“The truth is straight ahead so don’t burn yourself instead;
try to learn instead of burn–hear what I said.”
~~ Jimi Hendrix ~~
Study in light & shadow….
Hajime…. Well, he said, it’s finally done. Since it is, he added, let’s forgo any nonsense, & just get it posted, without any of the usual folderol (great word….). In fact, we’re probably going to cause a bit of surprise, if not outright shock, at the suddenness of the shifts and changes you’ll experience today. Just in case you feel some skepticism, watch closely….
Shall we Pearl?….
“If all our misfortunes were laid in one common heap,
whence everyone must take an equal portion,
most people would be contented to take their own and depart.”
~~ Socrates ~~
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Given the length of time I had to find something, I suppose it’s a bit of a letdown to find I’ve gone with a default selection. So be it; at least it’s done. Moreover, it’s done well, with some of the finest music ever written…. Enjoy!….
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Chopin Classical Music
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Though less troublesome of late, personal demon wars continue to be waged on occasion. This one is from a time when I was trapped in some of Hell’s lower regions…. Thank goodness THAT’S over & done…
Banishing demons….
Endless nights lead inexorably into endless days
while the battle for peace rages.
Lost arts find new meaning used in new ways;
to burn, yearn, and turn all the new pages.
Darkness falls heavily on bowed shoulders, contrite;
fireworks travel fast in nervous tissue.
The pace is kept, clean, but, never erudite;
such a pale tale of ancient issue.
Peering in terror down long, long halls of night
brings only confusion, destitute in sorrow.
Cannot time become our enemy, eager to fight
on the side which may never see tomorrow?
The longing gaze of passion, for reason to live,
must fall ever more faithfully into sedition,
else the clinging visions we claim to give,
shall not prevent reaching inevitable perdition.
Rising up, clarity of purpose shines the light of day
upon such a desolate landscape of absent release.
There is no escape, no furthering of the way.
Time never knows how to grant peace.
~~ gigoid ~~
Yep. It’s new. Written last night, 11/23/2015, amazingly enough, in between bouts of pacing & twitching. Oh, joy!…. It helps. A little…..
***************************************
Naked Pearls
Signposts….
*******
“True merit, like a river, the deeper it is,
the less noise it makes.”
~~ Lord Halifax (1633-1695) ~~
*******
“It is not only for what we do that we are held responsible,
but also for what we do not do.”
~~ Moliere ~~
*******
“Fear is the lock and laughter the key to your heart.”
~~ Steven Stills ~~
*******
“Happiness follows sorrow,
sorrow follows happiness,
but when one no longer discriminates
between happiness and sorrow,
a good deal and a bad deed,
one is able to realize freedom.”
~~ Buddha ~~
*******
“All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love.”
~~ Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace ~~
*******
“By space the universe encompasses and swallows me up like a dot;
by thought I encompass the Universe.”
~~ Pascal, Pensees, n. 265 ~~
*******
“Listen to the colour of your dreams.”
~~ John Lennon 1966 ~~
*******
***************************************
There you have it, ffolkes. Not the greatest Pearl ever written, but, it’s got all the correct parts, so, we’re gonna fly with it. I cannot say with any degree of accuracy how long I’ll be absent this time; sitting down has become not merely problematic, but, actively painful to an extreme, to the point where I’m actively reluctant to do so at all. C’est la vie…. no choice but to obey my body’s demands. I’ll do my best to keep in touch, but, I have a feeling my days of consistency in posting are well past…. Sorry for my absence from y’all’s web sites, too; reading is getting harder every day, as I continue to slowly lose visual integrity, (translation: I’m going blind…) SIGH. Ah well, life goes on, & the BBR is calling me. I’ll be spending more time there than here, but, will try to drop in to check in when I can…. Y’all be well & happy, & stay strange…. See ya, ffolkes….
Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…
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.
“True merit, like a river, the deeper it is, the less noise it makes.”
~~ Lord Halifax (1633-1695) ~~
Willamette River, Oregon
Scenes from a train….
