Sunday 12 March 2017

Happy birthday Jack Kerouac (12/3/22 - 21/10/69)

'
" the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time the one's who never yawn or say a commonplace thing but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars in the middle you see the blue center light pop and everything goes Awww!'
- Jack Kerouac.

Today is the anniversary of visionary, iconclastic writer and poet,Jack Kerouac being born. The shaman of the Beat Generation arrived today as  Jean-Louis Lebris de Kerouac to a  French-Canadian family in the factory town of  Lowell, Massachusettsus USA. Variously called the Beat Generations apostle, poet, hero, laureate, saint?  Through his own life story he created  a work of fiction .Soared so high, that in the end unfortunately found his own human skin, then found himself out of his depth in bottled delusion, where the burning ship had become his own.
Kerouac learned to speak French at home before he learned English at school. Reportedly he did not learn English until he was six years old . His father Leo Kerouac owned his own print shop, Spotlight Print, in downtown Lowell, and his mother Gabrielle Kerouac, known to her children as Memere, was a homemaker. Kerouac later described the family’s home life: “My father comes home from his printing shop and undoes his tie and removes his1920s vest, and sits himself down at hamburger and boiled potatoes and bread and butter, and with the kiddies and the good wife.”
Jack Kerouac endured a childhood tragedy in the summer of 1926, when his beloved older brother Gerard died of rheumatic fever at the age of 9. Drowning in grief, the Kerouac family embraced their Catholic faith more deeply. Kerouac’s writing is full of vivid memories of attending church as a child: “From the open door of the church warm and golden light swarmed out on the snow. The sound of the organ and singing could be heard.”
 Jack would earn a football scholarship to Columbia University, and planned to work in insurance after finishing school, according to the Beat Museum,http://www.kerouac.com/ which goes into detail about Kerouac’s rise to literary and cultural stardom. But his life only took a more hectic turn once he arrived in New York City, and he quickly clashed with his football coach. Jack dropped out of school, joined the Merchant Marines and then fell in with New York’s literary crowd. Around this time, Kerouac took several cross-country road trips with friend Neal Cassady that would later inspire his seminal work, “On the Road.”
In his life, he had been part of a culture and people, who burned like meteors. Jack Kerouac was the Beat Generations very own mythologiser, he and his band of brothers helped  redeem a bit of America's soul. His legacy, like that of the Beat Culture, still alive, still relevant, still taking root.
This influential poet and writer who originated the term “beatific” as a the defining term for the group of artists and writers of the Beat Generation, who along with his friends, Gregory Corso, William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferllinghetti, Gary Snyder etc, paved a way for a whole host of dreamers searching for risk, some form of adventure. Colouring our worlds with their crazy visions, their minds in revolt, searching for future's possibilities. Hand in hand with rebellion, against the conventions of the times.
Jack Kerouac in his eighteen books  and many others under Jack's influence were to me important epiphanies on my own path of self discovery. He taught me about "Spontaneous prose." - writing without revising....... He called this " a spontaneous bop prosody."  which is a bit like a jazz musician taking an improvised solo, and he took it as far as he could go, with  no editing and no pause of breath. Sometimes what is left, has no meaning, a void, but often their is a glimmer, that spells hope, that can become endless, can run off the page, infinite but still accessible.
On my bookshelf at home Kerouacs influence groans on my bookcases, his own works, sharing spaces with others , that were touched by his inspiration. I a very grateful to a friend called Charlotte who recently added  more to my personal collection.
There is something about his tragic, magic life that still resonates, hums, there will always be new connections, outhouses where seeds will forever drift. New poets will emerge, to experience, among the whole wide world, words will dance, impulsively between time, forever and forever. Enthusiasm will be shared, thoughts will be exchanged, and for some the personal will always be political.Passion will ignite.
Jack had a wild  spirit,  but such a dazzling voice, who through his writing  revealed him as a believer in humanity, a dreamer, a doer and an explorer of metaphysical depth. He was however also a recluse, socially awkward, a drug abuser, an alcoholic and a man who became so overwhelmed with his own fame it ultimately destroyed him. Still yearning for his mother, but lost in a catholic guilt, that had always consumed him. Stuck in a sad exile,this  mystical breath had grown tired , what was once beautiful  had begun to  drift towards bitterness. Jack was not immortal, though for me his words are, and he left this planet on October 21 1969,  47 years, related to alcoholism  According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Kerouac “was known to consume 17 shots of Johnny Walker Red per hour, washed down with Colt malt liquor.” and because of this his search for inner lamentation was  cut tragically far to short.
There are two types of people in this world; those that ‘get’ Kerouac, and those that do not. I am in the first category, of course, so  happy birthday Jack, your impact continues to be felt , your satori breath released , and your legacy today is stronger today than ever ... om  switchin on.... tomorrow's dawns chorus echoes,anesthesising the sky.... sentences littered with wild perception, language as  a spell that  leaves us forever hooked. In human existence our contradictions will abound, freeze framed, on the road to nowhere. Kicks joy darkness.blessed be you in golden eternity., and as Jack said "Practice kindness all day to everybody and you will realize you're already in heaven  now."

