Pages

2018-08-18

"You wander hither and yon" . . .

1. Do you suppose that you alone have had this experience? Are you surprised, as if it were a novelty, that after such long travel and so many changes of scene you have not been able to shake off the gloom and heaviness of your mind? You need a change of soul rather than a change of climate. . . .

         Lands and cities are left astern,

your faults will follow you whithersoever you travel. 2. Socrates made the same remark to one who complained; he said: "Why do you wonder that globe-trotting does not help you, seeing that you always take yourself with you? The reason which set you wandering is ever at your heels." What pleasure is there in seeing new lands? Or in surveying cities and spots of interest? All your bustle is useless. Do you ask why such flight does not help you? It is because you flee along with yourself. You must lay aside the burdens of the mind; until you do this, no place will satisfy you.

3. . . . You wander hither and yon, to rid yourself of the burden that rests upon you, though it becomes more troublesome by reason of your very restlessness, just as in a ship the cargo when stationary makes no trouble, but when it shifts to this side or that, it causes the vessel to heel more quickly in the direction where it has settled. Anything you do tells against you, and you hurt yourself by your very unrest; for you are shaking up a sick man.

4. That trouble once removed, all change of scene will become pleasant; though you may be driven to the uttermost ends of the earth, in whatever corner of a savage land you may find yourself, that place, however forbidding, will be to you a hospitable abode. . . .

5. If you saw this fact clearly, you would not be surprised at getting no benefit from the fresh scenes to which you roam each time through weariness of the old scenes. For the first would have pleased you in each case, had you believed it wholly yours. As it is, however, you are not journeying; you are drifting and being driven, only exchanging one place for another, although that which you seek, – to live well, – is found everywhere. . . .

“The knowledge of sin is the beginning of salvation.” This saying of Epicurus seems to me to be a noble one. For he who does not know that he has sinned does not desire correction; you must discover yourself in the wrong before you can reform yourself. Some boast of their faults. Do you think that the man has any thought of mending his ways who counts over his vices as if they were virtues?

― Seneca, from "Moral letters to Lucilius/Letter 28"



2018-08-14

"august"



"Whatever is silenced will clamour to be heard,
though silently."

― Margaret Atwood

2018-06-15

"ruffles"



"The white light of truth, in traversing the many sided 
transparent soul of the poet, is refracted into iris-hued poetry."

― Herbert Spencer

2018-06-13

"peonies"




. . . 
"Do you also hurry, half-dressed and barefoot, into the garden, 
and softly, 
and exclaiming of their dearness, 
fill your arms with the white and pink flowers,

with their honeyed heaviness, their lush trembling, 
their eagerness
to be wild and perfect for a moment, before they are
nothing, forever?"


― Mary Oliver, from "Peonies"

2018-01-30

Befriend the Wind

If you ever loose your path
(as if in the midst of the wretched wild)

Consider greeting a bird, befriending a tree;
listen to the ancient callings of the steadfast wind
that spell out the four cardinal directions ―

Then a rose would be your confidant and aide
(for you'd know to read and understand her face)
towards this place of infinite solace

_ _ _

                                                          "Howling Winds" (2014)

2018-01-21

Winter poem

At the turn of the winter sea-
son(g)s rise to hail the Creator

The forest rumble and sway
and somber waves thunder and swell, roll over-
taken by the rugged wind
as bone-chilling squalls hurl giant
swaths of snow upon a distant harrowed field
where a seed has dropped ― to die

and bear
the fruit (of Man)

a prayer's unravelling to silence

_ _ _

"You fool! What you saw does not come to life unless it dies."
― 1 Corinthians 15:36




ЗИМНА ПОЕМА
(на Майка)

Край вълнолома на зимния сезон
песни се реят във възхвала на Създателя

Разлюляната гора бучи
повдигат се с грохот мрачни вълни, и падат
сломени от грубия вятър
и мразовити вихрушки запращат (вели)-
кански снопове от сняг надaлеч в разораното поле,
където едно зърно е паднало ― да си отиде

и прероди се
в нов (човешки) плод

една молитва се разплита в тишината

_ _ _

“Безумецо, що ти сееш, няма да оживее, ако не умре.” 
― 1 Коринтяни 15:36