Comments on: Ah, that’s the great puzzle!

By: derrickquix

derrickquix — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 13:49:31 +0000

thanks for the comments. Good stuff. What was that old public service announcement? Reading is Fundamental.?? On the other hand I’m reminded of Ecclesiasties 12:12 “And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.” Finding balance in all things it seems is the hardest part.

By: Jim

Jim — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:19:42 +0000

A few wise words from another poet, RUMI

FROM BOX TO BOX

Don’t weep.
The joy that has gone
will come `round again in another form –
Have no doubt about this!

A child’s first joy
comes from its mother’s milk;
After the child is weaned
his joy comes from drinking sweet wine.

This supreme joy has no resting place -
It enters one form then another,
from box to box – an eternal movement
between heaven and earth.

Here it comes, pouring down from the sky,
seeping into the earth,
and rising up again as a bed of roses.

Now it is water, now a plate of rice,
Now the swaying trees, now a horse and rider.
It lies within these forms for awhile
then bursts forth to become something new.

Isn’t this like our dreams? –
The body sleeps
while the soul moves on
to take other forms.
You say,
I dreamt I was a cypress, a bed of tulips,
the blossoms of roses and jasmines.

Then the soul returns, and you wake up –
the cypress is gone, the roses are gone.

I tell you truly,
everything you now see
will vanish like a dream.

I do not mean to trouble you, O friend,
with words so bold as these.
Perhaps you will only listen to God.
He speaks more gently than I.

But how will you ever hear Him with
All that blathering going on? –
Everyone is speaking about golden bread
yet no one has ever tasted it!

O my soul, where can I find rest
but in the shimmering love of his heart?
Where can I see the pure light of the Sun
but in the eyes of my own Shams-e Tabriz?

By: tim

tim — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 17:22:16 +0000

What a great entry. My compliments.

By: CD1

CD1 — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 09:20:07 +0000

When I read your post, I thought of Jack Nicholson in Kubrick’s The Shining, as he safekeeps The Overlook Hotel in the dead of winter and starts going stark raving “bughouse”–you know, typing “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” a kazillion times and drinking in the bar with dead people. The goriest scene is when that corpse woman stands up out of the bathtub and Nicholson hugs her flesh-decayed body.

If any one of you has not seen it recently, The Shining is a great movie to rent on a blistering cold winter’s night. It’s better than the Hemingway solution, certainly.

Adios.

By: Axel

Axel — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 21:21:25 +0000

Hi Derrick,
For a ‘mad individual’ you show a remarkable articulate and organized thoughts. When I am navigating across the oceans of my mind, thoughts of a Jester pop-up; “diamonded costume dripping shades of green”; just some words of another Derrick, some “obscure scottish poet”, a favourite. I cannot dwell too long on that, getting out and about in the outdoors brightens-up things quite a bit.