Alone with a Friend (Yen Chun Cheryl Chen)

Alone drinking coffee,
My dear mug and me,
I look out my window,
Earth muffled in snow.
Within, safe and warm,
Suddenly so calm –
A feeling of bliss,
Angelic stillness.

Only an avalanche
From the tree's topmost branch
Penetrates these four walls –
Caressing the silence
As it falls.

Translation: —okei

Eulogy of Short Forms

Eulogy of the short story (in two haikus and a couplet)

Over far too soon,
The dark tale written well will
Have its way with you.
 

Short forms are the boo!
Their palms light with quick delight
Wrench your heart in two.

So leave them be my friend.
And they’ll leave you the end.

—okei

Inspired by: http://silverfysh.wordpress.com/2013/02/21/short-fiction-or-bust/

Across life's sea...

Across life's sea...
A warm glow, a sunset, a starless night,
A vast ocean of despondency.

A memory...
A memory of warmth and light,
A hope, a prayer, a desire.

And we plough on...
In laughter, in sleep, in death,
A vast ocean of discouragement.

And we tear down to the bare bones
And we rise up to the snowy peaks,
What keeps us going?...

The power, the strength, the will,
The knowledge soft and gentle,
Rippling deep within us...

Yes to the world and all who love,
Yes to everything that breathes or moves,
Yes! my love, my sweet, my dream...

Everything will be ok,
Come at once, we'll dance and dine,
And spare no effort from this day
Nor waste another line.

—okei

Two Poems by Lorca

Philosopher Will Buckingham plays classical guitar, accompanied by two poems of Federico García Lorca in translation and a selection of Bulgarian art. The video was taken at the Bulgarian Cultural Institute, 15th Feb. 2013. at a book reading of 'Descent of the Lyre'. More information here.

"Arbolé, Arbolé seco y verdé" literally means "Tree, tree dry and green" but it is almost impossible to translate capturing both the rhyming sound of it, and the opposition between "dry" and "green". So it is best left in Spanish.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pym3t1YZikA

 Arbolé, Arbolé... (original)

Arbolé, Arbolé
Seco y verdé.

The girl with the beautiful face
Is gathering olives
The wind, prince of towers
takes her by the waist.

Four horsemen pass by
on Andalusian ponies
with suits of azure and green
and long flowing robes.
"Come to Cordoba, young dear"
The girl does not hear.

Three young bullfighters pass by,
Slender about their waists
with suits of orange
and swords of ancient silver.
"Come to Sevilla, young dear"
The girl does not hear.

When the evening draws on,
In purple dusk diffusing,
a young man passes by carrying
roses and myrtles of moonlight.
"Come to Granada, young dear"
But the girl does not hear.

The girl with the beautiful face
still goes on gathering olives
with the grey arm of the wind
encircling her waist.

Arbolé! Arbolé!
Seco y verde.


Captive (original)

Through the indecisive
branches
went a maiden
who was life.
Through the indecisive
branches.
With a tiny mirror,
she reflected the day
which was aglow
upon her clear forehead.
Through the indecisive
branches.
Upon night's shadows,
lost, she wandered,
weeping dew,
for time held captive.
Through the indecisive
branches.

Lovers' Truth

The desert is a pathless land

For every path is steeped in sand.
Since we embrace the desert wide
We must not from our sadness hide.

For sadness is a ray of light,
A star that guides us through the night.
Lest I forget, lead me brave friend
But lead your own path till the end.

—okei

Photo: 'Purmamarca', courtesy of Hille. In the native Aymara language of the Andes, purma-marca literally means desert-city. 

To be with you...

To be with you this evening,
rarest of the evenings all,
And listen to the whispering leaves
and to the night bird’s call
The silvery moonlight on your face-
To be with you in some still place.
To be with you somewhere within
this evening’s mystic shade,
To hear your plans and hopes
and tell you mine, all unafraid
That you’d forget to hold them dear,
When I’m away and you’re not here
To be somewhere alone with you
and watch the myriad stars,
Far golden worlds beyond the noisy
earth’s unkindly jars,
As quietly they sail the night’s sea
Above all the world and you and me.

—Max Ehrmann

In my Book of Dreams

In my Book of Dreams
 

Moistened lips and hands
Tremble in expectation
Reaching for your kiss

Vanished from us now
Are the exquisite stanzas
In my book of dreams. 

—okei

The Fog has Cleared

I cannot say exactly
When it happened…
What does it matter?

—okei :^)

 

Paintings: 

Spring (1925)

Moon at Megome (1930) 

woodcut prints by Kawase Hasui

Beautiful Stained Glass (Jesus College)

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub041pseYJc

Photos courtesy of TheRevSteve on Flickr. 
How TheRevSteve took such great photos:  http://quotidiancleric.wordpress.com/... 

Music by Jesus Choir at Compline

Stained Glass designs mainly by William Morris & Edward Burne-Jones

(in order of appearance)

Moses, Samuel, David, Solomon

Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham

Four Cardinal (Human) Virtues: Temperance, Justice, Fortitude, Prudence & their opposites: anger, slander, timidity, stupidity

Three Theological Virtues: Hope, Faith & Charity, with corresponding vices underfoot

Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Powers, Dominions across the first row. Principalities, virtues, archangels, angels, imago dei across the second.

St. Ursula, St. Dorothy, St. Radegund around whose convent now the chapel Jesus was built, St. Cecilia, St. Catherine across the first row. St. Jerome, St. Gregory, Bishop Alcock the founder, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine.

Bishop Alcock of Ely, founder of Jesus College

Angel playing violin

Angels playings cymbals & harp

Angels playing dulcimer & double-pipe

John, sibyls alongside

Luke, sibyls alongside

Mark, sibyls alongside

Matthew, sibyls alongside

Crest of Hugo de Balsham who founded the first Cambridge college (Peterhouse) in Bishop Alcock's chapel in Ely Cathedral

The baby Jesus, with mother Mary and shepherds adoring

The young Jesus confounding the scholars in the temple of Jerusalem

Inner chapel window, Agnus Dei (lamb of God) at the centre of a cinquefoil rose

Patience, Obedience & Docility

The original stained glass designs were destroyed by Puritan fundamentalists under Cromwell during the English Reformation. The new designs were done mainly by William Morris & Edward Burne-Jones in the 19th century. Notice the duality, good often literally stepping over evil. Notice the female saints are positioned superior to the male. Perhaps this is because they were literally there first — Jesus Chapel was originally a convent of St. Radegund (6th century) before it was appropriated to be the centrepiece of Jesus College, founded by Bishop Alcock (16th century). We might conjecture that the ordering left to right is chronological, but interesting that the right-most (right sometimes considered dominant) of these windows reads out: Solomon, Wisdom, Love (in the sense of charitas, or agape in Paul's letter to the Corinthians). Love is indeed the highest theological virtue, Wisdom the highest cardinal (human virtue) and Solomon a symbol of wisdom. All very fitting for a place of learning!