Come and go

"The vine that has grown old on an old tree falls with the ruin of that tree and through that bad companionship must perish with it."


Leonardo da Vinci, painter, engineer, musician, scientist etc etc. (1452-1519)

Satiety

"You've got to have something to eat and a little love in your life before you can hold still for any damn body's sermon on how to behave."


Billie Holiday, jazz singer and songwriter (1915-1959)

( )

"May my silences become more accurate."


Theodore Roethke, poet (1908-1963)

No Road

Since we agreed to let the road between us

Fall to disuse,

And bricked our gates up, planted trees to screen us,

And turned all time's eroding agents loose,

Silence, and space, and strangers - our neglect

Has not had much effect.

Leaves drift unswept, perhaps; grass creeps unmown;

No other change.

So clear it stands, so little overgrown,

Walking that way tonight would not seem strange,

And still would be allowed. A little longer,

And time will be the stronger,

Drafting a world where no such road will run

From you to me;

To watch that world come up like a cold sun,

Rewarding others, is my liberty.

Not to prevent it is my will's fulfilment.

Willing it, my ailment.

 
Philip Larkin (1922 - 1985), in The Less Deceived (1950)

The Sound Collector

A stranger called this morning
Dressed all in black and grey
Put every sound into a bag
And carried them away.

The whistling of the kettle
The turning of the lock
The purring of the kitten
The ticking of the clock

The popping of the toaster
The crunching of the flakes
When you spread the marmalade
The scraping noise it makes

The hissing of the frying-pan
The ticking of the grill
The bubbling of the bathtub
As it starts to fill

The drumming of the raindrops
On the window-pane
When you do the washing up
The gurgle of the drain

The crying of the baby
The squeaking of the chair
The swishing of the curtain
The creaking of the chair

A stranger called this morning
He didn’t leave his name
Left us only silence
Life will never be the same

Roger McGough 

An Irish Airman Foresees His Death

I know that I shall meet my fate

Somewhere among the clouds above;

Those that I fight I do not hate,

Those that I guard I do not love;

My country is Kiltartan Cross,

My countrymen Kiltartan's poor,

No likely end could bring them loss

Or leave them happier than before.

Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,

Nor public men, nor cheering crowds,

A lonely impulse of delight

Drove to this tumult in the clouds;

I balanced all, brought all to mind,

The years to come seemed waste of breath,

A waste of breath the years behind

In balance with this life, this death.

William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), in The Wild Swans at Coole (1919)

Like fingers crossed

"Our lives are like islands in the sea, or like trees in the forest. The maple and the pine may whisper to each other with their leaves ... But the trees also commingle their roots in the darkness underground, and the islands also hang together through the ocean's bottom."


William James, psychologist and philosopher (1842-1910)

Of course not.

"Do you ever read any of the books you burn?" He laughed.
"That's against the law!"
"Oh. Of course."


Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury, science-fiction writer (1920-2012) 

See-ker

"Seek not to follow in the footsteps of men of old; seek what they sought."

Matsuo Basho, poet (1644-1694)

Teach-irt

“Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.”

The Dalai-Lama

(seen on the back of a tee-shirt in McLeodGanj, 24.10.11)