William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, 1953


Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, Kerouac,
Greeenwich Village, 1957.


Jack Kerouac on the Steve Allen show 1959.



Jack Keroauc: I'm sick of myself, I'm not a courageous man
a rare interview of Jack in French with English subtitles to a Canadian Television show where he explains how he  came up with the name  that described the literary movement of his generation.




There are numerous pages and books devoted to Kerouac and the Beats , if you look you will find what your looking for, the searching is part of the journey In the meantime I offer you some of his poetry

POOR SOTTISH KEROUAC

Poor sottish Kerouac with his thumb in his eye
Getting interested in literature again
Through a mote of dust just flew by

How should I know that the dead were born?
Does Master cry?

   The weeds Ophelia wound with
    and Chatterton measured in the moon
     are the weeds of Goethe, Wang Wei,
      and the Golden Courtesans

Imagining recommending a prefecture
       for a man in the madhouse
                      rain
Sleep well, my angel
Make some eggs
The house in the moor
The house is a monument
In the moor of the grave
        Whatever that means
The white dove descended in disguise?

WOMAN

      A woman is beautiful
       but
          you have to swing
          and swing and swing
          and swing like
          a hankerchief in the
                                       wind

149th Chorus

I keep falling  in love
with my mother
I dont want to hurt her
=Of all people to hurt

Every time I see her
she's grown older
But her uniform always
amazes me
For its Dutch simplicity
And the Doll she is.
The doll-like way
she stands
Bowlegged in my dreams,
Waiting to serve me

And I am only an Apache
Smoking Hashi
In old Cabashy
By the Lamp

2111th Chorus

The wheel of the quivering meat
conception
Turns in the Void expelling human beings,
Pigs, turtles, frogs, insects, nits,
Mice, Lice, Lizards, rats, roan
Racing horses, poxy bucolic pig tics,
Horrible unnameable lice of vultures
Murderous attacking dog-armies
Of Africa, Rhinos roaming in the jungle
Vast boars and huge gigantic bull
Elephants, rams, eagles, condors,
Pones and Porcupines and Pills-
All the endless conception of living
beings
Gnashing everywhere in Consciousness
Throughout the ten directions of space
Occupying all the quarters in and out,
From supermicroscopic no-bug
To huge Galaxy Lightyear Bowell
Illuminating the sky of one mind


AND THEN THEY GOT HIM

The Oil of the Olive
Bittersweet taffies
Bittersweet cabbage
Cabbage soup made right
A hunk a grass
In a big barrel
Stunk but Good

163rd Chorus

Left the Tombs to go
  and look at the
  Millions of cut glass-
-a guy clocking them,
as you look you swallow,
you get so fat
you can't leave the building
-stand straight,
don't tip over, breathe
in such a way yr fatness
deflates, go back to
               the Tombs,
ride the elevator-
             he tips over again'
gazes on the Lights,
eats them, is clocked,
    gets so fat
    he can leave elevator,
has to stand straight
and breathe out the fat -
-hurry back to the Tombs

242nd Chorus

The sound in your mind
   is the first sound
      that you could sing

If you were singing
   at a cash register
       with nothing on yr mind-

But when that grim reper
   comes to lay you
       look out my lady

He will steal all you got
   while you dingle with the dangle
   and having robbed you

Vanish
     Which will be your best reward,
     T'were better to get rid o
     John O'Twill, then sit a mortying
     In this Half Eternity with nobody
    To save the old man being hanged
    In my closet for nothing
    And everybody watches
    When the act is done-

Stop the murder and the suicide!
   All's well!
      I am the Guard

Saturday 11 March 2017

If you wish


Though my mind
Is not like yours
Slightly in tatters
I still try to be a friend
Here you can share my thoughts
As the world spins round
Making us dizzy
As life rotates
I will be what I am
And you will too
Carried by peaceful currents
Unafraid, if you wish.

