Because I do not hope
Because I do not hope to turn
Desiring this man’s gift and that man’s scope
I no longer strive to strive towards such things
(Why should the aged eagle stretch its wings?)
Why should I mourn
The vanished power of the usual reign?

Because I do not hope to know again
The infirm glory of the positive hour
Because I do not think
Because I know I shall not know
The one veritable transitory power
Because I cannot drink
There, where trees flower, and springs flow, for there is nothing again

Because I know that time is always time
And place is always and only place
And what is actual is actual only for one time
And only for one place
I rejoice that things are as they are and
I renounce the blessed face
And renounce the voice
Because I cannot hope to turn again
Consequently I rejoice, having to construct something
Upon which to rejoice

And pray to God to have mercy upon us
And pray that I may forget
These matters that with myself I too much discuss
Too much explain
Because I do not hope to turn again
Let these words answer
For what is done, not to be done again
May the judgement not be too heavy upon us

Because these wings are no longer wings to fly
But merely vans to beat the air
The air which is now thoroughly small and dry
Smaller and dryer than the will
Teach us to care and not to care
Teach us to sit still.

Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death
Pray for us now and at the hour of our death.

II

Lady, three white leopards sat under a juniper-tree
In the cool of the day, having fed to satiety
On my legs my heart my liver and that which had been contained
In the hollow round of my skull. And God said
Shall these bones live? shall these
Bones live? And that which had been contained
In the bones (which were already dry) said chirping:
Because of the goodness of this Lady
And because of her loveliness, and because
She honours the Virgin in meditation,
We shine with brightness. And I who am here dissembled
Proffer my deeds to oblivion, and my love
To the posterity of the desert and the fruit of the gourd.
It is this which recovers
My guts the strings of my eyes and the indigestible portions
Which the leopards reject. The Lady is withdrawn
In a white gown, to contemplation, in a white gown.
Let the whiteness of bones atone to forgetfulness.
There is no life in them. As I am forgotten
And would be forgotten, so I would forget
Thus devoted, concentrated in purpose. And God said
Prophesy to the wind, to the wind only for only
The wind will listen. And the bones sang chirping
With the burden of the grasshopper, saying

Lady of silences
Calm and distressed
Torn and most whole
Rose of memory
Rose of forgetfulness
Exhausted and life-giving
Worried reposeful
The single Rose
Is now the Garden
Where all loves end
Terminate torment
Of love unsatisfied
The greater torment
Of love satisfied
End of the endless
Journey to no end
Conclusion of all that
Is inconclusible
Speech without word and
Word of no speech
Grace to the Mother
For the Garden
Where all love ends.

Under a juniper-tree the bones sang, scattered and shining
We are glad to be scattered, we did little good to each other,
Under a tree in the cool of the day, with the blessing of sand,
Forgetting themselves and each other, united
In the quiet of the desert. This is the land which ye
Shall divide by lot. And neither division nor unity
Matters. This is the land. We have our inheritance.

III

At the first turning of the second stair
I turned and saw below
The same shape twisted on the banister
Under the vapour in the fetid air
Struggling with the devil of the stairs who wears
The deceitul face of hope and of despair.

At the second turning of the second stair
I left them twisting, turning below;
There were no more faces and the stair was dark,
Damp, jagged, like an old man’s mouth drivelling, beyond repair,
Or the toothed gullet of an aged shark.

At the first turning of the third stair
Was a slotted window bellied like the figs’s fruit
And beyond the hawthorn blossom and a pasture scene
The broadbacked figure drest in blue and green
Enchanted the maytime with an antique flute.
Blown hair is sweet, brown hair over the mouth blown,
Lilac and brown hair;
Distraction, music of the flute, stops and steps of the mind over the third stair,
Fading, fading; strength beyond hope and despair
Climbing the third stair.

Lord, I am not worthy
Lord, I am not worthy
but speak the word only.

IV

Who walked between the violet and the violet
Who walked between
The various ranks of varied green
Going in white and blue, in Mary’s colour,
Talking of trivial things
In ignorance and knowledge of eternal dolour
Who moved among the others as they walked,
Who then made strong the fountains and made fresh the springs

Made cool the dry rock and made firm the sand
In blue of larkspur, blue of Mary’s colour,
Sovegna vos

Here are the years that walk between, bearing
Away the fiddles and the flutes, restoring
One who moves in the time between sleep and waking, wearing

White light folded, sheathing about her, folded.
The new years walk, restoring
Through a bright cloud of tears, the years, restoring
With a new verse the ancient rhyme. Redeem
The time. Redeem
The unread vision in the higher dream
While jewelled unicorns draw by the gilded hearse.

