Month: February 2016

When doubts and drawbacks struggle in the mind

When doubts and drawbacks struggle in the mind
And certainty seems but a demon dream,
When the faith to love is what no-one can find
For even when asleep, the mind still schemes.

When darkness and defeat seem close at hand
And lights dim even as we pray for peace
when wrecks and ruins rile the native sands
When in this life we feel we’ve lost our place…

Then, at the saddest depth we see the light
Surrounding with such warmth, with love adorned.
The path that seemed so wrong now leads us right
And in our hearts, warm feelings are newborn

Within each storm ,there is a calm still eye.
From there we see the fiercest clouds blown by.

Languages

A bird that you set free may be caught again, but a word that escapes your lips will not return.
Read more at http://quotes.yourdictionary.com/articles/funny-jewish-sayings.html#a10GrSrLmJOQuYiw.99

 

photo1049 3

My husband is a maven with words

And ravens are frightening black birds.

I had quite a glitch

When he took me for a witch

Oy,vey I am banned  so he heard.

 

Mein mutter spoke Dutch now and then

It was double as she garbled men.

She was never a goy.

Nor was she a buoy.

She’s  so  shrewish  that I   became Zen.

 

Arthur didn’t have much chutzpah when

I met him in  his Oxford  den.

But now he’s quite famous

For an ignoramus.

I should have wed him  as  he was a man.

 

What kitsch fills my home, do you think?

How about this striped kitchen sink?

I prefer white ones

But my husband  took  aeons

So , in the end , we took  this one in pink.

 

Do you like objets trouves?

I found one inside the duvet.

It was my ex-partner’s   rocket

Plugged into a socket

It shot me so now I am gay.

 

Don’t believe what I say  to be true.

I’d never tell a white lie to you.

But not much is precisely

What we say concisely.

And I am a white parvenu.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can we use a prefix whenever we like?

 

 

Clematis koreana Purple Rain_12-2 [800x600]Is discretion a valuable trait?

Is secrecy guaranteed to pay?

For baring the soul

Is un-good on the whole.

For it brings a bad end to the day.

 

Un-good is not a real word.

A -good is  neither, I heard.

So a prefix  should be checked

The usage inspect

The goodly are fine when they’re paired.

 

 

Prefix and suffix tables

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http://www.enchantedlearning.com/grammar/prefixsuffix/

Prefix
A prefix is a group of letters placed before the root of a word. For example, the word “unhappy” consists of the prefix “un-” [which means “not”] combined with the root (stem) word “happy”; the word “unhappy” means “not happy.”A Short List of Prefixes:

PREFIX MEANING EXAMPLES
de- from, down, away reverse, opposite decode, decrease
dis- not, opposite, reverse, away disagree, disappear
ex- out of, away from, lacking, former exhale, explosion
il- not illegal, illogical
im- not, without impossible, improper
in- not, without inaction, invisible
mis- bad, wrong mislead, misplace
non- not nonfiction, nonsense
pre- before prefix, prehistory
pro- for, forward, before proactive, profess, program
re- again, back react, reappear
un- against, not, opposite undo, unequal, unusual
Suffix
A suffix is a group of letters placed after the root of a word. For example, the word flavorless consists of the root word “flavor” combined with the suffix “-less” [which means “without”]; the word “flavorless” means “having no flavor.”A Short List of Suffixes:

SUFFIX MEANING EXAMPLES
-able able to, having the quality of comfortable, portable
-al relating to annual, comical
-er comparative bigger, stronger
-est superlative strongest, tiniest
-ful full of beautiful, grateful
-ible forming an adjective reversible, terrible
-ily forming an adverb eerily, happily, lazily
-ing denoting an action, a material, or a gerund acting, showing
-less without, not affected by friendless, tireless
-ly forming an adjective clearly, hourly
-ness denoting a state or condition kindness, wilderness
-y full of, denoting a condition, or a diminutive glory, messy, victory,

Prefix and Suffix Activities and Worksheets

Stan was polishing the door knocker with Duraglit.