Thursday 9 March 2017

The Tories conscious cruelty is simply no laughing matter.


The Tories are taken us through the biggest cuts to welfare for 100 years, another vicious assault on people on benefits.Cuts to ESA  Employment Support Allowance will see payments for many new claimants reduced by around £30 a week, despite the Department for Work and Pensions admitting those affected will have been found unable to work following a Work Capability Assessment.
The changes, which come into force for new claims from April 2017, affect those placed in the Work Related Activity Group of ESA and will see payments reduced to the equivalent of Jobseeker’s Allowance.The Tory's claim  that these cuts are a in a bid to encourage those living with a disability to find employment, reducing the allowance to £73.10 a week, that of standard job seeker’s allowance.But it is just another example of their conscious cruelty, which is  deliberate and purposeful aimed to hurt many deeply.
Another attack on those already who are the hardest hit, disabled people,the poor, the sick,the marginalised, and vulnerable.It really saddens me that those outside the comfort blanket of society, stuck in the quaqmire of insecurity are treated like pawns in a game of chess, sacrificed  and abandoned so easily.These cuts will not help motivate people towards work,if anything it will push certain people, already in difficult circumstances, faced with mental health problems further away from work and make it harder for them to manage their condition and drive us all into deeper poverty, putting lives at risk, which does not offer even a morsel of hope to those that most deserve it.
On  top of this Theresa May has plans to restrict access to disability benefits known as Personal Independent Payments.The courts recently ruled that people who find it difficult to leave the house because of mental illness should be awarded the higher rate of PIP. Rather than adhering to the rulings of two tribunals, the Government announced that they would rewrite the law, hence denying benefits for more than 160,000 people with mental illness.Paul Farmer, chief executive of Mind, said: “People who find it difficult to leave the house because of anxiety, panic attacks, and other mental health problems are as restricted in their independence as many people with physical mobility problems, and face just as many higher costs in their daily lives as other disabled people do.
This all comes after the government has repeatedly stated the government is committed to building a country that works for everyone, but the truth of the matter is they simply could not give a damn.
The Tories once again  showing their complete and utter contempt for the poor, the disabled and the vulnerable. During the Budget Chancellor Hammond still managed to press ahead with tax cuts on corporate profits, capital gains and inherited wealth. At least Jeremy Corbyn had the tenacity to respond with a  very powerful speech after  Hammond delivered his cruel budget and raised concerns that are affecting millions of people across Britain. He talked about the effects Tory austerity is having on the poor, the disabled and the vulnerable. He talked about the effects welfare cuts will have on the disabled and working families. He talked about the crisis that is crippling the NHS. He talked about the Tories’ new ‘rape clause’ which has been imposed on Child Benefit. He talked about the effects Tory cuts are having on public services. He talked about underpaid and overworked public sector workers. He talked about inequality. He talked about zero hours contracts and low pay. He talked about the social care crisis. He talked about tax cuts for large corporations and the rich, while the self-employed get a National Insurance hike. He talked about wage poverty and soaring utility bills and inflation. He talked about the housing shortage and homelessness. He talked about the lack of support for mental health sufferers. He talked about cuts to Bereavement Benefit and how widowed parents will struggle. He talked about the effect Housing Benefit cuts will have on young people aged 18 to 21. He talked about women’s rights and the effects Tory austerity is having on women and mothers. And he talked about the pressures that are affecting ordinary people across the country.
While he was doing this, the Tories just sat there laughing, jeering and heckling like the evil so and so's they are, as they keep causing misery to millions of peoples lives. This is certainly no laughing matter.They truly are a nasty lot. FFS sake enough is enough. In the meantime if you could sign the following petition, it would be much appreciated. Cheers.