The silent sister veiled in white and blue
Between the yews, behind the garden god,
Whose flute is breathless, bent her head and signed but spoke no word

But the fountain sprang up and the bird sang down
Redeem the time, redeem the dream
The token of the word unheard, unspoken

Till the wind shake a thousand whispers from the yew

And after this our exile

V

If the lost word is lost, if the spent word is spent
If the unheard, unspoken
Word is unspoken, unheard;
Still is the unspoken word, the Word unheard,
The Word without a word, the Word within
The world and for the world;
And the light shone in darkness and
Against the Word the unstilled world still whirled
About the centre of the silent Word.

O my people, what have I done unto thee.

Where shall the word be found, where will the word
Resound? Not here, there is not enough silence
Not on the sea or on the islands, not
On the mainland, in the desert or the rain land,
For those who walk in darkness
Both in the day time and in the night time
The right time and the right place are not here
No place of grace for those who avoid the face
No time to rejoice for those who walk among noise and deny the voice

Will the veiled sister pray for
Those who walk in darkness, who chose thee and oppose thee,
Those who are torn on the horn between season and season, time and time, between
Hour and hour, word and word, power and power, those who wait
In darkness? Will the veiled sister pray
For children at the gate
Who will not go away and cannot pray:
Pray for those who chose and oppose

O my people, what have I done unto thee.

Will the veiled sister between the slender
Yew trees pray for those who offend her
And are terrified and cannot surrender
And affirm before the world and deny between the rocks
In the last desert before the last blue rocks
The desert in the garden the garden in the desert
Of drouth, spitting from the mouth the withered apple-seed.

O my people.

VI

Although I do not hope to turn again
Although I do not hope
Although I do not hope to turn

Wavering between the profit and the loss
In this brief transit where the dreams cross
The dreamcrossed twilight between birth and dying
(Bless me father) though I do not wish to wish these things
From the wide window towards the granite shore
The white sails still fly seaward, seaward flying
Unbroken wings

And the lost heart stiffens and rejoices
In the lost lilac and the lost sea voices
And the weak spirit quickens to rebel
For the bent golden-rod and the lost sea smell
Quickens to recover
The cry of quail and the whirling plover
And the blind eye creates
The empty forms between the ivory gates
And smell renews the salt savour of the sandy earth This is the time of tension between dying and birth The place of solitude where three dreams cross Between blue rocks But when the voices shaken from the yew-tree drift away Let the other yew be shaken and reply.

Blessed sister, holy mother, spirit of the fountain, spirit of the garden,
Suffer us not to mock ourselves with falsehood
Teach us to care and not to care
Teach us to sit still
Even among these rocks,
Our peace in His will
And even among these rocks
Sister, mother
And spirit of the river, spirit of the sea,
Suffer me not to be separated

And let my cry come unto Thee.

‘Ash-Wednesday’, from Collected Poems 1909-1962 by T S Eliot, © T S Eliot 1963, Faber & Faber Limited

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The Lizard and the Golden Fish

A small lizard stood motionless next to a garden pond, his eyes fixed on a swirl in the water below. Beneath the water’s surface glided an exquisitely beautiful fish. Never in this life had he seen anything as lovely; the fishes’ scales gleamed an amazing golden color, her tail and fins were trailing ribbons of delight, and when she swam, she swam as gracefully as a feather wafting through a shaft of sunlight.

