Saturday, July 16, 2011

just the way i am


Ghostess by Menachem Krinsky



I am by John Clare
       
I am - yet what I am, none cares or knows:
My friends forsake me like a memory lost:
I am the self-consumer of my woes --
They rise and vanish in oblivious host,
Like shadows in love's frenzied stifled throes
And yet I am, and live-like vapours tost

Into the nothingness of scorn and noise,
Into the living sea of waking dreams,
Where there is neither sense of life or joys,
But the vast shipwreck of my life's esteem:
Even the dearest that I love the best
Are strange-nay, rather, stranger than the rest.

I long for scenes where man hath never trod
A place where woman never smiled or wept
there to abide with my creator God,
And sleep as I in childhood sweetly slept,
Untroubling and untroubled where I lie
The grass below, above, the vaulted sky.


 ~~~
This is a depressing poem but it spoke to me, especially the middle stanza. It hit the same spot as the lyrical hip hop routine (below) did on So You Think You Can Dance mid-week.

Just checking in on myself......

And how are you doing?




.

12 comments:

SG said...

It is a beautiful poem, though full of melancholy. Well, most of us have those moments in our lives when we feel like this. And, usually we do well enough by knowing that this too, shall pass.

Eko said...

Your photos - rhymes with fine art is a great pleasure - if you enable the wording ...!
Thank you for visiting my blog.
Sometimes - almost always - "jorisen" Finland / dialect.
Translators do not understand it.
Not all Finns. I try to go visit it several times.
Your blog is full of interest ... Sincerely Eco ...
Finland / Lapland / Kuusamo

mythopolis said...

"I like you just the way you are." Fred Rogers

Unknown said...

SYTYCD--Love it!!
and love you, girlie :>)

Rosaria Williams said...

OHHHHHHHHHHHH!
I watched So You...for the dance, the interpretation, the great feelings expressed.
So good of you to share this.

Jhon Baker said...

"And sleep as I in childhood sweetly slept,"

That is a really powerful line.

Anonymous said...

It is a great poem. It's funny how things melancholy do connect, even if one is in a good place emotionally. It's like literature - dark books are always more interesting to read than happy cheery ones (although those have their place, of course.)

Maybe it's a good reminder that life does have that dark side, and it's up to us to recognize it, respect it and do what we can to keep our own balance.

Thanks for the thought provoking :) And thanks for adding me!

Lydia said...

SG~ I appreciated your soothing words of wisdom.

Eko~ Thank you! It is so interesting to meet you! I am half Finn (my father's side) but do not know the language or much about it. It does seem a quite difficult language and it makes sense that the online translator would not do well.

mythopolis~ Ah, good Mr. Rogers...a fine man to remember and to remember the lessons he taught us.

Distracted~ I love SYTYCD and you too!

rosaria~ It's great how that show lifts us up! I consider watching it a perfect use of my idle time. :)

Jhon~ That is a line that affected me also. Gave me pause to realize there is a difference in the kind of sleep we have in the stages of our lives.

Amber Lee~ This is great:
Maybe it's a good reminder that life does have that dark side, and it's up to us to recognize it, respect it and do what we can to keep our own balance. Thank you.

Olga said...

The poem is really sad. However, there's nothing frightening about sadness. It's beautiful.

Eko said...

Hei... 'Lydia' - tulin uudelleen tuon käännös asian kanssa.
Mukavaa että olet melkein 'sukulainen'.
Terveisiä vain Isällesi...

Laitoin tuon kääntäjän blokiini. Toivottavasti vierailet useasti ja pyrit opettelemaan Suomi-kieltä.
Ei se ole helppo kieli. Minäkään en sitä osaa oikein kirjoittaa - puhumisesta tulee aina murre-esiin.
Paljon terveisiä...!

Hello ... 'Lydia' - I came again that with the proper translation.
Nice that you're almost a 'relative'. Greetings from a Father ...
I put that blokiini translator. We hope you visit often, and strive to learn the Finnish language.
It's not an easy language.
I did not write that part right - talk is always breaking-up.
Many greetings ...!

Don't Feed The Pixies said...

the first time i looked at the picture i mistook her arm and thought there was a huge mammoth climbing through the window (i thought it was a trunk)

Myself and herself were discussing curtains last night - our usual bedroom curtains are in the wash. It surprised me that she had never looked at the patterns and made out faces or shapes.

I have to be honest and say that i am now studiously avoiding talent shows of any description and can only think to apply another piece of Douglas Adams wisdom to them

In "Life, The Universe And Everything" he talked about the Shoe Event Horizon - the point at which it becomes economically viable to only open more shoe shops until the economy collapses. A similar thing seems to now be happening with Starbucks, where I can barely walk two blocks without finding another store

And presumably we must be approaching the Talent Show Event Horizon - the point at which it becomes impossible to create any new TV show which isn't geared towards becoming famous?

Lydia said...

Hei Eko~ Thank you for placing the Translator button at your beautiful blog. Perhaps I can learn some Finnish words there. The language is not taught locally. I might find a tutor one day... :)

Pixies~ Now that you mention it I can see how you saw the huge mammoth.
Once your bedroom curtains are rehung I imagine that Herself will see all sorts of shapes there. I see an amazing array of faces, both human and animal, in the tile squares of our bathroom floor. Depending upon the time of day (natural light is far superior to bulbs) they change and I am consistently amused and delighted. A few are there all the time, but most come and go...
I know what you mean about Starbucks. Am reminded of "Little Boxes" first made famous by Pete Seeger. Do you get the TV show WEEDS there in the UK? It is the theme song and sung by different artists. This version is by Death Cab for Cutie. Once at youtube you can run the list of artists who have sung it for the show (maybe you already know all this).

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