Mary was upstairs working at her desk reading an article on algebraic numbers and sorting out her post.

She got an instant message from a former colleague in the math Department.

Hi,Mary. how are you?

I’m fine, Tim.How are you?

Well,I really miss the department!

I’m sorry.

Actually Mary, it’s you I miss.

But you hardly ever spoke to me.

No, but iI looked at you.You are very beautiful.

Well, you are very handsome,yourself

You know what I’d like?

No.

I’d like a photo of you in your underwear.

I haven’t got any photos

Can’t you get some?

Well, I suppose i could use my webcam and photograph my top half.

Oh. how nice!

Then I guess I could sit on the photocopier and photograph my bottom
but I don’t think I can do them both at once.

How about you go to a pool in a bikini

I don’t wear a bikini.

I don’t mind if you are nude!

Well,I am a bit startled by this.I thought all we shared was an interest in quadratic forms and Euclidean post-structuralism.

Well, I’ve moved on to your form, Mary.

Really; do you know I have a mild type of  Asperger’s Syndrome?

I thought he looked lonely.

Do you know him?

Not in the Biblical sense! Just to speak to.

I thought he was dead.

Not at all…he’s turned into a parrot.Meanwhile how about some minimalist photos?

No, you’ll have to meet me in Cafe Zero.

Which one?

In Knittingham.

Will I recognize you by the bikini?

Why do you like bikinis so much?

I’ll see what my therapist thinks.

I want to know what you think.

I love you, Mary.

Well, since Stan has Annie I guess I can have coffee with you.

.
Then we can discuss Platonic forms.

While I look at your form.

Is that my Health Form?

No, your bodily form.

I have no body now!

What happened?

I’ve been downloaded into the new computer.

I thought your voice sounded odd.

Shall I email myself as an attachment to you?

I’d like to think about that.

Well.goodbye Tim.

Goodbye, you little minx.

A minx…whatever next?

Bring me your minx ,dill, dilly

Bring me your inks

when I’m in love, dilly, dilly,

I ache for those links.

Watercolour love

Like watercolour pictures left out in the rain

Our colours have mingled,

yet the originals still remain

Two watercolour paintings without frames,

Became one picture over time,

Yet two of us still there.

Our colours blended naturally,

Now all the hues are shared.

I love your colours intermixed with mine;

Together they have made a new design.

A Watercolour picture enhanced by the rain.

We may go, but our Watercolor Love shall long remain

And people looked like watercolour flies

The morning  sun still low in winter  sky

Made brilliant light with darker shadows thrown.

And  people looked like watercolour flies

As ,  nonchalant ,through the  shopping mall they roamed.

 

So here we see in colours black and white

We do not see the usual shades and  hues.

And so inside our mind, a too great light

May prejudice our judgement  and our views.

 

We learn to understand by metaphors.

As did our unthought ancestors before.

Jesus was our  Shepherd   and neighbour

We were sheep not wolves with slavering jaws

 

 

What we see depends upon the light.
And , where we stand and when , invites the sight

 

 

 

 

Septolet #2

 

Do read the very good post from Bushka below.

Truth, Ruefully, Beckoned helplessly, From across embarrassed room; Deceit, Cunningly, Averted his shameless eyes. ©Meanderings 2016

Source: Septolet #2

When ‘inevitable’ isn’t inevitable

From Merriam Webster… which words are being looked up the most

Trend Watch

 

http://www.merriam-webster.com/trend-watch/evitable-2016-02-09

 

Evitable

photo1143

When it spiked

February 9, 2016

Why

Lookups for evitable, the little known cousin of inevitable, increased following its use in an article in the BBC News Magazine.

inevitable

Clinton’s rise—and Trump’s downfall—were both supposed to be inevitable. But ‘evitable’ is also a word.