“Surely I have never seen anything as beautiful as you. Dear fish, you may think this strange of me, but now that I have seen you, I am sure I have fallen in love with you.”
The fish paused in a graceful turn and replied, “Lizard, you say you love me, but why is that? Is it only because of the way that I look? Have you given any thought to who I am or what I feel? For if you had, you would have found that I am the saddest of all living things.”
“But how can that be?” asked the lizard. “If I had a lifetime to describe how lovely you are I would never find enough words.”
“Many have said they admire me, but none have ever wondered if I am happy here. I have lived in this small pond nearly my whole life, and nowhere else will I live until I die. I would rather be dead than live here. If you love me lizard, will you help me die? Will you drain the water from this pond?”
“How can you ask such a thing from me? How could I ever kill the one that I love? Besides, dear one, I am just a small lizard. I would never be able to remove so much water.”
“Leave me then. Seeing you would only remind me of another hope crushed.”
“I will leave, but only to find a way to set you free, for I love you more than I ever thought I could love.”
“You are only a small lizard. What can you do that will set me free?”
“Yes, I am only a small lizard, but I am the lizard that loves you, and I will find a way.”
And so, the lizard set off to find a way to free his beloved. After thinking for a long time, for lizards think quite slowly indeed, he realized that he would need the help of someone bigger and stronger than himself. And of all the animals he knew, the great buck was by far the strongest. The lizard searched for the buck through the woods and through the meadow. He searched for him by the stream, and from one end of the marsh to the other. When at last he found him, he asked with all of his heart for his help.
“Great buck, if you would only carry a bucket of water from the pond to the stream beyond the woods you would be giving this beautiful fish her freedom. And it is her freedom that she prizes above all other things. It is such a small burden for one so great and strong.”
“That is true. But why should I care about a fish when I am also beautiful? Am I not the most magnificent animal in the woods? I do not care anything about this fish. If you want help, you must find another.”
But the lizard had not given any thought of seeking another’s help. After another long time of great thinking, the lizard thought that if he could find a great bird, surely the bird could carry his precious fish to the stream long before she would be short of breath. The lizard knew that the mother eagle took her meals from the stream by the fallen log, and that is where he found her. Hiding carefully beneath the log, the lizard explained his problem to the mother eagle, and asked for her help.
“You are a brave lizard, but not a wise one, I think. For you must know that I have chicks to feed, and yet you ask me to carry your fish to the stream. I would be happy to carry your fish, but you must know that I would only carry it to my nest where my young ones wait for their meal. If you truly want to free her, you must find another to help you.”
Although the lizard was not clever, he also would not give up. Again he thought a very long time, and slowly he thought of a plan that might work. If he could somehow add more water to the pond, at long last it would overflow, and then his beloved could swim free from her prison. But no matter how much he thought, he could not think of a way to save her once she was free of her pond. Only one person was wise enough to solve this problem, and that was the wise shaman that lived in the small house in the woods. The lizard traveled to the small house of the wise shaman and explained his problem, and asked for advice to set his beloved fish free.
The shaman thought about this for a long while. “What you need is a great flood, but that is a very dangerous thing, and although you may free your fish, you may also harm others. It is also true that no one may be harmed, but are you willing to take such a risk?”
The lizard thought deeply and said, “I love this fish very much, and if it is possible that no one will be harmed, I am willing to take the risk. But how can you cause such a flood?”
“I have the power to make it rain, and only for the sake of love will I do this.”
And so, the shaman chanted what he needed to chant, and he cast spells that needed to be cast. He prayed to many Gods, both large and small, until, just when the lizard thought he could no longer hope, it began to rain. The lizard waited in the tree that hung over the pond for the heavy rains to cause the flood that he desired. And everywhere he looked, water covered the ground. And so, too, the small pond flooded and overflowed allowing the most beautiful of all fish to swim out of the pond to her freedom. She swam with a happiness that was blinding, for she was beautiful, and she was finally free. But the flood was not deep enough, and soon she could swim no more. The lizard saw this and cried out in the deepest anguish, “Swim! My love, swim!!”, but she could not, and it was there that she slowly died. And so the lizard, seeing this, let go of the branch he sat upon and fell into the pond, for that was the only way that he could free himself of his ! despair.

– By Bruce Kilarski

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It was Valentine’s day yesterday and ‘love was in the air’. Well to be fair, love is ‘in the skies’ most of the time for me as I am not that great in that department. Oh, hell yes I do love! and I love my wife, my friends and many other things. I even consider myself a romantic, but in all honesty I think we tend to delute so many things in life that I must be careful and refrain from any bold statements! Surely, there are way too many around meaning nothing;(

Anyway, I thought of keeping this post short and sweet! l’ve watched a bunch of romantic movies in my time which had some great love quotes in it. Here is a short list on the Love themes I’ve collected. Some of these quotes represent dialogues that have stirred some ripples in one small heart. And love…being a many splendid thing, embraces all kinds of human relationships, and transcends cultures and boundaries.