Hajime…. Living in today’s complex world requires some rather refined coping skills. Such a statement might generally call for a bit of explanation, but, I don’t think there’s much there to argue with; the evidence is pretty clear, for anyone with the wit to perceive it. If one pays much attention to all the crap flying at our heads, they take the chance they’ll miss something important, amongst all the unreliable information, spread so blatantly by those who find the need to lie and cheat their way through life, in order to feel they have some sort of control over others. This neurotic fear is one shared by all humans; some find rather more rational methods to deal with that fear, instead of giving in to its irrational demand for security, a condition unnatural in reality.
The above paragraph summarizes the current world fairly accurately, I’d say. You’ll note the absence of anything in the way of definite solution; that’s deliberate. I can’t honestly say I’ve found the only honorable path to follow; I only know it is one I can live with, according to the understanding of reality I’ve come to hold as the most true. Each of us must decide for ourselves how we will react to our fears, whether they are based on rational information, or not. Each must decide for themselves how to face that fear, or, for that matter, whether we will face it, at all, or allow it to determine our acts according to only that which others have told us is true, by their own standards and beliefs. To choose our way, our own path, is what makes us human; to remove that choice is to deny our humanity.
So be it. I can’t say it much clearer than that; how you take it is up to you; what you do with it is also your choice. If nothing else, here in ECR, that choice will always be yours. May it always be so…. which is also your responsibility. It’s a tough world out there, but, it’s well worth making every effort to make it the one you can live with, honorably, free from the fear that comes with ignorance…
I guess that was a rantish sort of introduction, wasn’t it? Oh, well, such is life. I can’t really say what prompted all the above, but, then, I don’t really care. It’s what it is, and that’s all it is. Just like me. And, of course, Popeye, who taught us all about standing up to fear…. Ya only have to find what your spinach looks, and tastes like….
Shall we Pearl?
“Human language is like a cracked kettle
on which we beat out tunes for bears to dance to,
when all the time we are longing to move the stars to pity.”
~~ Gustave Flaubert ~~
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I’ve included this young man’s music previously, & consider him one of the finest guitarists alive. He’s getting quite a bit of publicity now, which is well-deserved…. By following the links in the video to You Tube, you’ll find a great deal of his work, with some of the best music you’ll ever hear…. Enjoy!….
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Mariousz Goli While My Guitar Gently Weeps
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Dreaming, I wait….
In the most patient moments of rationality
kindness flows smoothly in a special milieu,
fallow thoughts speed first from equality
to give no anxious fever, anger to eschew.
Indignant mothers and step-sons in-law
shall fade simply from brilliant to grey,
intoning ritual dogma, fresh, avid, and raw,
falling, falling, in massive pastoral disarray.
Safety lives not, save brightly in ignorant bliss,
it follows us all, silent and infinitely frail,
foremost too often, soft as a virgin kiss,
alive, always eager, willing, and pale.
Intimate knowledge finds only the bold few
with courage and virtue to gift, unbidden.
No solemn royal version may pass in review,
true love for man, never to remain unhidden.
Sweet feathers of Emily’s hope uplift,
calm, drowsy episodes bursting with light,
With final glad cries we set ourselves adrift,
swimming in the oceans of natural delight.
When sorrow is banished, in ages yet to come,
roots solidly anchored, cold and remote,
Ample supplies of kindness sit silent and dumb,
and the old stranger shrugs on his faded coat.
Dreaming, then, I wait with shadows in the night
aspiring to inspire, a message from the muse’s heart
Never forgotten images, framed in color bright,
tempt me only, grieving, steeped in serenity’s arcane art….
~~ gigoid ~~
8/18/2013
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Naked Pearls
Start to End….
*******
“Doing it the hard way is always easier.”
~~ Murphy’s Paradox ~~
*******
“I am as a weed
Flung from the rock, on Ocean’s foam to sail
Where’er the surge may sweep, the tempest’s breath prevail.
~~ Lord Byron — Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Canto iii, Stanza 2 ~~
*******
“What is a weed?
A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.”
~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~~
*******
“Treat people as if they were what they ought to be,
and you help them to become what they are capable of being.”
~~ Johann Wolfgan von Goethe ~~
*******
“For when I was a babe and wept and slept, Time crept.
When I was a boy and laughed and talked, Time walked.
Then when the years saw me a man, Time run.
But as I older grew, Time flew.”
