Ffolkes,
And then, I woke up, to find this…..
Retreat, retreat, he cries in vain
we cannot stand such pain!
Another battle, another day’s fight
Eternally at war, both day and night.
Storms within, crashing and thrashing about,
filling each moment with fear and doubt.
Cries of anguish, hopes for a swift end
Denied with wounds that will not mend.
The crisis approaches, time will not wait.
It marches on, driven madly by fate.
We have no recourse, no other road to walk,
No great power to whom we may talk.
Morning arrives, seemingly mild and free
Until one considers all that must be
An intro, some pearls, a photo or two
Today’s magnificent Pearl, created just for you…..
~~gigoid ~~
I was looking for a particular date of an event from last year at around this time, and in the process, came across this poem, that I wrote, apparently, in June of 2012, before I had begun to collect and save my poems in one folder. It was part of the intro section then, and certainly is appropriate today, as well. Without further fuss…. Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________
My brain is broken…. well, maybe not broken, but tired, for sure. This is the second or third day I’ve felt fairly normal since getting back from Europe (boy, I LOVE saying that….), and I’m finding it tiring to try to slip back into any routine…. As a result, I am going to fall back into the far reaches of the recent past, all the way to late July in 2011, when the following comprised the Pearl of Virtual Wisdom for that day…. I like it, so the hell with it, you’ll like it, too… or not, but, I’m guessing yes…
Ffolkes,
But then, penguins don’t generally display male pattern baldness as they age. Of course, it’s difficult to say, really. I mean how many aged penguins have YOU known intimately?……If you couldn’t tell already, it’s a Friday. Now, I have to admit, that doesn’t hold much value for me anymore; one day is pretty much like any other when one enters retirement mode. The trick is to look at each day individually, and fill it up with things which, in my working days, I didn’t have the time or wherewithal to do.
Of course, these days my wherewithal is looking a bit worn and shabby, but one must deal, because, hey, only game in town, right? It’s a good thing I’ve always been a bit of a fatalist; it comes in handy these days when I wonder “why?”…….these are my favorite type of pearls. Short, pithy one-liners that appear simple, but echo and reverberate throughout one’s psyche, revealing their depth only upon contemplation……enjoy!…..
“It doesn’t really matter what you can do if you don’t do it.” — Bram Moolenaar
“The more you love, the more you can love—and the more intensely you love. Nor is there any limit on how many you can love.” — Robert Heinlein
“Courage is the ladder on which all other virtues mount.” — Clare Booth Luce
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” — New Testament — John xv, 13
Live for those private moments of wild abandon! –Opus
The world out there really doesn’t give much of a damn what we do, so I would guess it becomes our personal responsibility to make sure our actions are honorable. It’s really too bad that particular idea never comes up in school; personally I don’t recall any classes on ethics or morality. I believe that is a mistake, because leaving that up to parents hasn’t been particularly effective in that respect. So…..teach your children well, feed them on your dreams, (thanks, CSN&Y) because chances are no one else will…… y’all take care out there….
__________________________________
Since I included one of my own poems above, here is one by an acknowledged master…..
HERE at right of the entrance this bronze head,
Human, superhuman, a bird’s round eye,
Everything else withered and mummy-dead.
What great tomb-haunter sweeps the distant sky
(Something may linger there though all else die;)
And finds there nothing to make its terror less
{Hysterica passio} of its own emptiness?
No dark tomb-haunter once; her form all full
As though with magnanimity of light,
Yet a most gentle woman; who can tell
Which of her forms has shown her substance right?
Or maybe substance can be composite,
profound McTaggart thought so, and in a breath
A mouthful held the extreme of life and death.
But even at the starting-post, all sleek and new,
I saw the wildness in her and I thought
A vision of terror that it must live through
Had shattered her soul. Propinquity had brought
Imagination to that pitch where it casts out
All that is not itself: I had grown wild
And wandered murmuring everywhere, ‘My child, my child! ‘
Or else I thought her supernatural;
As though a sterner eye looked through her eye
On this foul world in its decline and fall;
On gangling stocks grown great, great stocks run dry,
Ancestral pearls all pitched into a sty,
Heroic reverie mocked by clown and knave,
And wondered what was left for massacre to save.
