unask

 

 

A break now, for the weekend; the next post will be on Monday 26 January.

 

 

 

 

this colour is red

 

Philosophy was an activity, not a doctrine.
"Solipsism, when its implications are followed out
strictly, coincides with pure realism," he wrote.
Dozens of dons wondered what he meant. Asked
how he knew that "this color is red," he smiled
and said, "because I have learnt English." There
were no other questions. Wittgenstein let the
silence gather. Then he said, "this itself is the answer."

From David Lehman, Wittgenstein's Ladder

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our album, Did you love enough?, is now on ITunes. It now has its own web page, with the ITunes link, and we have made some music videos to go with it.

 

 

 

 

focus

 

Walking, snow falling, it is possible
to focus at various distances
in turn on separate flakes, sharply engage
the attention at several spatial points:
the nearer cold and more uncomfortable,
the farther distanced and almost pleasing.

Living, time passing, it is preferable
to focus the memory in turn upon
the more distant retrospects in order
that the present mind may retain its peace.

Yet knowing that seeing and remembering
are both of course personal illusions.

B.S. Johnson, Living by

 

 

 

 

 

scamel

there is a new entry in our scamel blog.

 

 

 

 

daffodil

 

Still is the fountain’s music,
The dark pool icy still,
Whereupon a small and sanguine sun
Floats in a mirror on,
Into a West of crimson,
From a South of daffodil.

’Tis strange to see young children
In such a wintry house;
Like rabbits’ on the frozen snow
Their tell-tale footprints go;
Their laughter rings like timbrels
’Neath evening ominous:

Thick mystery, wild peril,
Law like an iron rod:—
Yet sport they on in Spring’s attire,
Each with his tiny fire
Blown to a core of ardour
By the awful breath of God.

From Walter De La Mare, The Children of Stare.

 

 

 

 

 

orange, rose

 

Tell her that sheds
Such treasure in the air,
Recking naught else but that her graces give
Life to the moment,
I would bid them live
As roses might, in magic amber laid,
Red overwrought with orange and all made
One substance and one color
Braving time.

Tell her that goes
With song upon her lips
But sings not out the song, nor knows
The maker of it, some other mouth,
May be as fair as hers,
Might, in new ages, gain her worshipers,
When our two dusts with Waller's shall be laid,
Siftings on siftings in oblivion,
Till change hath broken down
All things save beauty alone.

From Ezra Pound, Envoi (1919)

 

 

 

 

 

 

harmony

 

In beauty ----- may I walk
All day long ----- may I walk
Through the returning seasons ----- may I walk
Beautifully I will possess again
Beautifully birds
Beautifully joyful birds
On the trail marked with pollen ----- may I walk
With grasshoppers about my feet ----- may I walk
With dew about my feet ----- may I walk
With beauty ----- may I walk
With beauty before me ----- may I walk
With beauty behind me ----- may I walk
With beauty above me ----- may I walk
With beauty all around me ----- may I walk
In old age, wandering on a trail of beauty, lively ----- may I walk
In old age, wandering on a trail of beauty, living again ----- may I walk
It is finished in beauty
It is finished in beauty

From the Navajo Night Way Ceremony.

'At the heart of the Navajo way is the concept of harmony, the need to be in right relationship. This concept is often translated as `Beauty' in English.'

In memoriam, MLK. In hope, BHO.