~~ Guy Pentreath ~~
*******
“And in the end
the love you take
is equal to the love you make.”
~~ The Beatles, The last lyric of their last song ~~
*******
Homer: “Marge, is this a happy ending or a sad ending?”
Marge: “It’s an ending. That’s enough.”
~~ The Simpsons ~~
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Hmm… In looking back over this morning’s mess, it’s less messy than it felt. Not too shabby for off-the-proverbial-cuff, eh? It’s okay if you don’t agree; it won’t hurt my feelings. In fact, I liked this one so much, I’ll try to do it again tomorrow, just to see if I can. What the hell, I’ve got nothin’ better to do, right? See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes; by now, it’s considered de rigeur….
Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…
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.
“Emancipate yourself from mental slavery;
none but ourselves can free our minds.”
~~ Bob Marley ~~
Random Building, Liverpool, England
Hajime…. I’d thought to begin today’s effort with a fictional opening. The resulting morass of insanity created in my mind was too much, even for me. Rivers of blood, fires raging, world’s colliding, dogs & cats mating; not going there so early in the morning. Besides, I figured, given the explosion of Gentle Readers who came by yesterday, I’d best come up with something a bit more, shall we say, attractively intellectual, if I hope to see any of them again. Of course, finding anything resembling intellectual in this head may be asking a bit much of reality, but, hey, it was a thought…. Not all of them can be good ones….
Since any elegance has been shot down so effectively, maybe I should wander off into nonsense for a while. It’s one of my best things, especially on a day like today, when Murphy hovers over my shoulder, tapping random fingers to create typos, and the forces of chaos are standing ready to bury anything resembling coherence. Trying for ANY directed thinking is probably not going to work; entropy rules apply on all levels during such a storm of inanity. I suppose I could shoot for sheer insanity, but, that always makes it hard to get back to even a semblance of normalcy. Maybe today isn’t the best time for that.
Oh, well. So much for thinking my way out of this. Leelu isn’t helping either; her only answer to my queries is, “Aren’t you going to throw that paper?” She’s kinda focused on routine at this time of day. Damn! It sure can be a pisser, ffolkes. Trying to come up with a compelling intro every day is NOT as simple as it may seem, especially for someone with my proclivity for self-abnegation, combined with an extreme talent for waffling. Hey! Wait! There’s the ticket! Yeah, that’s it; we’ll smother the whole thing in syrup! Then, nobody will be able to even tell how awful it was…. I knew I could figure it out….
On that odd little note, I think we’ll go on, before this becomes any more impenetrably obscure. I think, if we go on right now, we may be able to save this. It’s worth a try. We’ll just use this ruthless little number right here, which will get us out of here practically before I can fini….
Shall we Pearl?….
All of us who are worth anything,
spend our manhood in unlearning the follies,
or expiating the mistakes of our youth.”
~~ Shelley ~~
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Yep. You guessed it. Today is a default music day. How do I know this? Well, it may come as something of a shock, but, I just know. So be it. Give yourself half a chance, & you’ll enjoy it. A whole chance could lead to even bigger things, but, I don’t want to spoil any surprises, so, just listen up, & pay attention. All will be well….
In the past five years or so, while writing this blog, I’ve discussed this concept any number of times. In doing so, I have progressed in my thinking from a tentative agnosticism to a firm atheism regarding the idea of a God. All my explorations and research into the subject have confirmed my initial unease at accepting the generally accepted view, to wit: I find absolutely no convincing evidence in reality to support the idea there is some supernatural being sitting up in the sky, who created all we perceive, and actively gives a crap about what happens to us. Sorry, but, that’s the truth; there just isn’t anything to be found to make that true; this makes believing in it a delusion, as far as I am concerned.
Once that is accepted, it becomes easy to see just how bad the whole idea has been for humanity. The difficulty arises from the simple fact that those who choose to believe such nonsense make a couple assumptions, neither of which is true, but, if held as such, cause the believer to act completely contrarily to all common decency, because they have made themselves separate from the rest of humanity, by choice. One false assumption made is to believe the idea that only they possess the actual truth about such matters. This gives them a false sense of entitlement, while simultaneously giving them permission to cease all rational thought, both of which are disastrous for society at large.
