Saturday 28 April 2012

Caprice de Dieu

I see and feel an emptiness
Herds of cattle grazing at the edge
Of a wide expanse of desert.
To go beyond this point would be folly

But man must know what lies beyond
Discover the heat of the midday sun
And turn it into stardust.
Running perpendicular to reality
Only fools could know the way
So take me there
Under your mantle
Enfolded.


–okei (3rd April, 2012)


The image is a detail from Lorenzo & Isabella by John Everett Millais, the first ever painting of the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood, painted in 1848. It's chosen not for the original symbolism and story it was based on, but because the split orange symbolizes for me a pledge, also something bitter, which can produce something sweet, either by letting it ripen, or by making it into marmalade.

I’m going to spend the next eight weeks away from all social networks... Let us meet again at the next oasis… Some say that love is to give that which is not in our power to give. I give you that.

Friday 27 April 2012

Compressed Works of Literature & Film

This is from the British radio programme "I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue." More comedy from that programme can be read here.

Romeo & Juliet:

I love you.
I love you too.
I'm dead!
So am I!
No - Just kidding...oh bugger!

Brief Encounter:
Hello.
Hello.
I've got something in my eye.
Shall I get it out?
Best not, I'm married.
Oh, there's my train.
Goodbye forever.
Goodbye.

War And Peace:
God! I'm glad that's over!

The Matrix:
What's going on here?
God knows!

The Chronicles Of Narnia:
Isn't it funny what you find at the back of the wardrobe?

Waiting For Godot:
Do you think he'll come?
Probably not.

King Lear:
I'm going to leave it all to the girls.
You must me mad!
Oh yeah.

Pirates Of The Caribbean:
Arrh! Arrh! Ooh-Arrh! Ah-Haar!
What's going on?
I've got no idea.

Lord Of The Rings:
Every time I put this ring on, I become invisible.
Oh. I'd take it back if I was you.
Jon said: The redoubtable Jeremy Paxman, when asked what he would put in a time capsule, suggested a recording of "I'm sorry . . .", simply for the thought of future generations trying to work out the rules of Mornington Crescent. "I'm Sorry . . . " has to be the best comedy show on British radio. And Jack Dee does an admirable job of replacing Humph.

Thursday 26 April 2012

Ventriloquism (Jeff Dunham)


Never seen a ventriloquist. This one's brilliant! The third and final part is here...

Second Sight

Beauty brings out life's best!
With prayerful breath she blows
An ancient force impressed,
A light which gently grows
Upon my heart undressed
A muse whom goddess froze
Now wakes each moment blessed
Transforming me in throes
Of ecstasy and rest.
I skate over rainbows
And suck at heaven's breast
And dare what no-one knows
Relishing every test
On Love's eternal quest.

–okei


Painting: The Blind Girl by
John Everett Millais, one of the foremost Pre-Raphaelites.  

Monday 23 April 2012

Contemplations on Beauty

Ingredients:
Contemplations on Beauty in haiku form, accompanied by "In Cerca di Te" (Looking for You) with subtitled lyric translation into English, and illustrated with artworks listed in the credits.



Some say:
Quarantine Beauty
From's sin's opportunities
Or regret love lost.

I say:
Love springs from Goodness
Or else it's a fool's desire
And a miser's fear.


~_*_~

Days and nights I spend
Trying to please a fickle friend
Futile in the end.

Beauty's the promise
To partake in heaven's fruit
And share it with you.

What humbugs we are
Who claim to live for beauty,
But wake not for dawn. [Logan Pearsall Smith]

Beauty can't be hid,
But the soul that spies her must
Sometimes walk alone. [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]

How lovely each part!
Isn't it astonishing
How she moves my heart.


Directions:
"In Cerca di Te" (Looking for you) - perhaps best known for its opening words - "Sola me ne vo per la città" - is a beautiful song written by Eros Sciorilli dating back to 1945. Here it is revived in an electroswing version in 2011, rearranged and with a voice cameo by Peter Cincotti, performed by singer Simona Molinari. The song tells about the search for a lost love, but it also represents the feelings of existential loss that struck many Italians waking up to their broken country in the aftermath of the Second World War.

In Cerca di Te (Looking for You)

Sola me ne vo per la città
passo tra la folla che non sa
che non vede il mio dolore
cercando te, sognando te, che più non ho.

Ogni viso guardo e non sei tu
ogni voce ascolto non sei tu
Dove sei perduto amore?
Ti rivedrò, ti troverò, ti seguirò.

Io cerco invano di dimenticar
il primo amore non si può scordar
è scritto un nome, un nome solo in fondo al cuor
t'ho conosciuto ed ora so che sei l'amor,
il vero amor, il grande amor.


Lyric Translation: Looking for You

Through these city's streets I walk alone
Slipping through the bustling crowds unknown
None can see my aching pain inside
Searching, longing you were by my side.
Every face I look, but it's not you
Every voice I listen, it's not you
Where are you, the love I knew?
If only I could catch a glimpse of you,
I will find you and I will follow
I'll seek in vain this pain to swallow.
My first love, how could I forget
That name is written, engraved and set
At the bottom of my beating heart
When we touched, I knew that it was love
My one true love, forever my great love.

Without haikus or voiceover, the original song from 1945:

Tuesday 17 April 2012