L'aura del Campo

Spear (the poem), "Blessed is the spot"

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by panthera

L'aura del campo

DEATH of WINTER: 2 'Ala (3 March) 30º and raw.

'é a lua, é a lua, na quintana dos mortos'
♣ Federico García Lorca ♣

Sense of humor

Don't you just love an odd sense of humor? The previous pank-and-gleen blog looked so pretty, bet you weren't expecting a rant. Today you are greeted by an angry little devil, but there will be no excess spleen. Blog entries, like life, aren't always what they seem. I like this red and black. So simple, so strong, so masculine, so not-like-me . Of course, that pank-and-gleen thing wasn't quite me neither. I prefer greens and yellows, browns and oranges, golds and olives. But try typing in {c:olive} around here and see what you get.

Spear

Beware, O Spear, son of Spear and son of the Oak stream's daughter:

Mark well that sacred virginal spot where the dream of the clan of Spearmen met the ice of the shieldmaiden's maid; that place of slaughter.

Fear the future for it does not fork like the past that gathered in you; it parts again. And the spear of your son may not pierce the rock, nor spring forth a new stream of sons, a new pool of daughters.

Harken, O Spear, son of Spear and son of the Oak stream's daughter:

Then mourn the proud Oak that for thousands of years has shielded this wellspring of children. Now rotted, it must be felled to make way for the saplings around it. Make holy this spot by the stream.

Then may your son grow strong and straight as a pike and breathe the fresh air of your wisdom; he'll glide on the ice of the shieldmaiden's gaze, before she has melted his dreams.

Then rejoice, Old Spear, son of Spear, son of the Oak stream's daughter.

[163.590] posted as ratable/reviewable item: "Spear" 

There is an inside joke throughout this. A friend of mine's name translates as 'spear' as did his father's. His mother's maiden name translates as oak-stream and his paternal family name as the clan of spearmen. I used them as prompts that lead to certain images and the piece evolved from there. There is no intentional message to my friend, by-the-way; it's all fiction. However, since it is somewhat different than what I usually write, does it have promise?

Prayer

Blessed is the spot, and the house,
and the place, and the city,
and the heart, and the mountain,
and the refuge, and the cave,
and the valley, and the land,
and the sea, and the island,
and the meadow where mention
of God hath been made,
and His praise glorified.

~ Bahá’u’lláh

A simple prayer that even little children can memorize.

Me, my friends and my family

Friday: went to see Susan and we had a nice session. I'm feeling much better physically.

Went with a friend to look at two apartment buildings available come June 1st. The possibilities ...

At Aimee's: the joy of two young women playing Scrabble (with 'zeal' and 'emu' on triples).

Slept in Saturday ... why not? I was stressed and needed to de-stress. It means I accomplished nothing, but I'm okay this evening. Treated myself to chocolate ice cream and took my first shower since I fell and bruised myself a couple weeks ago (I took baths in between. What? you thought I didn't? ).

Had a nice conversation with Mircea from Romania. He's a student in Linguistics interested in psycho-neuro linguistics and morphology. Personally, I love morphology.

IMAGES and RAMBLINGS

In Susan's room: Blue sky, one cloud, one purple geranium in bloom. Window blinds and the limp Swedish ivy, piles of papers.

The moon illuminating the clouds making them appear to be hills of some dark landscape.

This morning: cold and the sadness of drifts, mere wisps of snow.

WATT'S GNU!

Does journaling help? Is it good therapy as well as a means of writing? Got an e-mail from Beliefnet that had three articles on journaling, art therapy, creative people and depression.

Link on journaling:
http://www.beliefnet.com/healthandhealing/getcontent.aspx?cid=14217

If you are using journaling for therapy consider these questions (from the article) as writing prompts:

* Who am I? How do I know who I am?
* What does it mean to be content?
* Do I listen more or talk more? Why?
* What does it mean to nurture myself?
* Am I comfortable with my feelings? What makes me cry or laugh? When am I comfortable expressing my feelings?
* How much of my time is spent with other people and how much am I alone?
* Why do bad things happen? Who is responsible when something bad happens to me?
* How do I handle stress? Do I welcome challenges?
* What is my unique gift to the world?

Of course, no one around here (other than moi) would ever journal for its therapeutic values , we're all just 'writers', right?

Link for Creativity and Depression (mentions manic-depression specifically):
http://www.beliefnet.com/healthandhealing/getcontent.aspx?cid=25574
Link for 'Art Therapy: How Creative Expression Can Heal'
http://www.beliefnet.com/healthandhealing/getcontent.aspx?cid=13549

The weather is very cold and bitter tonight. Tomorrow ushers in Spring. We are looking forward to a week of 50s and 60s and lots of sunshine. That will bring out the flowers. This morning there was snow on the ground. Just a few flakes, but still, white and cold.

READING

Still reading Ruth Rendell's A Judgement in Stone.

BLOGVILLE

Struggling to catch up in reading.

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 Kåre Enga
~ until everything was rainbow, rainbow, rainbow!
And I let the fish go. ~ Elizabeth Bishop, The Fish