I could, and probably should, continue in this vein for some time…. However, to keep from overdoing it, I’ll retreat into the archives to finish this small indictment…. Here is a relatively short, but sweet, treatise on this subject, from a slightly different starting point, though nonetheless cogent for that. It will do until I build up enough new angst to finish this off properly. Plus, it will move us along, so we aren’t stuck here in today, forever…. Enjoy!
From 12/5/2012:
One day a gate breaks down between heaven and hell. So St. Peter arrives on the scene and calls out for the devil.
And the devil saunters over and says, “What do you want?”
And St. Peter says, “Satan, it’s your turn to fix it this time.”
And the devil says, “I’m sorry. But my men are too busy to worry about fixing a mere gate.”
And St. Peter says, “Well, then, I’ll have to sue you for breaking our agreement.”
And the devil says, “Oh yeah? Where are you going to get a lawyer?”
— Soupy Sales
It occurs to me, Soupy’s next line from St. Peter would have to be…. “I don’t need one, I’ve got a fix in with the judge….” That would give not only balance to the argument, but would accurately reflect the actual level of corruption implied in the picture of the universe painted by the Judeo-Christian model of religion. It would also probably more closely reflect Soupy’s sense of humor, which was much more pointed than he got credit for…. People just thought he was a little strange sometimes, not recognizing lines that were making active fun of the establishment (as we old hippies were wont to call the mainstream of American society…..).
In reality, this joke is another example of the bad press that the Devil always gets; it isn’t often you’ll see a joke that ends up with Satan coming out on top. No, he is always given the role of the asshole, the manipulator, the one who wants to drag us down into Hell for eternal torment. Everyone seems to forget that they have ascribed omnipotence, and omniscience to God, and that He is the one who a) made the Devil the way he is, and b) could change it if he wished…. which seems to indicate that he DOESN’T wish to rid us of Satan, but prefers he be around to tempt and distract us…. That sounds to me like just a bit of manipulation in itself; how ’bout y’all?….
The preachers would have us believe that God allows Satan to exist out of his sheer benevolence, forgetting this is the same God who, in the Old Testament, sent forty bears to a town to kill all the children, just because a few small boys made fun of one of His prophets. He is also the one who threw Satan out of Heaven for objecting to some of what He had done on Earth, then turned around and allowed him free access to us humans, just so He would have a ready-made way to test us at His convenience. Just a little self-serving, don’t you think? This God, to my way of thinking, acts more like a spoiled little kid than a deity capable of creating universes…..
Okay, I’ll quit now. It’s really too easy to shoot at dogma; it never tries to hide, and just stands there, looking dumb, as you sight in on its forehead. But, hey, it’s a necessary job, and somebody’s got to do it…. Boy, it sure would be nice, though, to see humanity grow up, and learn to face reality without crutches, and without having to invent a supernatural being to explain away the stuff that isn’t clearly understood…. But, I guess it is job security, in that sense, because it means I’ll always have something about which to write….
“I’m RELIGIOUS!! I love a man with a HAIRPIECE!! Equip me with MISSILES!!” — Zippy the Pinhead
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Momentary Terror
Absently casual, memories pester endlessly
leaving only bleeding remnants, amiable and loving.
Coming awake, I cry to still the pain, shamelessly.
Elsewhen, time gives surcease, if only to live,
shoring broken pilings, worn and gray.
Passing on, I laugh at the pain, accept all it will give.
Time will build a shelter, warm and ever safe
save for Fate’s busy hands.
Enduring, I follow the pain, knowing it will chafe.
Fixed against a darkened sky of starry black
such beauty brings us to our knees.
Entranced, I welcome the pain, ’tis all I lack…..
~~ gigoid ~~
2/4/2013
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Naked Pearls
Truth in advertising…
*********
“A man that should call everything by its right name
would hardly pass the streets
without being knocked down as a Common Enemy.”
~~ Lord Halifax ~~
*********
“Driven by the force of love
the fragments of the world seek each other
that the world may come into being.”
~~ Teilhard de Chardin ~~
*********
“Everything that I understand,
I understand only because I love”
~~ Leo Tolstoy ~~
*********
“A ship in harbor is safe — but that is not what ships are for.”