The magazine wrote:

Hillary is a seasoned, pragmatic, centre-left candidate. Her nomination by the Democratic Party was supposed to be inevitable. But it turns out that “evitable” is a real word in the English language. I checked the dictionary. We should start using it. (P. J. O’Rourke, BBC News Magazine, February 9, 2016)

Evitable is indeed a word (it means “capable of being avoided”), and it is included in many dictionaries, although it is considerably less known than its opposite, inevitable. Both words come from the Latin word of evitare (meaning “to avoid”), and inevitable, or unavoidable, is the older of the two (it has been in use since the 14th century, whereas the earliest known use of evitable is from 1502).

It is unclear why one of these words has seen considerable use over the past five hundred years, while the other has languished in relative obscurity. But this is the second time within the past month that evitable has been in the news. It appeared in a headline to an article in The Wall Street Journal on January 24th of 2016: “Is Hillary ‘Evitable’ Again?” Journalists appear to have a strong inclination to apply the word to Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, as both of these candidates have seen the word applied to them in the past year on numerous occasions.

It has dawned on the Republican presidential field that Donald Trump’s inevitable self-destruction might be, gulp, evitable. (The Washington Post, August 21, 2015)

Evitable; Trump and Clinton can be beaten. (Manchester Union Leader, February 3, 2016)

Think about it: Hillary Clinton’s “inevitability” is once again proving evitable, but not because of a classically eloquent senator with the chance of healing the nation, at least somewhat, by becoming its first African-American president. (Rocky Mountain Telegram, October 14, 2015)

It is always possible that the word could make a comeback. Just don’t ask us whether such a thing is inevitable.

Please meet my eyes

Jean-Baptist_Camille_Corot_Breton_Woman_With_Her_Little_Girl

corot woman

Corot

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Face-to-face

The face to face encounter and its ethical meaning/implications is at the heart of  the philosopher Emanuel  Levinas‘ thought.Just today I was thinking  about some events in my life which could  illustrate this.

A few months ago I went into a coffee shop and found myself just behind an ex-colleague whom  I regard [note the word] as a friend.I could see her husband sitting at the back of the cafe.She did mutter ,Hello, but  instead of  meeting me eye to eye and  saying,”my husband wants us  to be alone”,she went through an elaborate pantomime of mime indicating rejection or keep a distance…which was unpleasant.I would  have been much happier with a straightforward look and a few words.

Today I had a similar event.I met a woman who used to be my physiotherapist , again in a queue.She looked at me full on and greeted me  with pleasure.As she picked up  her tray she asked me to join her and her husband plus a grandchild.We had a pleasant time,But if she had said, we are with our family,or whatever, that would have been fine too.because she looked at me.

I am not saying the first woman ought to have done that.But what interests me is the lack of a willingness to “meet” me with her gaze.I  am entirely happy if people wish to be alone whilst the have coffee but I prefer them to say so.

Some individuals with autism are almost unable to make eye contact…. and this is because others are not real to  them,If we are near someone who will not meet our eyes,it can convey the same feeling.On the other hand, everyone has off days and so I feel no anger, just a discomfort as this woman is very articulate and highly educated.I think  perhaps her husband is quite controlling.Maybe he felt unwell.

So this made me think about Levinas whom I have read a little of but I find it difficult as I am not trained in philosophy and about Martin Buber‘s  I and Thou

There is also an expression, ”he looked right through me” which is also a negative way of facing someone.And also, cutting someone dead.This is a metaphor, of course.Perhaps once people did die if their whole tribe rejected them. So essentially not looking at someone is a form of killing them as you imply they are not part  of society.Like not responding  to someone verbally or in writing.You are saying, You do not exist.

This shows us that  a philosopher can write about something which has application in everyday life.Indeed, that is where philosophy must have originated I imagine… what is of value.

Related articles

Stan is mildly tempted by Annie’s toes

Photo0471

  • Stan was  feeling a l ittle annoyed as since the days were getting brighter and longer the dust on the furniture was becoming more evident..Not that Mary was a tyrant  in any way but she was out at work ,whereas he was free  from his purgatory working with gamblers and homeless drug users.

