Turning Darkness into Light

I and Pangur Bán my cat

'Tis a like task we are at:
Hunting mice is his delight,
Hunting words I sit all night.
Better far than praise of men
'Tis to sit with book and pen;
Pangur bears me no ill will
He too plies his simple skill.
Oftentimes a mouse will stray
In the hero Pangur's way;
Oftentimes my keen thought set
Takes a meaning in its net.
'Gainst the wall he sets his eye
Full and fierce and sharp and sly;
'Gainst the wall of knowledge I
All my little wisdom try.
Practice every day has made
Pangur perfect in his trade;
I get wisdom day and night
Turning darkness into light.

Author Unknown

Dublin, 2006

An African Elegy

We are the miracles that God made
To taste the bitter fruit of Time.
We are precious.
And one day our sufferingt
Will turn into the wonders of the earth.

There are things that burn me now
Which turn golden when I am happy.
Do you see the mystery of our pain?
That we bear poverty
And are able to sing and dream sweet things

And that we never curse the air when it is warm
Or the fruit when it tastes so goodOr the lights that bounce gently on the waters?
We bless things even in our pain.
We bless the silence.

That is why our music is so sweet.
It makes the air remember.
There are secret miracles at work
That only Time will bring forth.
I too have heard the dead singing.

And they tell me that
This life is good
They tell me to live it gently
With fire, and always with hope.
There is wonder here

And there is surprise
In everything the unseen moves.
The ocean is full of songs.
The sky is not an enemy.
Destiny is our friend.

Ben Okri

Nothing Personal

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuNxINUR-R0

Es ist die Geschichte einer Wanderschaft, einer Wanderschaft, die weit wegführt von aller Zivilisation, und dort, am Ende der Welt, den Inbegriff der Zivilisation wiederfindet, und den Glauben an die Menschheit dazu.
Mehr braucht es nicht als zwei Menschen und eine unendlich weite Landschaft, um diese Geschichte zu erzählen, die wie die Ursprungsgeschichte aller Beziehungen und allen Lebens erscheint, archaisch und elementar.

Ein Kleinod - sinnlich, berührend, verstörend - wundervoll!

Benedictus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0SxKrGNyIE

"You would want us to find you in presence,
Beside us when beauty brightens,
When kindness glows
And music echoes eternal tones.”

(Benedictus)

Das ist für mich...

„Das ist für mich die schönste und traurigste
Landschaft von der Welt.
Schaut diese Landschaft genau an, damit ihr sie
sicher wiedererkennt, wenn ihr eines Tages
durch Irland reist. Und wenn ihr zufällig da
vorbeikommt, eilt nicht weiter,
ich flehe euch an – wartet ein bißchen –
gerade unter dem Stern!
Wenn dann ein junger Mann auf euch zukommt
wenn er lacht, wenn er goldenes Haar hat,
wenn er nicht antwortet, so man ihn fragt,
dann werdet ihr wohl erraten, wer es ist.
Dann seid so gut und laßt mich nicht
weiter so traurig sein: schreibt mir schnell
wenn er wieder da ist.....“

(Nach: A. Saint-Exupéry: Der kleine Prinz)

On the death of the beloved

Florian on our last trip with him
Connemara 1999

Go raibh maith agaibh go léir agus beannacht.

On the death of the Beloved

Though we need to weep your loss,
You dwell in that safe place in our hearts,
Where no storm or night or pain can reach you.

Your love was like the dawn
Brightening over our lives
Awakening beneath the dark
A further adventure of colour.

The sound of your voice
Found for us
A new music
That brightened everything.

Whatever you enfolded in your gaze
Quickened in the joy of its being;
You placed smiles like flowers
On the altar of the heart.
Your mind always sparkled
With wonder at things.

Though your days here were brief,
Your spirit was live, awake, complete.

We look towards each other no longer
From the old distance of our names;
Now you dwell inside the rhythm of breath,
As close to us as we are to ourselves.

Though we cannot see you with outward eyes,
We know our soul’s gaze is upon your face,
Smiling back at us from within everything
To which we bring our best refinement.

Let us not look for you only in memory,
Where we would grow lonely without you.
You would want us to find you in presence,
Beside us when beauty brightens,
When kindness glows
And music echoes eternal tones.

When orchids brighten the earth,
Darkest winter has turned to spring;
May this dark grief flower with hope
In every heart that loves you.

May you continue to inspire us:

To enter each day with a generous heart.
To serve the call of courage and love
Until we see your beautiful face again
In that land where there is no more separation,
Where all tears will be wiped from our mind,
And where we will never lose you again.

– John O’Donohue

From:
TO BLESS THE SPACE BETWEEN US
(entitled BENEDICTUS in Europe, Ireland and the UK)

Spirit

Spirit
is Life.
It flows thru
the death of me
endlessly
like a river
unafraid
of becoming
the sea

von Gregory Corso
Foto: eigenes - Connemara 2003