“Never believe that body is permanent.
Body is like a water bubble.
Mind is like a mad monkey.”
— Sri Sathya Sai Baba
Photography
“The most unfair thing about life is the way it ends. I mean, life is tough. It takes up a lot of your time. What do you get at the end of it? A Death! What’s that, a bonus? I think the life cycle is all backwards. You should die first, get it out of the way. Then you live in an old age home. You get kicked out when you’re too young, you get a gold watch, you go to work. You work forty years until you’re young enough to enjoy your retirement. You do drugs, alcohol, you party, you get ready for high school. You go to grade school, you become a kid, you play, you have no responsibilities, you become a little baby, you go back into the womb, you spend your last nine months floating…
…and you finish off as an orgasm.” — George Carlin
The growing and dying of the moon reminds us of our ignorance which comes and goes – but when the moon is full it is as if the Great Spirit were upon the whole world. – Black Elk, Oglala Sioux
Oh, Call it by some better name
Thomas Moore
Oh, call it by some better name,
For Friendship sounds too cold,
While Love is now a worldly flame,
Whose shrine must be of gold:
And Passion, like the sun at noon,
That burns o’er all he sees,
Awhile as warm will set as soon–
Then call it none of these.
Imagine something purer far,
More free from stain of clay
Than Friendship, Love, or Passion are,
Yet human, still as they:
And if thy lip, for love like this,
No mortal word can frame,
Go, ask of angels what it is,
And call it by that name!
Roses of Saadi
Les roses de Saadi
― Marceline Desbordes-Valmore
I wanted to bring you this morning roses;
J’ai voulu ce matin te rapporter des roses ;
But I was so caught up in my closed belts
Mais j’en avais tant pris dans mes ceintures closes
Tight knots that could not contain them.
Que les noeuds trop serrés n’ont pu les contenir.
The nodes erupted. Roses, flights
Les noeuds ont éclaté. Les roses envolées
In the wind, the sea in all went.
Dans le vent, à la mer s’en sont toutes allées.
They followed the water, never to return;
Elles ont suivi l’eau pour ne plus revenir ;
The wave appeared as red and inflamed.
La vague en a paru rouge et comme enflammée.
Tonight, my dress is still balmy …
Ce soir, ma robe encore en est tout embaumée…
Breathe on me-in the fragrant memory.
Respires-en sur moi l’odorant souvenir.”
Dream of the Lynx
~ John Haines
Beside a narrow trail in the blue
cold of evening, the trap is sprung,
and a growling deep in the throat
tells of life risen
to the surface of darkness.
The moon in my dream takes the shape
of animals who walk by its light
and never sleep, whose yellow eyes
are certain of what they seek.
Sinking, floating beneath the eyelid,
hairy shape of the slayer appears,
a shadow that crouches
hidden in a thicket of alders,
nostrils quivering;
and the ever-deepening track
of the unseen, feeding host.
Monochrome Madness is back with Leanne’s return from her visit in the States. Today’s monthly theme is “country” and will will be posted later today for your viewing pleasure on Leanne Cole’s blog. If you would like to participate and submit a photo in the upcoming weeks, please email your monochrome image to leanne@leannecole.com.au and include a link to your blog or website if you have one. It doesn’t have to be WordPress blogger, it can be a Facebook page, a Flickr page, etc. Include your name or your blog name. The image size should be low resolution, so the largest size should be 1000 pixels or less. The deadline for submission is before 6 p.m. on or before Tuesday, Melbourne Australia time. The earlier the better for Leanne. If you should miss the deadline your photograph will be posted the following week. The complete instructions are posted on Leanne’s blog should you have any questions or need help. The first MM of every month will have a theme.
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“Our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers. All other things,our powers, our desires, our food, are all really necessary for our existence in the first instance. But this rose is an extra. Its smell and its color are an embellishment of life, not a condition of it. It is only goodness which gives extras, and so I say again that we have much to hope from the flowers.” ― Arthur Conan Doyle, The Naval Treaty
Maverick Mist 