~~ William Butler Yeats ~~
__________________________________
As noted in section one, above, I’ve turned off my brain for the day, (well, perhaps not noted, but implied…. no worries, it’s off….), and have been enjoying taking a cruise through some very old Pearls, from a couple of years ago…. It is interesting to see where my mind was then, and how it was looking at stuff in general… Fun, and a complete waste of time, for sure, so it fits right in with this morning’s agenda for me. I found the following Pearl, and thought it would go well to finish out today’s effort, or lack thereof…. It’s interesting, anyway….
Ffolkes,
The human condition. We all know what that is, from the inside. But explaining it to another is probably the single most difficult task communication has ever known. Every one of us, when tasked to explain ourselves, runs into a road block of dense resistance, and we end up stuttering or silent, or we lie. The essence of the difficulty lies in the fact that our perceptions are different; none of us has precisely the same reference points of experience, so attempting to define “self” becomes a matter of trying to find points of reference upon which we may agree.
From these points we may come to some small understanding, if there is sufficient desire on both to do so. But mostly, we just hide ourselves, or lie, because the effort to be understood is greater than the effort it takes to manipulate what we show to others. Most folks just don’t want to work very hard, and are content to “get by” by just showing those parts of themselves that they believe will be acceptable. Or, after achieving a certain age, they stop worrying about it altogether, and just say what they feel, or think, without regard to how it may be accepted. This is what most people call “freedom of speech”. But it’s all just another way we fool ourselves into thinking we understand the world around us, and “know” the human condition. After all, we’re humans ourselves, right? Think about it…….
One of these is not like the others…..it will be easy to spot, and has no real meaning beyond its presence. I just thought it looked good where it ended up, so it got left in……the rest of these are statements on the human condition. Which ones can you apply to yourself?……
“You know what it’s like to be dead. It’s just like it was before you were born. Remember what it was like before you were born?” — Evan
“I am the shadow my words cast.” — Octavio Paz
“I have come to the conclusion that my subjective account of my motivation is largely mythical on almost all occasions. I don’t know why I do things.” — J. B. S. Haldane
In ancient Egypt, cats were worshiped as gods. Cats have never forgotten this.
“If you don’t care where you are, you ain’t lost.” — Rune’s Rule.
“I used to be a FUNDAMENTALIST, but then I heard about the HIGH RADIATION LEVELS and bought an ENCYCLOPEDIA!!” — Zippy the Pinhead
“Know thyself”? If I knew myself, I’d run away. — Goethe
You already have your homework assignments, so I’ll leave you to it……enjoy the day…..y’all take care out there….
__________________________________
“The important thing is this: To be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.” — Charles DuBois
As is often the case, I don’t really know what prompted the last minute addition of the above quote, but, that’s okay, I’m pretty easy-going about that sort of stuff. It’s a survival technique, a defense against sheer insanity, which hovers ever near….. And, that is quite enough for one day, I should think, so, I’m outta here, with no regrets, but lots of second thoughts, as usual…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..
When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.
Which is Why….
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.
gigoid
gigoid 
Great poem, Ned – but driven by such pain. How it works, you say – me thinks, it doesn’t work the way it ought to – hence that never ending pain.
Amazing that modern medicine can’t fix it – other than resorting to narcotics in its various fancy names. And even that is not the pancea.
Can’t offer any advices here, my friend – truly am sorry.
Peace,
Eric
See below… 🙂 Saving bytes….