~~ John A. Shedd ~~
*********
“For age is opportunity no less
Than youth itself, though in another dress.
And as the evening twilight fades away,
The sky is filled with stars, invisible by day.
It is never too late to start doing what is right.
Never.”
~~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ~~
*********
“Nowhere is now here.”
~~Nakagawa Soen Roshi ~~
*********
“Around existence twine,
(Oh, bridge that hangs across the gorge!)
ropes of twisted vine.”
~~ Basho ~~
*********
“An it harm none,
Do what ye will.”
~~ Wiccan Credo ~~
*********
“Do you love it do you hate it
There it is the way you made it”
~~ Frank Zappa, “Brown Shoes Don’t Make It” ~~
*********
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Okay, ffolkes. It’s done. Not only is it done, but, upon reading it, I have to say…. Now, THAT’S a Pearl! Full of smarm, nonsense, sense, and some pointed sarcasm, too. Not bad for an old fart with flat feet, flatulence, and a funny red nose. Since I don’t think I can possibly do any more damage than I’ve already done, I’ll leave you here, sans any further torment. I will, however, issue the usual caveat and disclaimer, to wit: it’s not my fault! If you can believe that, my work here is done. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes; just try to stop me….
Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…
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.
Truth be told, getting up when I do to write these Pearls is becoming more of a chore than it ever has in the past….. While fighting the pre-coffee, pre-magic cream kick-in, and the lethargy that now dogs me each morning, I experienced a small epiphany…. and then lost it….. It’s really too bad, too, because I’m fairly sure it was important, and would have made my life, if not easier, at least more comfortable…. SIGH…. I know it’s going to be a tough day when my own mind fails to get on board with the program, in spite of the offerings made by reality to expiate the difficulty….
I suppose I’ll have to push on, though, as my sense of Duty is so entwined with this purpose, this process will plague me until my last breath…. and possibly beyond…. Isn’t THAT a scary thought? Oh well, it’s not as if I didn’t know all of this coming in; it’s just, as I said, one of those mornings, when it all seems more than I can bear…. Of course, I can bear a lot, but, that doesn’t mean I like it…. I may have, and be able to deal with, a lot of pain, but, in doing so, I tend to lose track of Mr. Nice Guy…. and don’t regret a moment of it when I do….
Since, however, I AM such a nice person, at the core, I always feel bad whenever I chew on someone, even if they deserve it (as is most often the case, I find…. stupid is as stupid does, after all….). I don’t know if that makes up for my grumpiness, karmically speaking, but, it does keep me from chewing all the way down to the bone…. most times….. I can’t help it if people keep doing stupid right in front of me, though, so, I’ve come to the conclusion the whole issue is one I can’t afford to ignore, at least from a legal standpoint….
Now, from analyzing that last paragraph, I see we have reached a point where reality no longer has any influence over my mind at all…. This can be a good thing, or not, depending on how I deal with this last portion of this intro…. If I can work this right, we’ll be okay, just a bit stiff and awkward, especially on the turns…. If not, well, I may as well just go into the archives now, and be done with it…. Either way, my thumb is screaming at me, so it will have to be a fast one, to get done before my right hand becomes useless for typing….
On looking back over what has transpired to this point, I’m afraid my prediction holds…. this could get ugly, or it could turn to shit, in a heartbeat….. or, it could be the best Pearl ever…. at this point, there’s no way to tell…. Well, actually, since this intro is such a hodge-podge of mixed ingredients, some good, some bad, that “best Pearl” category is probably out of the question…. How about we shoot for “coherent”?…. That, at least, sounds doable….
Shall we Pearl?…..
“I may not understand what you say, but I’ll defend to your death my right to deny it.” — Albert Alligator, in Pogo, 26 September 1951
“Ah! don’t say you agree with me. When people agree with me I always feel that I must be wrong.” — Oscar Wilde
Don’t fret…. I’m not going to rant, even though I could….. This article is here to provide the latest development in the ongoing saga of the Snowden Effect…. The poor German spy they arrested was apparently subverted by the NSA, or some other agency in the US government, for what seems to be a pretty paltry sum…. If I’m reading it right, this terminally bozoid personality was paid a measly 2500 Euros to spy for our side…. It doesn’t seem like much, to me, for the risk of destroying one’s entire life, but, then, I’m not stupid, either, even if my nose IS red, and large, and makes a loud noise when squozen….. squuzzed…. squeezed….