Treat people with mental health issues fairly under PIP


https://speakout.38degrees.org.uk/campaigns/pip-mental-health-cuts?utm_campaign=LLWUlV2oZJ&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=member

Monday 6 March 2017

Not yet broken



There are times of trouble and stress
Just look at the state of the world,
It really is in one hell of a mess
Humanity repeatedly smashing itself into pieces,
Tension drowning us in sombre melancholy
Discordant notes dispensing division
Crushing hope and ambition,
As beauty and strength fades away.
Spring returns calling at your door
Bringing the flowers to bloom once more,
Can help  put back a smile on your face
This game of survival, this seasons annual race,
Allows us stop a while, let our minds reflect
As friendship arrives again, never to tired,
Without hesitation we can set course on  new
                                                        destination
Experimenting with home made cures and lotions,
Recording, adapting new dimensions of meaning
Mind awakened can carry on, not yet broken.


Friday 3 March 2017

Music Freedom Day 2017


FEMALE ARTISTS SPEAK OUT FOR MUSIC FREEDOM DAY!


Everyone has the right to music, both as a mechanism of expression and enjoyment. Freemuse, a Copenhagen-based international organization, established March 3rd as Music Freedom Day, in order to advocate for musicians’ right to freedom of expression; to carry out their craft without fear of oppression, imprisonment, or censorship. Between 2007, when Music Freedom Day was launched, and 2014, more than 100 partners and collaborators in 36 countries have joined the annual event. The combination of campaigns such as Music Freedom Day, silent diplomacy, and political developments has helped foster the release of artists around the world.
Founded in 1998, Freemuse documents infringements on the rights of musicians around the world. Since 2011 Freemuse has broadened its scope to include projects advocating freedom of all artistic expressions and initiated the global network Artsfex for the protection of artistic freedom. Freemuse collaborates with associates around the world to incorporate their research in nations’ Universal Periodic Reviews to the United Nations Human Rights Council.
The right to freedom of expression is articulated in international agreements on human rights. Article 19, of both the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and articles 27 and 15 of the UDHR and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) respectively, convey one’s right to music. These articles include the right to freedom of opinion and expression via any media, as well as the freedom to participate in cultural life and enjoy the arts. These pieces of international law dictate musicians’ freedom to express themselves through their art, as well as the right of all people to experience music without fear or negative repercussions.
Despite its explicit protection in international law, the right to music remains in jeopardy today.  In every region of the world, musicians are subject to persecution, censorship, and other threats to their personal safety and freedom. The statistics for 2015 noted 469 violations in over 70 different nations, approximately twice the number of cases from 2014. Censorship accounted for nearly half of these infringements, followed by prosecution, oppression, and imprisonment. Freemuse breaks censorship down into four distinct categories: political, religious, corporate, and censorship against women. While the historical majority of violations are grounded in politics, there was a significant rise in religiously motivated attacks on musical freedom in 2015.
Music Freedom Day (MFD) is a powerful, united manifestation to support persecuted, prosecuted and imprisoned musicians, many of whose only crime has been that they have spoken up against authorities and insisted on the right to express themselves through their music. Worldwide, musicians’ and composers’ rights to freedom of expression are violated, but the strong support for Music Freedom Day every year demonstrates the will to continue the advocacy and defense for the universal rights to compose, perform and participate in musical activities.
Today March 3rd 2017 MFD makes a special focus on women performers and female musicians. In some countries women are not allowed to sing or play instruments and have been threatened, assaulted, persecuted and even killed. Additionally women face especially difficult conditions in many countries as performers and are often subject to discrimination, sexual objectification and unfair industry conditions.In celebration and protection of women’s voices, artists from Afghanistan to Sweden stand in solidarity with women musicians who are censored, attacked, persecuted, imprisoned or even killed simply for making music.
Join the global event here: Music Freedom Day 2017
Music can be a very powerful tool,  it should not be a crime, it is also a human right.

www.musicfreedomday.org

Wednesday 1 March 2017

Harri Webb (7/9/20 - 31/12/94) - The Red, White and Green

A poem for St David's Day


Harri Webb was one of Wales's most popular poets, known for his wit and erudition , for his historical perspective and awareness of contemporary realities, and in Wales he enjoyed the status of People's Poet.
Born in Swansea, spent much of his life as a librarian, in Mountain Ash and Merthyr Tydfil. In the 1970's he took part in the BBC Wales programme, Poems and Pints.
Though he was an individualist, his political slant was one of Welsh Republican Socialism.
After a long period of illness he moved to St. David's Nursing Home in St.Helen's Road, Swansea.
It was here that he died in his sleep on the morning of 31 December 1994.

