that moment when the fire first breathed you in
charring your edges, seasoning your soul with smoke
you didn't know how hot this is
nor how much of you there is to burn
yet in those flames you saw the face of God
and from that light you can not turn away.
I said to my soul, be still, and let the dark come upon you
Which shall be the darkness of God. . . .
So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.
— T. S. Eliot
I know now this is universal, but at first it was personal and after reading this a few times I thought, well there's the proof how wonderful it is. :)
ReplyDeleteI forgot to mention that the poem is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThe wording is incredibly strong and clear.
and the parts of east coker in there certainly fit well with what you wrote.
I have my own interpretations of east coker, and
I suppose in my mind I could understand most the things going on in it, but in the end I find that after all the analysis, Im either really stupid, really smart or somewhere inbetween and that nothing has changed and it doesnt matter if im one or all three because for the most part, Im happy to be on auto pilot with something I dont care about and that doesnt care about me, in the best way possible. A communion with whatever is I suppose...the beauty being that you dont have to define anything or even care about it.
That is enough for me. Maybe that is a sad thing, but nothing else seems to make sense.
That is my today's thoughts on how I feel about spirituality and connecting, so thanks for dragging that out of me. I appreciate it!
Thanks Rivercat.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know what the quote was from but just googled "east coker".
And Like other Elliot I have read (or perhaps any long winded poet), I love it most in short pieces best so shall no doubt have to return many times before I catch a glimpse of the full storey.
Is it a short attentions span, or just that I like the smell of the words so close to my nose it's hard to step back long enough to see the whole picture?
i didnt know the name of that section either until I googled it. :) The stuff between the elipses seemed to make the message ambiguous to me as I read it and i think even if i went through the whole giant thing and all the contradictry meanings id forget most of it in a few weeks.
ReplyDeleteI think the way you approach it makes sense.
So, i think for me though, Ive rationalized my 30 second attention span. I dont seem sparked to go to deep into complex or long writings often. There seems to be a downside to it even beyond the effort and time needed. Now there are my two reasons why i avoid long poems.. and yes, I feel that way about about being directed in on sections of poems and long sayings often and prefer to concentrate on a beautiful small parts that im attracted to I dont like long poems and never use alot of references in them because i (luckily perhaps), dont have that kind of background in literature. i prefer shorter poems and thoughts like the kind you write and that some others write online that attract me but i will say that i particularly like the way you choose your words and the feelings I take from them. They seem to have meaning that I cant express well with words but i can identify with. Well it seems to have taken me a thousand words to say what you said in one sentence :))