Any who, such rampant dumbness doesn’t deserve my rant, though I wouldn’t object to putting it onto the NSA…. Instead, though, to foster a bit of tolerance in me, and avoid becoming even MORE angst-filled than I am already, I’ll go with an old-school pearl, targeted at those same federales who are making such a nuisance of themselves, by stealing not only the public’s money, while destroying its trust, but are also stealing our data, merely to justify their own deeply seated paranoia…. Yes, ffolkes, I give you, The Asininnies!….
“Life is a search after power.” — Emerson
(Well, it certainly is in Washington, D.C…..)
“Waco means the government can kill anyone it doesn’t like and get a 94% approval rating.” — Jeff Chan
(Especially if they can find someone else to blame it on….)
“I smell a rat.” — Patrick Henry, upon hearing about the Constitutional Convention, which eventually overthrew the first Federal Government of the United States
(Guess what, ffolkes…. the rat never left….)
“War loves to seek its victims in the young.” — Sophocles (496-406 BC) — Scyrii, Frag. 507
“A man that should call everything by its right name would hardly pass the streets without being knocked down as a Common Enemy.” — Lord Halifax
(This one is still true….. People have always had a hard time swallowing the truth, and, human nature hasn’t changed a whit…..)
“It is as useless to argue with those that have renounced the use and authority of reason as to administer medication to the dead.” — Thomas Paine
(Gee, sounds like they’re talking about the recent GOP runoff election in Mississippi…. where the Tea Party had a number of candidates running….)
Okay, so, it’s not the best pearl ever, and it’s all littered with comments…. Deal with it…. At least I’m done, and we can go find a poem now….
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I believe I have a poem percolating, somewhere in the hidden, far reaches of my mind; I can sort of feel the whirling vortex of burgeoning creative forces gaining speed, sucking in words, ideas, and perceptions to formulate some sort of outburst from my alter-ego, wherever it may be hiding…. That must be why I’ve been using so many of my older poems…. it sort of gives me a push in the right direction when I see the former results of this process in me…. Now, all I have to do is wait until it starts bleeding out, and try to get it on screen….
For now, I’ve been feeling a lot of wanderlust lately; I need to be out and gone, seeing some new part of the world where I’ve never been, or some part I’ve always wanted to explore…. Mostly, when I feel that, Ireland is the place that comes to mind…. I’ve wanted to explore the country, and get to know the people, for much of my adult life, and the day each in Dublin, Cork, and Belfast, while on my cruise last year, just isn’t enough to fulfill that desire…. Hence, I’ve decided that the Emerald Isle will be my next destination; I’ve already started saving up…. To celebrate the decision, here’s a poem I wrote a couple years ago, on that very subject….
Days and Nights of Eire
Comforting, a dream creeps oft into my mind
On the elven hills of Eire lives the vision I find.
Elegant, gracious, everlastingly draped in beauty
Just payment of simple homage lives as joyous duty.
Fairies and druids walk abroad in ghostly parade
Gracing each hearth with its own welcoming shade.
Castles and heroes yet live in tale and song
Proving love for the land in each heart strong.
From cold of winter into glorious young spring
Brown, and gray, to emerald green songs to sing
Soft rains always follow winter’s great tempest
Eire dons its emerald coat from east to west.
Old and strong, connections call out in dreams
Nothing that was known remains as it seems.
Immersion in ancient runes and battle hymns
Offering sanity in place of grievous whims.
Time and place can tell a much different tale
Judgment should never be a final sale.
Yet something solid and real calls me to go see
Where dreams of loving beauty may actually be….
~~ gigoid ~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here I am again, lost in space, once again, sans any photos, or other means of producing anything worthwhile…. Having reached the third section, though, I am authorized to go with impulse, which, in this case, apparently bears a strong resemblance to laziness…. You know what that means…. another random, harlequin, old-school pearl, just because I can… Enjoy, ffolkes, this is all you get today…. Chalk it up to post-holiday depression, I guess… That always happens when I hear something like the first quote below, which I have no doubt is based on the truth….