    Of course he had been pleased to be working to improve society but enough was enough.He already was helping two people on a voluntary basis at his  local church.Still Mary was labouring in the lecture hall explaing how linear algebra might help folk to lead better and more virtuous lives especially if they were going into Parliament or the higher reaches of the Civil Service which aided government ministers dealing with strange confusions in th Economy and the entire world
    He picked up his microfibre dusting rag cut from an old towel and started to dust the TV set.After that he sprayed Dettox onto the keyboards of all their laptops ,ipads, phones and remote controls.Then  he dried them with an old tea towel made of cotton and linen.
    Suddenly he heard the back door opening.In ran his beauteous mistress Annie wearing a green and red tracksuit and purple trainers with pink spots on.
    Shall I make some lovely coffee,she asked impertinently.
    I have not done much housework yet,Stan cried tearfully, with a smile
    Let me see,she responded with the genuine  interest of the retired and bored,
    My, this remote control is very,very clean,I am stunned
    She put it in front of her eyes and glared myopically at it.
    All her mindpower was concentrated on this one object which was now her whole world.
    You have done brilliantly with this but you do need a break from this tedious and arduous work,she enthused to her aged lover.
    Oh, OK then,Stan answered laconically.
    She poured coffee and  Jersey milk into two Portmeirion pottery mugs and took them into the conservatory where she admired his potted plants and his herbs.
    What ‘s this  funny plant here, she called.It wasn’t here last week,
    It’s cannabis,he informed her wilfully.
    Are you a user now she enquired tactlessly.
    No,I am keeping it for a friend.. he is a scientist,Stan claimed
    That’s what they all say,she riposted jocosely.
    Well,I don’t know how to use it.I believe you smoke it so does it have to be dried?
    I guess so , she said like a cowboy from Alabama on a diet of coke and french fries.
    Well,I am not going test it,he said pensively.I don’t even smoke a pipe any more.I suck my thumb instead.It’s free.

    Would you like to suck my toes ,she asked him lovingly. After all, the Duchess of York had hers sucked and I am her equal in some ways she told him truthfully

    Sucking women’s toes has so far not been part of my repertoire and neither
    has whipping and smacking them either.I prefer to suck their lips and caress their cheeks. Stan informed her politely as if they had never met before.
    Which cheeks? she asked suspiciously yet humorously
    Sorry, dear,I am happy to caress any part of your warm voluptuous flesh later  but I need to get on with the housework.
    Just ignore it, she ordered him.I’ll help you after we have been to bed
    I didn’t know we were going to bed, he said in a puzzled tone
    Well,you do now, she giggled deliciously.
    And so does Emil e who is already on the landing from where he can see the mirror opposite the bed.What a naughty boy he is, but what would you do in his position?
    I thought so.

    Midwinter

Mending

Photo0469.jpgI have become quite concerned with  mending things recently.One of them is a lamp which is in a photograph I posted today.It is a lamp I love very much because I have drawn it and painted it a lot in the past.So I have got a new cord and the only problem may be  that my hands are not strong enough to get the old one out.If so I’ll have to get someone to do it.An electrician!Photo0470

 

I feel like a ghost haunting my own life.I  am wondering if humans become unreal to themselves when they lose a loved one.So far I’ve not asked anyone else if they feel like that.

On the plus side I am now on a special arrangement with British Gas so I get priority if my heating breaks down and I get my meter read quarterly by a real person.And the bill is half of what it was before.We’ve had a mild winter here.Though it is frosty now

The inkblot on the right looks like a cat’s head to me.Alfred has disappeared alas.Photo1451

Ego wilt

I am tormented with ego-wilt today

My ego has shrunk with dismay.

The stairs are unclean

The fluff has been seen.

And I am afraid that somebody will say.

 

My solution is to buy a small tent

As then I shan’t pay any rent.

The cat will breathe over me

Till the ice melts un-soberly.

Then I shall crawl out all bent.

 

Do you like my new term ego-wilt?

