Archive for March, 2012

somewhere i have never travelled

somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond
any experience, your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near

your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully,mysteriously)her first rose

or if your wish be to close me, i and
my life will shut very beautifully, suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;

nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility:whose texture
compels me with the color of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing

(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens;only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands

-e.e. cummings

When the lights go down in the city

When the lights go down in the city,
and the sun shines on the bay,
do i want to be there,
in my city,
ohoh ohohoh ohoh

…

-from “When the lights do down in the city” by Journey

Why, yes, I actually like being in my city when the lights go down. Sometimes you don’t need to go very far to find beauty and intrigue. There are many gems around if you just look. Here’s hoping you find one this weekend.

(Photo captured along the Charles River by the Esplanade in Boston)

Fields of Gold

You’ll remember me when the west wind moves
Upon the fields of barley
You’ll forget the sun in his jealous sky
As we walk in the fields of gold

So she took her love
For to gaze awhile
Upon the fields of barley
In his arms she fell as her hair came down
Among the fields of gold

Will you stay with me, will you be my love
Among the fields of barley
We’ll forget the sun in his jealous sky
As we lie in the fields of gold

-from “Fields of Gold” by Sting

Blossom by blossom the spring begins

For winter’s rains and ruins are over,
And all the season of snows and sins;
The days dividing lover and lover,
The light that loses, the night that wins;
And time remembered is grief forgotten,
And frosts are slain and flowers begotten,
And in green underwood and cover
Blossom by blossom the spring begins.

-Algernon Charles Swinburne

Happy Isles

It may be that the gulfs will wash us down;
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And though we are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are—
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will;
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

-an excerpt from Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “Ulysses”

Good Day Sunshine

I need to laugh, and when the sun is out
I’ve got something I can laugh about
I feel good, in a special way
I’m in love and it’s a sunny day

Good day sunshine
Good day sunshine
Good day sunshine

-From “Good Day Sunshine” by the Beatles

It’s been 70 degrees in Boston two days in a row now. You can feel the excitement and joy in the air. This is one of my favorite times of the year. Bostonians come out from hibernation, bask in the sun, and tell themselves: “This is why I live in Boston and suffer the long winters-the beautiful 3 seasons ahead-Spring, Summer, and Fall.” At least that’s what I tell myself.

i thank You

i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun’s birthday; this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any–lifted from the no
of all nothing–human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

- e.e. cummings

I’ve never been a religious person. Growing up though, my mom always told me that I was special and “God’s child.” I would say: “How can that be? We’re all God’s children.” She told me that when I was still in her belly, she dreamt that an angel told her that if she had a girl, the girl would be graced as God’s child and bring luck. Now, I always took this with a grain of salt and thought it was a humorous and charming story at most.

But what if my mom’s right? I’m starting to feel that I’ve been graced with a gift for meeting insanely nice people. I somehow keep managing to meet wonderful, thoughtful people in my life-in school, at work, on the streets.

I’m not quite sure what I’ve done to deserve this grace. Maybe I was really good in my past life? I don’t know, but I would like to thank everyone for being in my life and giving me so much joy. Thank You for being so thoughtful and caring. I’m truly on cloud-9 today.

Life is sweet, when you surround yourself with sweet people.

Bon Iver

I was unafraid, I was a boy, I was a tender age
melic in the naked, knew a lake and drew the lofts for page
hurdle all the waitings up, know it wasn’t wedded love
4 long minutes end and it was over it’d all be back
and the frost took up the eyes

pressed against the pane could see the veins and there was poison out
resting in a raze the inner claims I hadn’t breadth to shake
searching for an inner clout, may not take another bout
honey in the hale could fill the pales of loving less with vain
hon, it wasn’t yet the spring

aiming and it sunk and we were drunk and we had fleshed it out
nose up in the globes, you never know if you are passing out
no it wasn’t maiden-up, the falling or the faded luck
hung up in the ivory, both were climbing for a finer cause
love can hardly leave the room
with your heart

- From “Michicant” off of Bon Iver, Bon Iver by Bon Iver

There’s been a lot of talk of Bon Iver ever since he won Best New Artist at the Grammy Awards. I’ve actually been following Bon Iver well before he reached music mega-stardom. (Thank You to a friend that introduced me to “Flume” back in 2008.) My first Bon Iver concert was in December of 2008 at the Wilbur Theatre in Boston. He was a mere 3-person band back then? It was the first concert I had ever been to in which the audience was dead silent. When I say dead silent, I mean you could hear a needle drop. It was that intense and mesmerizing. Four years later, my good friend Phomdaen and I travelled to Montreal from Boston to see Bon Iver (photo above is taken with my iPhone at the Metropolis in Montreal). The 3-person band has now tripled in size, but has remained just as powerful and even more dynamic.

Bon Iver may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but no one can deny the talent:

Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me

Hold me, hold me
Never let me go
Until you’ve told me, told me
What I want to know

…

Kiss me, kiss me, and when you do
I know that you will miss me, miss me
If we ever say adieu, so kiss me, kiss me
Make me tell you I’m in love with you

-Mel Carter