“We have killed more people celebrating Independence Day than we lost fighting for it.” — Will Rogers
“Virtue is a kind of health, beauty and good habit of the soul.” — Plato (B.C. 427?-347?)
“Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, iii, 11
“It is folly for a man to pray to the gods for that which he has the power to obtain by himself.” — The Vatican Sayings, Epicurus
“Things are not always what they seem.” — Phaedrus (c. 8 A.D.) — Book iv, Fable 2, 5
“Ignorance plays the chief part among men, and the multitude of words;” — Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Cleobulus, iv
“Do you have change for a paradigm?” — Smart Bee
Ah, yes…. An excellent pearl, of its type….. I find it apropos, somehow, that the only inclusion that came from a time period AFTER the first century A.D.. was from Will Rogers….
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I’m not going to whine, but that turned on me, and became more of an ordeal even than I’d imagined it would be…. It’s done, though, which is probably for the best….. I could conceivably hurt more than just myself by continuing….. Besides, my brain is now empty, so, I’ll be on my way…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, should the universe see fit to give me a small break…..
Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
and everyone else, too…
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.
I believe I’m suffering a universal page fault in my brain…. I’m not entirely sure exactly what that is, but, I know when I see it on my computer screen, it’s a bad thing, and that’s what we have here, for sure and for certain….. a bad thing. Not unusual, not surprising, but bad…. Still, my heart beats in my chest, and my breath continues to go in and out of my lungs, so, I suppose I’d best get on with this….
I’m burnt…. baked, fried, sautéed, grilled, whichever method you choose, I’m way overdone….. I know it. The symptoms have been obvious for days now, but, I’ve been unwilling to admit it, or them, because I don’t know what I’ll do if I can’t write…. Talk about diffuse anxiety! This is more of a specific anxiety, actually, one that strikes every time I suffer one of these burn-out periods…. Not only is my brain having a hard time deciding what to write about (which, if you stop to think about it, is nothing new….), but, actively resists making the choice, knowing that it will have to try to fulfill whatever it is I’ve come up with, one way or another… Of late, it seems to have been more another, than it has been one way…
Whatever THAT means…. I guess my vaulting ambition, to write more and better, has finally reached an end point, and my creativity, such as it is, is in active rebellion, at having to come up with yet another set of outstanding verses and/or phrases, to whet your appetite for more…. I am having a hard time finding the angst and outrage I need to rant, and my sleep patterns are getting so regular, my brain is getting fuzzy from sleeping so much (which really is NOT a complaint, just an observation…. better to sleep too much than too little, for sure….) In the past nearly three years, I’ve written so much that I may have inadvertently emptied out my bucket of creative ideas, before it has had a chance to refill from the well…..
This blankness in my head obviously doesn’t stop me from writing about nothing much; that seems to have been a skill I’ve perfected, or at least, gotten adept at using…. observe, if you will, these three-plus paragraphs of meandering blather, which has just poured out, once the subject, or, in this case, the lack thereof, was decided upon. I don’t seem to have a problem writing, once I know what I’m writing about…. it’s the figuring out part that is getting harder all the time. I’ve used, and re-used, and used again, every subject known to man, and a few he’d rather forget. My ranting seems to be getting to the point where everything I write sounds familiar, with good reason, as I’ve said it all before….
This is why you’ve seen more old-school pearls lately…. Old-school pearls, by the nature of their construction process, are always relatively fresh. The subjects chosen are often self-directed, in that I have no plan ahead of time about which quotes I will choose, only a vague idea of an area of study to head for, in a general way. The software program I use, Smart Bee, is random enough that every time is different, and the only difficult part is not repeating oneself in terms of those quotes that are chosen, which is fairly simple for someone with a good memory, such as myself…. In essence, pearls of virtual wisdom are easy money, for a writer; the process resembles walking down the beach and picking out the prettiest sea shells to take home….
Ah well, another intro spent wandering around the back corridors of my mind, looking at the artwork and wondering at the massive spaces filled with nothing much…. much like these paragraphs…. I’m not sure what I’m going to do about my burn-out, but, it is all moot, because my internet service company has gone belly up, thanks to one of the telecom giants hogging resources (long story), and I’ll be losing my internet service at home for a time…. I’m not sure if I will keep posting daily, or not…. we’ll have to see. But, if you don’t see a post for several days, hang in there, I will return eventually… It may not be until after my upcoming move to another house, but, I will be back, hopefully with new resolve, and new material….