Do such words toss you into guilt?

Well, eventually we’ll adapt

And get our brains mapped.

I hope that my eyes will not tilt.

 

 

 

Origami

I like this poem
[From American Life in poetry by Ted Kooser]

This column is more than ten years old and I’ve finally gotten around to trying a little origami! Here’s a poem about that, and about a good deal more than that, by Vanessa Stauffer, who teaches writing at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan.

Lessons

To crease a sheet of paper is to change
its memory, says the origami
master: what was a field of snow
folded into flake. A crane, erect,
structured from surface. A tree
emerges from a leaf—each form undone

 

reveals the seams, pressed
with ruler’s edge. Some figures take
hundreds to be shaped, crossed
& doubled over, the sheet bound
to its making—a web of scars
that maps a body out of space,

 

how I fashion memory: idling
at an intersection next to Jack Yates High,
an hour past the bell, I saw a girl
fold herself in half to slip beneath
the busted chain-link, books thrust
ahead, splayed on asphalt broiling

 

in Houston sun. What memory
will she retain? Her cindered palms,
the scraped shin? Braids brushing
the dirt? The white kite of her homework
taking flight? Finding herself
locked out, or being made

 

to break herself in.

Argute is a new word to me

Argute is a new word to me

The meaning’s as clear as can be.

That’s what I thought

But I forget my brain’s caught

In a tangle with my account book’s mystery.

 

It looks   similar to  argue, to me.

It just has  that one extra t.

Words are a jumble,

And my mind is humbled.

Argute is as clear as the sea.

 

Transmuted,arguted,diluted.

Our language is not quite pellucid.

But it has its own richness,

And is useful to witches

Who speech is ,of need, convoluted.

 

Oh what joy  I find playing with words;

Or writing  my poems absurd.

It is free to  us all

To gambol and call.

Chirrupino.chirrup I know,I’m a bird/ lemon curd/I cared/I dared/ be you  heard.

 

 

 

Argute

I must confess I have never heard of this word before.And I am well read.
The definition is from the Oxford Dictionary on line
11866429_606607879479094_8892779543066222730_n
arguteLine breaks: ar¦gute

Pronunciation: /ɑːˈɡjuːt/

Definition of argute in English:

adjective

rare

Shrewd.

Origin

Late 16th century: from Latin argutus ‘made clear, proved, accused’, from arguere.

Words that rhyme with argute

acute, astute, beaut, Beirut, boot, bruit, brut, brute, Bute, butte, Canute, cheroot, chute, commute, compute, confute, coot, cute, depute, dilute, dispute, flute, galoot, hoot, impute, jute, loot, lute, minute, moot, newt, outshoot, permute, pollute, pursuit, recruit, refute, repute, route, salute, Salyut, scoot, shoot, Shute, sloot, snoot, subacute, suit, telecommute, Tonton Macoute, toot, transmute, undershoot, uproot, Ute, volute

Emile’s flu jab

The cat is watching you

Stan realized it was time for Emile to have his annual flu jab.He stopped polishing the windows and picked up the phone.

Hello,it’s Stan  Tan here.Can I make an appointment for Emile?
Yes, come today if Emile has had a bath.
Are you joking?
Yes, the receptionist responded cheerfully.
Actually he did have a bath and now can swim breaststroke!
How amazing, she said sweetly.
Stan got out Emile’s travelling basket.He put some copies of The Independent inside
in case Emile was bored.
Here,Emile,I’m taking you for a ride in the car.kindly step into your basket,
Can’t I sit by you and wear a seat belt?
I fear it’s illegal,old boy.
OK,granddad,Emile answered jauntily.He climbed into the basket and sat up staring out boldly with his great amber eyes.
The doorbell rang.
Hello,Annie,Would you like to come to the vet’s with us?
She looked down at her violet velvet track suit and purple trainers with real gold laces.
Yes,I’ll sit in the back with Emile if you are ok with that