Do have a look and please feel free to add also your Collection of Memorable Movie Love Quotes in the comment box — thank you!

• Medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. — Dead Poets Society
• The greatest thing you’ll ever learn, is just to love and be loved in return. — Moulin Rouge
• The things that people in love do to each other they remember, and if they stay together it’s not because they forget, it’s because they forgive. — Indecent Proposal
• I like you very much. Just as you are. — Bridget Jones’s Diary

• When the planes hit the twin towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge — they were all messages of love. — Love Actually
• Maybe it is our imperfections which make us so perfect for one another. — Emma
• And now, I’m back…and I’ve lost her all over again. I’m so sad that I don’t have Kelly. But I’m so grateful that she was with me on that island. And I know what I have to do now. I gotta keep breathing. Because tomorrow the sun will rise. Who knows what the tide could bring? — Castaway
• I don’t believe in quantum physics when it comes to matter of the heart. — Bull Durham

• Shoot me. There’s no greater glory than to die for love. — Love in the time of Cholera
• I need to feel strongly, to love and to admire, just as desperately as I need to breathe. — The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
• For you, a thousand times over. — The Kite Runner
• Come back…Come back to me. — Atonement
• Natalie:  Do you believe in love at first sight?     John:  Yes I do. Saves a lot of time. — The Stickup

While a few are lucky enough to save time and escape the torments of love by creating a lasting flame from the first spark, some have to go through tumultuous pining, even the arduous and humbling experience of transforming oneself to arrive at the place where love is both attained and given. And who, other than the following, epitomises such kind of yearning:

” My real purpose was to see you, and to judge, if I could, whether I might ever hope to make you love me. — Mr. Darcy, Pride and Prejudice

You are welcome to contribute to this list. Please, Just submit your favourite movie love quotes in the comment box below…hope you had a  memorable Valentine’s day!

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How to say Goodbye to a star…You will always shine!

Growing up in the late 70′s, early 80′s in Brazil was an amazing ‘treat’. I still think that this particular epoch of our history was the ‘golden age’, one which was responsible to lead the way as many great artists and composers were emerging.

However, we lacked much of the exposure from what was coming from the outside of Brazil. The International music which was mainly propagated via our soap operas and the radio always seemed to take ages to get the new stuff out. I remember singing Whitney Houston songs even though I could not understand one single word of what she was singing – it was so beautiful and it spoke to me, and that’s what matters most.

Some songs, they have the power to transcend barriers of culture, language and are able to touch our hearts so deeply that even if we don’t understand the words, it can still break in and speak directly to us.

And that’s what Whitney’s music did to me. I remember, how much I loved her song, One Moment in time, I want to Run to you, I will always love you, Where do Broken Hearts Go.

Today, having read again the lyrics reminds me of our life’s battle, our real struggles through it and the fragility of it all!

Dearest Whitney, I will always love your songs, I am so glad God has given us the opportunity to hear your beautiful voice. I am glad you have sung these words and spoke to our hearts. So sad you had to leave us so soon. Rest in perfect peace xxx

Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012)

 “One Moment In Time”

Each day I live
I want to be
A day to give
The best of me
I'm only one
But not alone
My finest day
Is yet unknown

I broke my heart
Fought every gain
To taste the sweet
I face the pain
I rise and fall
Yet through it all
This much remains

I want one moment in time
When I'm more than I thought I could be
When all of my dreams are a heartbeat away
And the answers are all up to me
Give me one moment in time
When I'm racing with destiny
Then in that one moment of time
I will feel
I will feel eternity

I've lived to be
The very best
I want it all
No time for less
I've laid the plans
Now lay the chance
Here in my hands

Give me one moment in time
When I'm more than I thought I could be
When all of my dreams are a heartbeat away

And the answers are all up to me
Give me one moment in time
When I'm racing with destiny
Then in that one moment of time
I will feel
I will feel eternity

You're a winner for a lifetime
If you seize that one moment in time
Make it shine

Give me one moment in time
When I'm more than I thought I could be
When all of my dreams are a heartbeat away
And the answers are all up to me
Give me one moment in time
When I'm racing with destiny
Then in that one moment of time

I will be
I will be
I will be free
I will be
I will be free

***Loving you makes live worth living***

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Since the Hard Drive space, Ram Memory and the screen size was something of most interest to me, I thought that the Air would have too many obstacles. But the truth is, this was a very wrong assumption, and I can say that just after using the machine only three weeks.