Shall we Pearl, while we can?…..
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Random, old-school, harlequin pearl…. the best kind….
“The day is the same length as anything that is the same length as it.” — Lewis Carroll
And taste
The melancholy joy of evils past:
For he who much has suffer’d, much will know.
— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — The Odyssey of Homer, Book xv, Line 434
“We find it hard to believe that other people’s thoughts are as silly as our own.” — James Harvey Robinson
HUMAN — The human being either evolved from the biologically very similar ape, or was created along with the rest of the world in a six-day creative spurt by an anonymous god. The human body is a wonderful thing. Well, most of them are. Humans have one mouth and a limited number of genitals, which is probably just as well. — Daniel Bowen’s TOXIC CUSTARPEDIA
“Intelligence has much less practical application than you’d think.” — Scott Adams, Dilbert.
“Nothing can be created from nothing.” Lucretius (55 BC)
“A man that should call everything by its right name would hardly pass the streets without being knocked down as a Common Enemy.” — Lord Halifax
As advertised, the best kind…. It took a bit longer than I planned on, but, this came out very well, and, to my way of looking at things, it even came out less obscure than is commonly true… Well, it’s clear to me, anyway, and hopefully, if you let it percolate, it will become clear to you as well…. If not, well, hmm… too bad?…..
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“Universe: All-purpose poem.” — Ray Hand
A Thing of Beauty (Endymion)
A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its lovliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing
A flowery band to bind us to the earth,
Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth
Of noble natures, of the gloomy days,
Of all the unhealthy and o’er-darkn’d ways
Made for our searching: yes, in spite of all,
Some shape of beauty moves away the pall
From our dark spirits. Such the sun, the moon,
Trees old and young, sprouting a shady boon
For simple sheep; and such are daffodils
With the green world they live in; and clear rills
That for themselves a cooling covert make
‘Gainst the hot season; the mid-forest brake,
Rich with a sprinkling of fair musk-rose blooms:
And such too is the grandeur of the dooms
We have imagined for the mighty dead;
An endless fountain of immortal drink,
Pouring unto us from the heaven’s brink.
~~ John Keats ~~
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I figure, since I’m being somewhat obfuscatory today, I’d cheat a little, and go with an old school pearl from the archives…. this one is from the old days, when I was still employed by the State of California, and sent these morning pearls out to about 300 or so of my peers, for their daily, morning dose of reality, right there in their inbox each day…. This one is apparently from somewhere around 2008….
Out of the East…
Ffolkes,
“Interesting” is only the beginning. As humans, we tend to get bored when not stimulated by a challenge of some sort. If the world does not provide one, we are perfectly okay with making it up. Something about the perversity of human nature, I suppose, though it seems a bit dramatic to me. Ah well, our’s is not to reason why, etc., except it is, or should be, do and die, not do or die. Cuz that’s what is at the end of the road for all of us. Kinda puts us on the same playing field, eh? Here…. I’m feeling less than Occidental this morning……
“Character is doing the right thing when nobody’s looking.There are too many people who think that the only thing that’s right is to get by, and the only thing that’s wrong is to get caught.” — J. C. Watts
Always we hope
Someone else has the answer
Some other place will be better
Some other time it will all work out. This is it.
No one else has the answer
No other place will be better
And it has already turned out.
At the center of your being You have the answer;
You know who you are and what you want.
There is no need to turn outside
For better seeing.
Rather abide at the center of your being
For the more you leave it
The less you learn. Search your own heart and see the way to do is to be.
— Lao Tzu
Y’all take care out there…..
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Considering the relative rush job this Pearl constitutes, I’m impressed. It’s a bit choppy, but hangs together pretty well, for something I cobbled together in about 90 minutes time. What I related regarding my internet connection was truth, so this may be my last post, until I figure out what I’ll do about service, since I’ll be moving in about 31 days… oh, joy…. Any who, for now, this will do, even if not Pulitzer material…. 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 