He fell in love with the cat: a short sweet story
After ten minutes they arrived and parked the car under an elm tree.Stan carried the basket steadily not wanting the poor cat to fall in an undignified manner,Annie looked at her green nails.
Do you like my nail varnish,Stan?
To be honest,I prefer shell pink.
Why is that,darling?
It is more feminine.
Feminine!But you can see I’m feminine!
I like you to be even more feminine.
Oh,yes ,agreed Emile, So do I.
You men,she cried sweetly, you are never satisfied.
I wouldn’t say that,my America,my Newfoundland!
What’s up? Swallowed the dictionary,she said rudely
It’s a poem, actually.
You’ve been reading again.It’s bad for you.
Don’t you like to be my new found land?
A bit late to ask now, she murmured seductively.
The next moment they were in the empty waiting room.Then a man came in with a big black dog.Emile stared fiercely and the dog whimpered and lay down on the floor.
The vet came out and asked Stan to bring Emile in.Emile gave a yell at the dog before Stan shut the door.So, said the beautiful young vet, how is pussy today.
Emile remained silent.He’s fine,just needs his flu jab.muttered Stan.
Come now,Emile come out of there.But Emile was clinging to his basket with ll his sharp claws.
Are you afraid Emile?He asked kindly
No,I’m not afraid, I’m just acting how vets expect cats to act.
So Emile speaks English?
He knows French too.
Je t’aime Emile.
Bedankt, madame.
Stop showing off and get out of there,she doesn’t speak Dutch.
Mein mutter wast immer krank,cried Emile.
Get out now!
Emile came out slowly and stood by this good lady.She looks a bit like Annie, he whispered.
The vet took out a small needle and swiftly injected Emile.
What a good boy, she sang,would you like a jelly baby?
A jelly baby!Cats don’t eat jelly babies!
Well, have a go!
Emile stalked back to his basket,put on some glasses and began to read the editorial in The Independent.
Stan was hoping to make a suggestive remark to the vet,but Annie came in.
Hurry up, there’s a thunderstorm coming.Her nails were now pink.
Did you change your nail varnish?
No,the green was artificial nails!I took them off.
Can I have some claw varnish,demanded Emile plaintively
What color?
I fancy teal,Emile miaowed.
Teal!How ludicrous!
What about red?
Too pretentious.
I don’t think I’ll bother then, the cat said languidly
We men don’t have to bother about such things.
Well, you are lucky, said Annie.
I hate makeup and nail varnish, blow dries and manicures but I don’t feel feminine without it.
You feel very feminine to me said Stan, running his hand softly along her forearm
and patting her behind!
Stan!Not here in the road!
Why not?enquired Emile.It looks ideal to me if you go behind those bushes.
Annie jumped into the car and drove away leaving Stan to carry Emile to the bus stop for a tedious journey home.Then she reappeared,opened the door and said,come

Come on now let’s all go home.I’m sorry I drove away.I’m feeling a bit blue today.
They got in and arrived safely home where Stan brewed a big pot of tea and let Annie sit on the sofa with her feet on  a soft cushion.He rubbed her head gently.

Lovely,she purred.
I like having my head stroked.So do I,said Emile loudly but alas they were too busy to hear or care.So Emile fell asleep and dreamed he was only a character in a story but it was better than non-existence.

For love of the face

Is pulchrifying oneself    well  a  virtue,

Or a vice which we must be alert to?

For  love of  the  face

Is usually safe,

Unless going out after curfew.

 

Don’t ring the knell  for me  yet

I am going out tonight with a vet.

But he doesn’t eat  meat

Except for pigs’ feet.

That is trotters  in jelly well set.

 

Others may eat oxtail soup.

And steal eggs from any hen coop.

They are probably poachers

Don’t let them approach us.

Roll your eyes and make    play   with your  flute

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pulchritude

cracks-in-the-pavement

Merriam Webster
Word of the Day : February 15, 2016

pulchritude

play

noun PUHL-kruh-tood
PrevNext

Definition

: physical comeliness

Examples

The snowboarder’s talent won her many medals, and her pulchritude gained her much attention from sponsors looking for a spokeswoman.

