I open
eyes and heart
to illumination. I must still
grow in the dark like a root
not ready, not ready at all.
- Denise Levertov
Black silk, shelter me.
I need
more of the night before I open
eyes and heart
to illumination. I must still
grow in the dark like a root
not ready, not ready at all.
- Denise Levertov
Thursday, 7 June 2012
Think how it is to have a conversation with an embryo...
You might say, "The world outside is vast and intricate.
There are wheatfields and mountain passes, and orchards in bloom.
At night there are millions of galaxies, and in sunlight
the beauty of friends dancing at a wedding."
You ask the embryo why he, or she, stays cooped up
in the dark with eyes closed.
Listen to the answer.
There is no "other world."
I only know what I've experienced.
You must be hallucinating.
- Jelaluddin Rumi 1207- 1273
Hibernation
There are wheatfields and mountain passes, and orchards in bloom.
At night there are millions of galaxies, and in sunlight
the beauty of friends dancing at a wedding."
You ask the embryo why he, or she, stays cooped up
in the dark with eyes closed.
Listen to the answer.
There is no "other world."
I only know what I've experienced.
You must be hallucinating.
- Jelaluddin Rumi 1207- 1273
Hibernation
Stella Maris...
A Mhaighdeann as gile | Oh purest of creatures |
A Mhoire mhìn mhàthair | Sweet Mother, sweet Maid |
Nad chomsa na aonar | The one spotless womb |
Bha 'n Slànair a' tamh | Wherein Jesus was laid |
Tha 'n oidhche, a Mhoire | Dark night, mother |
Air tuiteam mun cuairt | Hath come down on us |
Nach nochd thu do shoillse | And we look out for thy shining |
Reul àlainn a' Chuain? | Sweet Star of the Sea |
Reul àlainn a' Chuain | Sweet Star of the Sea |
Reul àlainn a' Chuain | Sweet Star of the Sea |
Nach nochd thu do shoillse | And we look out for thy shining |
Reul àlainn a' Chuain? | Sweet Star of the Sea |
Tha 'n oidhche le neulaibh | Deep night hath come down |
A' còmhdach an t-saoghail | On this rough-spoken world |
Tha bratach an dorchadais | And the banners of darkness |
Sgaoilt' anns a' ghaoith | Are boldly unfurled |
Tha 'n Eaglais ga buaireadh | And the tempest-tossed Church |
'S tha sùil coimhead suas | All her eyes are on thee |
Nach nochd thu do shoillse | They look to thy shining |
Reul àlainn a' Chuain? | Sweet Star of the Sea |
Reul àlainn a' Chuain | Sweet Star of the Sea |
Reul àlainn a' Chuain | Sweet Star of the Sea |
Nach nochd thu do shoillse | They look to thy shining |
Reul àlainn a' Chuain? | Sweet Star of the Sea |
Bu lèir do Mhac Dè d'anam | He gazed on thy soul |
Geal 's e gun bheud | It was spotless and fair |
'S nach tàinig am peacadh | For the empire of sin |
Na chòir ghabhail seilbh | It had never been there |
Cha d' bhuin e bho thùs | None had e'er owned thee |
Ach don Tighearna 's uaisl' | Dear Mother, but He |
Is choisrig e d' shoillse | And He blessed thy clear shining |
Reul àlainn a' Chuain | Sweet Star of the Sea |
Reul àlainn a' Chuain | Sweet Star of the Sea |
Reul àlainn a' Chuain | Sweet Star of the Sea |
Is choisrig e d' shoillse | And He blessed thy clear shining |
Reul àlainn a' Chuain | Sweet Star of the Sea |
An talamh cha tug | Earth gave Him one lodging |
Ach aon fhasgadh do Dhia | 'Twas deep in thy breast |
Am fasgadh sin crìdh' | And God found a home |
Na h-Òigh' beannaichte, fial | Where the sinner finds rest |
Bha fàrdach Mhic Dhè | His home and His hiding place |
Agus fasgadh nan truagh | Both were in thee |
An soillse do chrìdh'sa | He was won by thy shining |
Reul àlainn a' Chuain | Sweet Star of the Sea |
Reul àlainn a' Chuain | Sweet Star of the Sea |
Reul àlainn a' Chuain | Sweet Star of the Sea |
Nach nochd thu do shoillse | And we look out for thy shining |
Reul àlainn a' Chuain? | Sweet Star of the Sea |
(2x) | (2x) |
Saturday, 2 June 2012
Ohoho- the father of laughter...
...His eye is full of joy.
He rests in the sky like a swarm of bees.
Obatala- who turns blood into children.
- Yoruba tribe
Yoruba
He rests in the sky like a swarm of bees.
Obatala- who turns blood into children.
- Yoruba tribe
Yoruba
Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing....
...there is a field. I'll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase each other
doesn't make any sense.
- Jelaluddin Rumi, 1207-1273
When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase each other
doesn't make any sense.
- Jelaluddin Rumi, 1207-1273
The Day We Die
The day we die
the wind comes down
to take away
our footprints.
The wind makes dust
to cover up
the marks we left
while walking.
For otherwise
the thing would seem
as if we were
still living.
Therefore the wind
is he who comes
to blow away
our footprints.
- Southern Bushmen
the wind comes down
to take away
our footprints.
The wind makes dust
to cover up
the marks we left
while walking.
For otherwise
the thing would seem
as if we were
still living.
Therefore the wind
is he who comes
to blow away
our footprints.
- Southern Bushmen
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