Dance Me to the End of Love

*

My new daughter in law

had asked me to read a poem

at their recent wedding

Of course I thought of Gibran

whose words I love

and then I remembered Leonard Cohen
whose haunting songs

So Long Marianne

and Suzanne takes You Down
were much loved many eons ago
when Beloved and I were
the age of the newly weds

His newer and most beautiful song

Dance me to the end of Love

seemed entirely appropriate

and I was set...


I read the song
as a lead in to
the Wedding Dance

 

Dance me to the End of Love

Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin
Dance me through the panic til I'm gathered safely in
Lift me like an olive branch and be my homeward dove
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love

Oh let me see your beauty when the witnesses have gone
Let me feel you moving like they do in Babylon
Show me slowly what I only know the limits of
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love

Dance me to the wedding now, and dance me on and on
Dance me very tenderly and dance me very long
We're both of us beneath our love, and we're both of us above
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love

Dance me to the children that are asking to be born
Dance me through the curtains that our kisses have outworn
Raise a tent of shelter now, though every thread is torn
Dance me to the end of love

Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin
 Dance me through the panic til I'm gathered safely in
Touch me with your naked hand or touch me with your glove
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love

All paintings by Marc Chagall


*

Sunsets

*

 Each time we visit Kauai

we make a point

of going up to 

the old Sheraton Hotel

on the bluff

at Princeville

The hotel is now

called the St Regis...

Not because 

we like to swan around

in elegance and luxury...

although it is fun to pretend

Not because 

we may rub shoulders

with the rich and famous...

although that could easily happen

 Not because 

we miss the fresh sushi

made right there at the bar...

although that is very tasty

  

 Not because 

we need

a cool corona and lime

or a mai tai

or a pina colada...

although they are very enticing

No

for none of those reasons

We always like to drive

to the hotel 

at least once 

on our holiday

at the end of a Hanalei day

because it is from there

that you see

some of the best sunsets

in the world...

You can park your car

and walk around the bluff

posing with your beloved

in front of Bali Hai -

as a lasting memento

of your wonderful 

Tsunami wedding holiday

and then with drink in hand
Hawaiian melodies
as a serenade

and eyes over the ocean

you can watch

the sun send forth

its crepuscular rays

and take a final bow

behind the magical peak

of Bali Hai

and give thanks

for another happy day

*

In Time

*

In Time...

Paul Barwick




Only a man harrowing clods
In a slow silent walk
With an old horse that stumbles and nods
Half asleep as they stalk

Alexander Mann




Only a thin smoke without flame
From the heaps of couch grass
Yet this will go onward the same
Though dynasties pass

Yonder a maid and her wight
Come whispering by
Wars annals will cloud into night
Ere their story die







~



In Time of the Breaking of Nations
Thomas Hardy









*

Disappearing Peaks

*

Last night
I sat down
and enjoyed writing a response
to each of you
because I had so enjoyed
your diverse and interesting comments,
suggestions for becoming centred
and regaining a sense of equanimity


and then I pushed publish
and kazam
the entire screed disappeared

I said something like
dang
darn
drat


 well maybe something like that -
and I gave up


But I wanted you to know
that I found each of your comments
interesting
and valuable

and love that so many of us are
on the same page...




So tonight
I have pulled up a post
written in Hanalei, Kauai
that seems pertinent
to the topic of disappearances
and also to gains
to silver linings...

****

 Disappearing Peaks

and Waterfalls

 

On these days

in Hanalei

 

the mountain peaks 

can come and go

 

in fact

whole mountains

can disappear

 

later to return

adorned with waterfalls

 

 that tumble down 

the steep mountainsides

to the valley below

and race to the sea...

*

On being Centred

*

Neither up nor down...

I went out for a late afternoon walk yesterday and when crossing the road noticed this marking on a lamp post.

I imagine that the painted arrows serve some purpose for either the electricity company or maybe the telephone lines people.

But what the image made me instantly think of was:

The grand old Duke of York,
He had ten thousand men;
He marched them up to the top of the hill,
And he marched them down again.

And when they were up, they were up;
And when they were down, they were down,
And when they were only half-way up,
They were neither up nor down.

And from there my mind meandered back in time to this:

Halfway down the stairs
is a stair where i sit.
there isn't any other stair quite like it.
i'm not at the bottom,
i'm not at the top;
so this is the stair where I always stop.
Halfway up the stairs
Isn't up
And it isn't down.
It isn't in the nursery,
It isn't in town.
And all sorts of funny thoughts
Run round my head.
It isn't really
Anywhere!
It's somewhere else
Instead!

Poem by A.A. Milne ~ Illustration by E.H. Shepard

~

... and then I mused on this place of neither up nor down
and being half way up and not really anywhere
and I thought that it is rather like that position
from where we sometimes climb to highs
and sometimes fall to lows
but the place to where we can return
to retrieve a sense of equanimity.


The symbol made me think that:

to be happy or content
does not imply
that we do not
experience pain and loss
or exaltation and joy


to be balanced
doesn't mean
that we do not waver
and


to be centred
doesn't mean
that we do not oscillate



When jostled, buffeted
or buoyed and bounced
by the ebb and flow of life
we can learn to return
to that place half way up,
half way down,
neither up nor down



We can find ourselves once again
and reclaim those feelings
of serenity and calm




What do you use
as your ballast
when you feel off centre?

Oh Happy Days

*

Critters

*

I have returned
to the land down under
 after a long long day
of travelling
 it is nice to be home...

Thank you for your comments
to 'Vibrancy'

 my friend Val in Honolulu
tracked down
the yellow pom pom flower tree
it is a Cortez Amarillo,
also known as Ipe
a prized hardwood,
thanks Val...



*

Critters

in the tropics

 

Living in the subtropics

means lush tropical vegetation -

when it rains

  

 

It also means 

large hungry critters

like this grasshopper

who does this

to my Raphis Palms

 

and looks rather angry

when I get up close

  

 he has a friend

or two

or more

  

somewhat sun-bleached

in appearance -

like the local surfers

  

and who thinks the whole

photography lark

is just a little tedious...

Yawn....

*

Vibrancy

*

 Vibrancy

 anthurium

while I am familiar

with many of the plants 

here in Kauai

because they grow at home,

the extra rainfall 

on this island

and the smaller diurnal range

of temperature

plus a milder winter

and a less intense sun

bougainvillea

make for colours that pop -

such vibrancy

this bare tree

is garlanded 

with plump yellow blooms

like pom poms

I don't know its name...

hibiscus

The mountains

in the centre

of this island
are where you find
Mt Waialeale
which is the rainiest
and the wettest spot
on the planet

spider lily

Mt Waialeale
receives 472 inches
of rainfall a year
that is 39 feet
or 12 metres

orchid

the trade winds
blowing off the ocean
keep this island
cool in summer
usually 23-29 C
or 74-85 F

terminalia

the rainfall
is more prevalent in winter
when the days
range from 18-26 C
or 65-78 F,
although the climate
is termed 'localised'
meaning
that it may rain one minute
and be sunny shortly after

red ginger

The great thing about the climate
on this island
is that if it does rain
you can drive for 10 minutes
 and be in the warm sunshine...

Oh Happy Hula Days

*