Where my books go
by William Butler Yeats
All the words that I utter,
And all the words that I write,
Must spread out their wings untiring,
And never rest in their flight,
Till they come where your sad, sad heart is,
And sing to you in the night,
Beyond where the waters are moving,
Storm-darken'd or starry bright.
At the end of a month, I enjoy checking out the image archives for these three sites --
Take Something Like A Star
by Robert Frost
(1874-1963)
O Star (the fairest one in sight)
We grant your loftiness the right
To some obscurity of cloud--
It will not do to say of night,
Since dark is what brings out your light.
Some mystery becomes the proud.
But to be wholly taciturn
In your reserve is not allowed.
Say something to us that we can learn
By heart and when alone repeat.
Say something! And it says "I burn."
But say with what degree of heat.
Talk Fahrenheit, talk Centigrade.
Use language we can comprehend.
Tell us what elements you blend.
It gives us strangely little aid
But does tell something in the end.
And steadfast as Keats' Eremite,
Not even stooping from its sphere,
It asks a little of us here.
It asks of us a certain height.
So when at times the mob is swayed
To carry praise or blame too far,
We may take something like a star
To stay our minds on and be staid.
(Emphasis added; note also that the original poem is astrophic.)
Frost's reference, in line 18, to "Keats' Eremite" is a reference to the sonnet Bright star! would I were steadfast as thou art, by John Keats, line 4.
Today's masterpiece at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is The Harvesters, 1565, by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (d. 1569)
Other works by this artist may be found through his Artcyclopedia page.
Daily Zen Meditation, from the Sutra of Forty-Two Chapters: "Those who have strong passions are never able to perceive the Way; for it is like stirring up clear water with hands. People may come there wishing to find a reflection of their faces, which, however, they will never see. A mind troubled and vexed with the passions is never able to see the Way.
Earlier today I gave links to two works by Giovanni Paolo Pannini (d. 1765). The Web Gallery of Art site has a brief (very brief) biography of Pannini and features seven of his works.
More of his works can be found through the Artcyclopedia page on him.
"The way I see things, the way I see life, I see it as a struggle. And there's a great deal of reward I have gained coming to that understanding -- that existence is a struggle." -- Harvey Keitel
Today's Daily Zen Meditation is from the Sutra of Forty Two Chapters:
Those who are pure in heart and single in purpose are able to understand the most supreme Way. It is like polishing s mirror, which becomes bright when the dust is removed. Remove your passions, and have no hankering, and all will be revealed to you.
Two architectural interiors by Italian artist Giovanni Paolo Pannini (Panini), at the National Gallery of Art --
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