“Though the actress playing the queen has the requisite pulchritude, she lacks the gravitas to convince us that she’s a 41-year-old, with a lifetime’s experience and heartache.” — Lee Randall, The Edinburgh Evening News, 11 Aug. 2015

Did You Know?

If English poet John Keats was right when he wrote that “a thing of beauty is a joy forever,” then pulchritude should bring bliss for many years to come. That word has already served English handsomely for centuries; it has been used since the 1400s. It’s a descendant of the Latin adjective pulcher, which means “beautiful.” Pulcher hasn’t exactly been a wellspring of English terms, but it did give us both pulchritude and pulchritudinous, an adjective meaning “attractive” or “beautiful.” The verb pulchrify (a synonym of beautify), the noun pulchritudeness(same meaning as pulchritude), and the adjective pulchrous (meaning “fair or beautiful”) are other pulcher offspring, but those terms have proved that, in at least some linguistic cases, beauty is fleeting.

Mihalyi Cskizentmihalyi

Mihalyi was a saint of sorts;

he improved, with his search for understanding,

the lives of so many yearning writers;

the lame in spirit heard his Zen-like words.

He could not have imagined the journey

From Hungary to Zürich.

From Zürich to Chicago

A glimpsed mandala led to the heart of the impossible image

How did he learn to trust the flow?

The Rhine flowing down to the North Sea

May start as some minute spring

At the confluence of the gravity of water and earth.

And those then who have cast their nets into that sea

May bring in treasures not found in the business of cities.

At the first sighting, the image seemed hazy

Then the words began to flow like current through a wire.

Like a river cutting slowly through rocks of marble,

like an unknown sage from the Himalayan Alps

who had kissed the lips of his muse more than once

As she floated like a ghost; no, more like music

Tracing concentric spheres into the air

Till the universe was singing.

What was most human was his appetite, his love.

Touch the hem of his garment, follow your flow

Cut your path through the hard darkness until you find

The sunlit sea you were made to swim in

like a fish in its own sphere.

Symbols of our darker selves

I’d love to ride on a tiger

Or just admire its stripes from afar.
I’d love to see the pride of the lions
Or the eyes of a handsome cougar.
But who wants to admire houseflies
And other insects or pests?
A worm may not be an insect
But I’ll throw them in with the rest.

Lions and tigers can kill us
Yet we admire their strength
But who admires mosquitoes
As they sweat in their tropical tents?
And when we look for a simile
Or a symbol or metaphor,
If you want a symbol for cruelty and harm-
That’s what insects are for.

The smallness and the cunning
As they slip in right under your clothes,
And bite you on your most private parts.
Where, nowadays, no-one else goes!
That makes us fear and hate them
But they are just doing their job
That is what they are made for
By their creator, Lord God.

God wants them to remind you
You aren’t so invulnerable
So he may send a tiger to eat you.
Gnats  so  innumerable.
St.Francis made friends with the birds
And with the wild animals too.
But which Saint made friends with the insects
Which live in this great earthly Zoo?

Will you be the volunteer holy one
Who befriends the hornets and fleas?
Will you tolerate their sharp sniping
As you try to tempt down the bees?
Will you preach such honey filled sermons
That spiders and beetles will flock,
And none of these insects will sting us again,
When they are tamed by you eloquent talk?

You’ll be the Patron  of Envy,
The knife sticking into the heart.
You’ll be the Patron of Rage and of Malice.
I’ll be relieved when your new Mission starts

My hand on your face,

As we come nearer,
I feel your warmth.
Warmth draws me in
I see you here.
I touch you tenderly.
My hand
on your face,
on your skin,
acknowledges your being.
At this boundary of the world and you,
we touch.
I feel that peaceful breath,
the spirit, the wholeness of the flesh.
Touching gently,
we acknowledge the Otherness
the holiness of life itself,
in the form of the Beloved.