A beautiful piece by Dylan Thomas, a favorite line, and a good excuse to ruminate.
" Though lovers be lost, love shall not" strikes a chord.
I've been asked a few questions of late, questioning aspects of being most often alone, which I am. One was on homesickness, the other on loneliness. I don't feel either. I do sometimes miss the presence of others I've enjoyed and I do sometimes miss a trout stream I used to fish, or an alpine meadow I used to camp in, but missing something I once experienced is something I do joyfully. Missing means having fond memories and I enjoy many of those. For many, though, it implies a sadness at not being able to connect with that experience. That is not my way. It's taken a long time to work it through, but I've broken my attachments to my experiences. That doesn't mean I've forgotten or suppressed them. It means that I live in the here and now and when you do this mindfully, when you work everyday at being aware of your body and your mind and your connections to the world you know and the world you haven't experienced yet, you realize that present, past, and future are the same thing and "though lovers be lost, love shall not; and death shall have no dominion." For a Buddhist, death has no dominion and love is never lost and sitting quietly on a Saturday night is a lot more important than anything else I can think of.
John,as first, this is my poem of poems, the first one to come in mind if someone asks me: Olga, what's your .... I have my answer ready, long time: "and death shall have no dominion..." The rest of poetry meaning something to me, follows this one.
ReplyDeleteAnd second... being left alone is my dream, my moments of completeness, my calm, my joy - this would be life I'd live if I had such a chance. I love all of them, dearly, and I miss them all, but the missing is - just as you said - to have very fond memories to cherish. In the solitude of my study. On my long walks on the coast.
It might sound horrible, and I wouldn't dare to say it to no one but you: if I had a chance to re-start my life, I'd have chosen to live it being alone. Single. I would have imagined all of them in my books and everybody would be happier in those stories. Now I often have this feeling, that I am living someone else's life, most of them time, and mine I only live during my quite night hours.
I know, I know.. if I were single all my life, I'd probably dream about having a bunch of kids and relatives to love and to hate. :)
Should be a balance somewhere in the middle. I think you've found one, and it's very good.