The Red, White and Green
reprinted from
Harri Webb / Collected Poems
Gomer, 1995.

On the first day of March we remember
St.David the pride of our land,
Who taught us the stern path of duty
And for freedom and truth made a stand.

So here's to the sons of Saint David,
Those youngsters so loyal and keen
Who'll haul down the red, white and blue, lads,
And hoist up the red, white and green.

In the dark gloomy days of December
We mourn for Llywellyn with pride
Who fell in defence of his country
With eighteen brave men by his side.

So here's to the sons of LLywellyn,
The heirs of that valiant eighteen
Who'll haul down the red, white and blue, lads,
And hoist up the red, white and green.

In the warm, golden days of September,
Great Owain Glyndwr took the field,
For fiften long years did he struggle
And never the dragon did yield.

So here's to the son of Great Owain,
Who'll show the proud Sais what we mean
When we haul down the red, white and blue, lads,
And hoist up the red, white and green.

There are many more names to remember
And some that will never be known
Who were loyal to Wales and the gwerin
And defied all the might of the throne.

So here's to the sons of the gwerin
Who care not for the prince or for queen,
Who'll haul down the red, white and blue, lads,
And hoist up the red, white and green!


By the way, I love Wales
But avoid the nationalism
I prefer the mystical, deep streams
Let no man be a slave - heddwch/Peace


Saturday 25 February 2017

Israeli Apartheid Week

 

Israeli Apartheid Week, (now in its 13th year) is an annual international series of events held in 200 cities and campuses across across the globe over the next two months.IAW 2017 also marks 100 years of Palestinian resistance against settler-colonialism, since the inception of the Balfour Declaration. It hopes to educate people about the nature of Israel. Demanding full equality for Arab citizens of Israel and an end to what is known as the occupation and the dismantling of the apartheid wall, with the protection of Palestinians, and their right to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in U.N resolution 194. It will be launched in London next Tuesday.There will be exciting discussions, concerts, panels, film screenings and creative actions to raise awareness about Israel’s illegal settler-colonial project, military occupation and apartheid system over the Palestinian people, and to build support for the growing BDS movement for Palestinian rights.Check out the program, or build and register your own, and attend:
http://apartheidweek.org
Calling the Israeli regime as one of apartheid is not rhetoric, nor is it an exaggeration or a propaganda tool. This is the reality in modern day Palestine, where the Israeli regime is based on discrimination, through laws,practices and most aspects of life and the policies instituted by the Israeli government against the Palestinian people meets the UN definition of Apartheid. This apartheid regime is not only imposed on the people in Palestine, but also on millions of Palestinian refugees denied their right to return to their homes and lands.
In effect, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory constitute one territorial unit under full Israeli control. As of 2015, of the total population of people that live in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, around 6.6 million are Jewish Israelis and about 6.4 million are Palestinians.Under Israeli law, and in practice, Jewish Israelis and Palestinians are treated differently in almost every aspect of life including freedom of movement, family, housing, education, employment and other basic human rights. Dozens of Israeli laws and policies institutionalise this prevailing system of racial discrimination and domination.
The occupation Wall is also another element of the wider system of severe restrictions on the freedom of movement imposed by the Israeli authorities on Palestinian residents of the West Bank. There are over 600 closure obstacles blocking Palestinian movement within the West Bank. In addition, the system of roads is segregated: travel on hundreds of kilometres in the West Bank is restricted or prohibited outright for Palestinians, whereby Israelis are able to travel about freely. About one third of the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, is completely prohibited to Palestinians without a special permit issued by the Israeli military.
These severe restrictions violate not only the right to freedom of movement,they also effectively prevent Palestinian residents from exercising a wide range of fundamental human rights because of their identity, including their right to work, to health, to education and to an adequate standard of living. Farmers are stopped from assessing their fields and thus from exercising their right to sustain their livelihood. Many Palestinians are also prevented from seeking work outside their locality. Children are prevented from accessing schools and students face restrictions in choosing their university of choice. Patients are prevented from assessing hospitals, blocking them from exercising their right to the highest sustainable standard of health.  Israel has in effect created a system of seperation in the West Bank which fits the textbook definition of apartheid. Segregation is also carried out by implementing separate legal regimes for Jewish Israelis and Palestinians living in the same area. For example, Jewish Israeli settlers living in the illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are governed by Israeli civil law, while Palestinians also living in the occupied West Bank are governed by Israeli military law.All this combined  with murder, torture, unlawful imprisonment and other severe deprivation of physical liberty, especially of Palestinians living in Gaza, and the ongoing persecution of Palestinians because of their opposition to Apartheid.
As awareness across the world of all of this continues to increase  campaigns to boycott, divest and sanction this regime provide a very effective and natural response. The world witnessed a similar response transpire and bare fruit in the case of South Africa, and there are very good reasons to believe that it will do the same in the case of Palestine.

