Sunday, October 05, 2008
reading from Kahlil Gibran's The Vision,
"Children of Gods, Scions of Apes" * :
. . . Yesterday we were and today we have become, and this is
the will of the gods for their children. What, then, is your will,
scions of the apes?
Have you advanced even one stride forward
since you issued from fissures in the earth?
Or have you lifted your gaze toward the heights
since the demons opened your eyes?
Have you pronounced a single word from the Book
of Truth since the serpents kissed your mouth with theirs?
Or have you listend even an instant to the song of life
since death stopped up your ears?
I have been passing by you for 70,000 years and have
seen you metamorphose like insects in the corners
of grottoes. Seven minutes ago I looked at you
from behind the pane of my window and found you ambling
in filthy alleyways, led by the devils of apathy,
the chains of servitude shackling your feet
and the wings of death fluttering above your heads.
You are today as you were yesterday and shall remain
tomorrow and thereafter, just as I saw you in the beginning.
Yesterday we were and today we have become, for this is
the wont of the gods with the children of gods. What,
then, is the way of apes with you, O scions of the apes? . . .
(31-32)
* Kahlil Gibran, "Children of Gods, Scions of Apes," in The Vision, trans. Juan R. I. Cole (Penguin, 1994)
chris at
7:13 AM
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Thursday, October 02, 2008
reading from Agnes Martin,
"Parable of the Equal Hearts,"
in Writings * :
Once there were two lovers that had equal hearts.
One would pursue one,
the other would pursue the other.
Then the angels looked down and said:
"What a waste," and made them perceive each other.
Their hearts melted into one.
They had no use for the world
so they leaped into the swift river.
This heart was always restless
and the only place where it had any rest at all was on the beach.
But even on the beach one said:
"I wish we'd never been made one."
And immediately on half flew up in the sky
and the other half into the sea.
But they yearned for each other.
And when it rained the one in the sea said:
"This is a message from my other half in the sky."
And when the water was evaporated from the ocean and rose
up, the other said:
"This is a message from my other half in the sea."
The angels were stumped.
There's one thing that God is not able to endure --
a suffering heart.
He felt one half in the sky and one half in the sea.
God thought what to do.
So the one in the sky fell down into the sea
and immediately both turned to sea water.
Ever since that time when the water is drawn up from the sea
and it rains this is not an ordinary rain. It's the rain
that affects people and softens them.
I painted a painting called This Rain.
(59)
* Agnes Martin. Writings (Hatje Cantz, 2005)
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