The MacBook Air offers many pluses to be ignored and here are my favourites:

The machine is:

1) Incredibly light and thin /   It weighs less than 3 pounds (1.35 kg) and is only .68 inch thick.

2) The battery lasts a long time / Apple says “up to 7 hours.” In my experience it is 6–8 hours, depending on what I am doing.

3) It is amazingly fast / The Air runs on flash drive, which makes programs and files load much faster. No moving parts and so extremely quiet!

4) It boots in less than 45 seconds / From the time I press the on switch to the time I get the login screen is 15 seconds. Everything is loaded and ready to go in another 30 seconds. No other machine gives you that kind of speed, at least not one yet.

5) All the major big programs and multiple programs run incredible well / I run multiple programs concurrently as I used to with no noticeable degradation in performance, so nothing to complain here.

6) The screen size is actually a perfect size for most things /  I have an office desktop with a 19″ widescreen but since using the macbook Air 13″ I have become used to it, I promise you, you wouldn’t even notice after using it for a few days.

I purchased the 13′ MacBook Air with 256GB flash drive, the 2.13GHz processor, and 4GBs of RAM. In addition I also bought a Freedom Mobile Slim Drive 500 G-drive (i.e., external) USB Drive. It cost me only £86.00 and the fact that it matched the fit and finish of the Air made it a great buy.

Everything I really need fits perfectly on the Air’s drive, and I currently have tons of space free.

So, If you are in the market for a new laptop, I recommend taking a look at the Air, especially if you have been considering the MacBook Pro. In addition to the benefits I shared here,  it is also about 30% cheaper. I would not imagine going back to a bigger machine now.

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“There’s nothing in the middle of the road but yellow stripes and dead armadillos.”

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You don’t have to analyse it much to get the full picture – both companies are investing millions of dollars to create platforms that allow authors to offer their material all over the place, but this will have to pay in the end! What else would they even consider the investment? Just think for a moment. Also don’t be fooled with Apple’s humble iBooks plans, I bet there is much more coming our way! I most certainly believe their next big move will be aimed at popular ebook genres and in direct competition with Amazon.

So, in the end when you have decided which one of the two giant platforms you will be tied to publish and market your ebook(s), you will unwittingly sign the death knell for independent publishing and along with it, platforms such as Smashwords.

Smashwords is a great publishing platform if you want to start publishing your own books in electronic format. Also, this platform allows you to distribute your books through various online ebook vendors. Direct sales using Smashwords has always been low as it couldn’t support a one-click delivery method, however, the great thing about this platform was the fact that you could easily use other vendors such as iBooks, B&N, Sony, Diesel and more. The death sentence was finally set to Smashwords as Amazon was not going to allow this tool as their ebooks supplier. Perhaps, Smashwords were never on Amazon’s corporate agenda, also from an Amazon’s point of view, by eliminating such platforms would only set them as the main game player in the ebook industry.

So at this stage, the only competitor that can potentially stop Amazon’s monopolistic vision is Apple – And what a Saviour you might add! The way things are heading, all one can hope for is a duopoly. But what do you think?

Are you an author or aspiring to be an author? What are your main concerns in regards to the book industry?

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We now come upon him as he leaves the city, chuckling to himself in delight over the pain he will have caused children like little Cindy-Lou Who.

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Recently I found this this very clever take on the Christmas Nativity story.

Its quite fascinating how social media, web and mobile tell the story of the Nativity.

Christmas story told through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google, Wikipedia, Google Maps, GMail, Foursquare, Amazon …

Times change, the feeling remains the same.

Some things sadly never change. Bethlehem was under Roman occupation then, suffers under Israeli occupation now. The Palestinians of Bethlehem live in what amounts to an open prison surrounded by an Apartheid Wall. Please spare them a thought as you celebrate Christmas. [see Bethlehem Hidden from View]

All the more tragic that there are churches like St Mary’s in Guildford that support the apartheid regime and ethnic cleansing by having on sale Israeli so-called Peace Oil. [see Peace oil or taking the piss?]

Note: This was first posted here on December 2010.

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