 “One has to keep telling the Palestinian story in as many ways as possible, as insistently as possible, and in as compelling a way as possible, to keep attention to it, because there is always the fear that it might just disappear.” ( Edward Said, 2003).

Thursday 23 February 2017

Threads ( An attempt at a sonnet)



When the dawn tumbles towards us
Is the glass half empty or half full?
Frightened of the daily news
People grow fierce, poets keep vigil,
Reciting incantations stitched with diversity
Hungry eyes stop us from falling,
Yearning for something different
Continue  building something new,
We are all related, all carrying different stories
Dreamers and risk takers passing through,
Holding together various points of view
Twisting and contorting like free birds,
In our various struggles try to renew
a new sense of human possibility

Wednesday 22 February 2017

Songs are like rivers - John Berger (5/11/26 - 2/1/16)



'Songs connect, collect and bring together. Even when not being sung they are attendant assembly-points.
The words of songs are different from the words that make prose. In prose, words are independent agents; in songs, they are first and foremost the intimate sounds of their mother tongue. They signify what they signify, and at the same time they address or flow toward all the words that exist in that language.
Songs are like rivers: each follows its own course, yet all flow to the sea, from which everything came. The fact that in many languages the place where a river enters the sea is called the river’s mouth emphasizes the comparison. The waters that flow out of a river’s mouth have come from an immense elsewhere. And something similar happens with what comes out of the mouth of a song.

John Berger -  'Confabulations’

 John Berger - About Song and Laughter

Sukhdev Sandhu introduces a rare radio-minded feature by the late celebrated critic, novelist and thinker John Berger.  Berger talks about the songs in his life and about Charlie Chaplin's radical power. Featuring Katya Berger and the music of Woody Guthrie, Cesaria Evora and Yasmin Hamdam among others. Producer: Tim Dee.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05sxz6l

an earlier tribute of mine to the man can  be found here:-

http://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/rip-john-berger-goodbye-to-beautiful.html

Sunday 19 February 2017

Gunnar Ekelöf (15/9/07 -16/3/68) - Everyone is a World

 Gunnar Ekelöf , was a Swedish poet, a socialist, born in Stockholm. His first collection Late Arrival on Earth, 1932, established his reputation as Swedens most outstanding modern poet. His work draws attention to the immediacy of life rather than to the presence of the past.He was influenced by the French poets Baudelaire and Rimbaud. His collection Sent på jorden (Late Arrival on Earth), 1932, introduced surrealism into Swedish poetry. He often used an 'invisible hinge; between opposites, acknowledging the immediate counterpart of his statements. After his death in 1968 in Sigtuna, his ashes were scattered in the tiver Sardis, near the cult of Artemis. He remains a true alchemist of words.

Everyone is a World

Everyone is a world, peopled
by blind beings in dark commotion
against the self the king who rules them.
In every soul thousands of souls are trapped,
in every world thousands of worlds are hidden
by blind beings in dark commotion
against the self the King who rules them.
In every soul thousands of souls are trapped,
in every world thousands of worlds are hidden
and these blind, these underworlds
are real and living, though incomplete,
as true as I am real. And we kings
and princes of the thousand possibilities in us
are ourselves servants trapped
in some greater creature, whose self and being
we grasp as little as our own superior
his superior. Our own feelings have taken
the color of their love and death.

As when a mighty steamship passes
far out, under the horizon, lying
in the evening glitter - And we don't know about it
until the swell reaches us on the shore,
first one, then another, and then many
which strike and bloom until everything has become
as before, - Yet everything is different.

So we shades are troubled by a strange unease
When something tells us that others have gone ahead,
That some of the possibilities have been released.