You're literary creatures too, so I thought you might like it as well:
The night before the ceasefire was announced, in the hours before it was announced and when it was unclear which way things will turn, and in between that and seeing the pictures from Artemis 2, I thought of one of my favorite lines of Hebrew poetry, by Zelda: "It is odd to wilt before the clouds of hate/When the heart is drawn/To a myriad of worlds." I am taking it a bit out of context, because Zelda was against the space race (especially as an act of imperialism), while I'm astound and in awe of space missions (yay, science! Yay, humans using their brains and lives not trying to kill one another!).
But I also could have not seen the pictures from NASA, read the despairing horrible world war news, and not to think of them. It is odd to wilt before the clouds of hate, when the heart is drawn to a myriad of worlds. There's just so much that's in this world, and in this universe, to wilt before the clouds of hate.
The poem in full:
Drunk, Divided Will/Zelda (trans. by Uri Segal)
The drunk, divided, bloody will
That has imposed itself on fates,
On the world’s secret,
hgg
Blazes in my era’s heart.
It shackles the free rejoicing air
With a precise hand.
Sun and abyss—workhorses
On its farm.
It is odd to be a woman—
Simple, domestic, frail,
In a bold era, an era of violence,
To be shy, languid,
In a cold era, an era of salesmen—
For whom Orion, Pleiades and Moon
Are neon ads, tickets of gold, military decorations.
To pace a shaded street,
Pondering slowly,
To taste China
In a scented peach,
To gaze at Paris
In the chilly cinema,
As they jet
Around the world,
As they bloom in space.
To be between the conquerors
And the conquered,
When every being is abashed, afraid,
Alone.
It is odd to wilt before the clouds of hate
When the heart is drawn
To a myriad of worlds.
That is gorgeous, Shir!
And thanks, y’all. I feel better about life today. I tried a new recipe for sourdough bread that came out perfectly and I spent time outside on a nigh perfect spring day.
Timelies all!
It's been another rough week here. Mr. S has had meltdowns with physical aggression towards one of us on several nights.
It's good to see you Shir and Nilly. Personally, I'm glad Passover is done. We had our traditional pizza order last night.
Tired...
Wordle today was bizarre. I didn’t know that was a word!?
I forgot there was another more common word that would fit what I knew when I guessed it. As is often the case. But it’s a word I like!
I had to look it up after I guessed. Should have known it but do not recall hearing it.
Enduring the news reports from the dangerous path our government is pursuing. The messages all over the place and still incomprehensible.
On the positive side I’m looking forward to the space news. It will be tense but I expect a safe reentry.
Also looking forward to all the Melania dirt that will be spilled in the next few days. I’m thinking her attempt to get ahead of it will fail.
My son is coming over for the weekend to help with work stuff. That will n
Be nice.
Oh. And my sister is 2/3 alive again. Social Security and her health insurance have her alive but Medicare says it will probably be a few more weeks to fix. It’s been a couple months! The important stuff is working though.
Calli that really sucks.
Shir that is a beautiful poem. I keep you and Nilly in my thoughts all the time.. I wish all this madness would end.
So we are running very late on our plans to the Comiccon. We had to stop by Walmart to get something and I realized my shoes were worn through in the back and rubbing blisters so we had to detour back home so I could change. And now we decided to have a leisurely breakfast and we get there when we get there. Which means we miss the panels But as long as he can get an autograph he says it's fine .
And I am totally out of the loop with what is going on with Melania.
Fun was mostly had. M did not buy very many comic books. I bought way too much art (but it was so cool) and Rico Renzi had these awesome covers he did with gel prints. He did an original gel print and adhered them to a Spider Gwen comic...I got one that was Debbie Harry inspired. I couldn't resist. I will have pictures up on Facebook. And we both geeked out about gel printing . M didn't get to actually meet Kevin Eastman because we didn't make the panel and the con underestimated how many people would be there and handed out tickets with times and it maxed out at 100 people. But was able to sign some items so M was able to get a comic signed and picked up a signed proof for a Magic the Gathering card.
I got overwhelmed because it was dark and loud and we walked around first and I got visually overwhelmed. I think the next con we go to if there is a program I'll use that to map out where I want to go in terms of booths and head to those first. And maybe the next time I'm at one of these I'll seek out some of the smaller artists I've bought from repeatedly and don't seem to have busy booths and just chat with them and ask them about their art.
There were quite a few anti AI signs, but I also did see some AI looking art at some places.
And there was one guest artist who had a comic book up with a pro Trump cover, which surprised me when the crowd was clearly not a pro Trump crowd. There were so many people of all ages and it seemed to be fairly accessible because I saw different types of wheelchair users, mobility scooters, and service animals.
I'm home again, after spending most of the week in Chattanooga, Nashville, and on the road to and from. I decided to make a bigger deal of Mom's 87th birthday than we usually do since she'd been feeling good this spring, and took her on a vacation to mark the occasion. I'd originally looked into making it a cross-country train trip in a sleeper car since she loves trains, but when that proved impractical I opted for a driving vacation in Tennessee instead.
I booked us into the Hotel Chalet at the Chattanooga Choo Choo to keep with the train theme. As it turned out the converted sleeper train carriage I reserved had plumbing problems and flooded, but since that was unavailable at the last minute the hotel comped us a very nice regular king room plus dinner Tuesday night at the hotel restaurant.
We toured the ocean exhibit at the Tennessee Aquarium Wednesday morning, where we walked through a solarium filled with tropical butterflies and I got to pet stingrays. Then we traveled to Nashville in time to take a dinner cruise on the General Jackson Showboat. I'd expected entertainment to be a house band in the background, but instead there was an hour-long stage show with six talented singers performing Country standards. We enjoyed the show alone enough to be worth the ticket price, nevermind a nice buffet and getting to see the downtown city lights from the river.
Thursday we continued our nautical theme with lunch at The Aquarium Restaurant and a brief wander around the Opry Mills Mall. We spent the afternoon and evening walking around the Gaylord Opryland Resort, touring the conservatory and atriums, taking an indoor riverboat ride, watching a fountain show, and having coffee at the Cascades before returning to the hotel for our last night.
