tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post8655887051328158300..comments2024-03-23T20:37:37.891-07:00Comments on First Known When Lost: Life Explained, Part Thirty-Two: "A Single Grain Of Rice Falling -- Into The Great Barn"Stephen Pentzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-12473834580504942452014-07-04T19:35:41.459-07:002014-07-04T19:35:41.459-07:00Pam: thank you very much for the kind words. I g...Pam: thank you very much for the kind words. I greatly appreciate them. I am pleased and gratified that you may find things that you like here.<br /><br />And I am indebted to you for "Great Nights Returning," which I hadn't read before -- now I have, and it is lovely. "All the wood's dropped leaves listen to your footfall": very nice! I have only read a few poems by Watkins in anthologies -- I need to explore his poetry further.<br /><br />Thank you again. I hope you will return often.Stephen Pentzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-75472450542813276292014-07-04T19:28:25.738-07:002014-07-04T19:28:25.738-07:00Peter: thank you for the thoughts, and for the poe...Peter: thank you for the thoughts, and for the poem. Yes, war and calamity are recurring themes in ancient Chinese poetry, aren't they? It is always interesting to compare the stillness and calm at the heart of the poetry with the often tempestuous times in which the poetry was written.<br /><br />It is always good to hear from you.Stephen Pentzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-84209480105787310852014-07-04T02:35:45.389-07:002014-07-04T02:35:45.389-07:00Just a few lines to thank you for your blog which ...Just a few lines to thank you for your blog which enriches my life and often send me off in different directions to research a poet or an artists!<br />Yesterday I discovered a poem by Vernon Watkins - "Great Nights Returning" - I thought of you when reading it! <br />Thank you again for putting pen to paper(although things have changed somewhat since that little saying!)your words are often inspirational.<br />PamAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07439733741172072058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-4735984395164254092014-07-03T13:41:46.738-07:002014-07-03T13:41:46.738-07:00Stephen – I absolutely agree with you that, “The h...Stephen – I absolutely agree with you that, “The human emotions that swirl within our hearts and minds and souls have not altered a whit in centuries”, yet the way we see things has. For example, we will never really know what it was like to see a play by Shakespeare in his lifetime. <br /><br />Like you, I love “A single grain of rice falling – into the Great Barn” – but, alas, we hardly have the silence now to hear it! Yet even in ancient China that sometimes had to be fought for, as this poem by YANG JIONYANG (650–695?) illustrates: <br /><br />I must fight<br /><br />The beacon fire shines over the capital,<br />and my agitated mind cannot be calmed.<br />By royal order we leave the palace hall;<br />our armoured horses besiege the Dragon Town.<br />Snow darkens pictures sewn on banners red.<br />Howling winds mingle with our drumbeats.<br />No glorifier of war’s tragedy, <br />I yet join a hundred men at the battle’s head.<br />Who could refuse to fight for the sake of learning<br />and the lotus flower’s beauty?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07119180758113013415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-12888273512601974872014-07-02T14:02:20.440-07:002014-07-02T14:02:20.440-07:00Anonymous: thank you very much -- the Whitman is ...Anonymous: thank you very much -- the Whitman is wonderful, and perfectly apt. My feeling about Whitman is similar to yours, but, when I read this, it makes me feel that I am not giving him his due. These lines are very moving.<br /><br />Thank you again.Stephen Pentzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-44709021685302210022014-07-02T10:09:19.636-07:002014-07-02T10:09:19.636-07:00Older now, I find a lot of Whitman mere huffing an...Older now, I find a lot of Whitman mere huffing and puffing, but I find his poem "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" a sterling attempt to let the future know he is no different than they will be. The living of a life, the mingling with the crowd, the watching of a bird riding current over the war, the ebb and flow of the tides--he wants us to know he saw these things when he was alive, that at the core of things, deep within the marrow, he is no different from what we are. He is saying, "I lived, endured and relished this thing called life. You and I are no so different after all."<br /><br />Whitman says it better than I can. Here's a little of what he says:<br /><br /><br />It avails not, neither time or place—distance avails not; I am with you, you men and women of a generation, or ever so many generations hence; <br />I project myself—also I return—I am with you, and know how it is. <br /> <br />Just as you feel when you look on the river and sky, so I felt; <br />Just as any of you is one of a living crowd, I was one of a crowd; <br />Just as you are refresh’d by the gladness of the river and the bright flow, I was refresh’d; <br /><br />. . . .<br /><br />These, and all else, were to me the same as they are to you; <br />I project myself a moment to tell you—also I return. <br /><br />. . . .<br /><br />What is it then between us?<br />What is the count of the scores or hundreds of years between us?<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com