I think it should be ‘panacea’ 😦
You’re right, I think, panacea would be correct… Glad you liked the poem; it was very real that morning, as I recall… Fortunately, it hasn’t been as bad as it was then, at least, not too many times of late, and the drugs do help keep it manageable… As an athlete for much of my life, I’m kind of used to “playing with pain”, so, as long as it is manageable, I can deal with it…. asi es la vida, si? Besides, I can always comfort myself with the thought that we can only know as much joy as we have felt pain…. Sometimes, I even believe it….
At the time I wrote the poem, my situation was much darker, but, as you can see, creating Pearls is what helped me to make it to this point with as much sanity as I still have (which may not be all that much, come to think of it…. ) I’ll take what I can get, y’know?
Blessed Be, brother…
I loved your poem Sir it was much better than Yates’s effort!! 😉 xxxxx
Aw, shucks, ma’am…. 😳 I’m glad you liked it…. 😀
@+_*@
Reblogged this on gigoid and commented:
Ffolkes,
The BBR continues to draw my attention with more interest than what I can find at the computer, so, the next Pearl didn’t quite get done. Here’s another re-blog from about four & a half years ago… Let’s see what was going around in my head back then, shall we…. What’s going on there now will save itself for later…. Y’all have a great day; be well, happy, and strange, and things will turn out fine. See ya, ffolkes….
gigoid, the dubious
😎
“It doesn’t really matter what you
can do if you don’t do it.”
— Bram Moolenaar
Will Do..:)
“The more you love, the more you can love—and the more
intensely you love. Nor is there any limit on how many you can love.”
— Robert Heinlein
Particularly online
aFTer Ya Die And
YouR SoUL ReMains For to: LoVE..
For it’s True iN LiGHTLoVE iS NeVeR
From:
EVeR
HaVinG
to say sorry
now particularly when
wHat’s LeFT ReaL aS LoVE..:)
“Courage is the ladder on which all other virtues mount.”
— Clare Booth Luce
And A Calm Center of A Hurricane eye
Does MoRE in Chi Free without any Courage aT aLL BuTT BeNoWHeAR..;)
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
— New Testament — John xv, 13
And tHere is no smARTeR Man wHo enJoYS aLL HiS
LiFE aLL NoW THaT wHo leaves his and or her
SouL
BeHiND
to: LoVE ALiVE..:)
Live for those private moments of wild abandon!
–Opus
Public Hand iN Hand eVen GreateR DancE FReED..:)
“You know what it’s like to be dead.
It’s just like it was before you were born.
Remember what it was like before you were born?”
— Evan
i am
ALiVE
aLL i MusT KNoW NoW..:)
“I am the shadow my words cast.”
— Octavio Paz
And Feelings
And Senses
CoMinG
First Before
WordS And All Mechanical
RaTioNaLiTY IS A ReaLesT
Free WiLL to be Mastered First
iN A Mind and Body BaLaNCinG Preceding
aS A Grace oF
BaLaNCinG
FounDaTioN LoVE..:)
“I have come to the conclusion that my subjective
account of my motivation is largely mythical on almost
all occasions. I don’t know
why I do things.”
— J. B. S. Haldane
Sure.. Get iN Touch First
WitH A REgulation oF EmoTioNS
And Integrations of Senses as Commonly
Done
still
in
the same
Animal Kingdom MorE..:)
“In ancient Egypt, cats were worshiped as gods.
Cats have never forgotten this.”
“If you don’t care where you are, you ain’t lost.”
— Rune’s Rule.
True
Cats
Rule
A Balance
oF GRace NoW..
And they smell tHeiR
Way Home Never LeavinG NoW..
or
HoME
WiTHiN NoW..;)
“I used to be a FUNDAMENTALIST, but then I heard
about the HIGH RADIATION LEVELS and bought an
ENCYCLOPEDIA!!” — Zippy the Pinhead
Science of Religion
Religion of Science
Body
of
Political
Rules Still PiNE LoVE..
“Know thyself”?
If I knew myself, I’d run away.
— Goethe
i’M A Hugger..
All i reAlly Need From:
to: KNoW and Be @LeasT FoR NoW..:)