Saturday, November 1, 2008

Lines that haunt me, part 1 of a series


Halloween is over, but I've got hauntings on my mind. 

I'm not haunted by ghosts, though.  I'm haunted by words.   Coming from songs, poems, mentors, supporters, and the occasional enemy, certain phrases linger in my mind and visit me at unexpected times.  Sometimes they are malicious, but more often they are welcome friends.   Inciting me to action, rebuking my insecurities, reminding me of time's quick clock, these lines have a great influence on me.   If one were to look at all the lines that run on a loop through my thoughts, one might even be able to do a little head-shrinking on me.  

I was talking about this with a friend the other day, and she confessed to having a particular verse stuck in her head, too.  I imagine we all have sayings that rattle around in our minds, and I'm inviting you to share yours as well.   

Because I seem to have a little collection of these, I'm going to start a series of posts on this theme.  Here are a few of the lines currently coming to call on me lately.

"Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
from "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night." Dylan Thomas

"Because the  Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast, and ah! bright wings."
from "God's Grandeur," Gerard Manley Hopkins

"I hear the mermaids singing, each to each.
I do not think they will sing to me."
from "The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock," T.S. Eliot



"I would like to be the air
that inhabits you for a moment
only. I would like to be that unnoticed
and that necessary."
from "Variations on the Word Sleep," Margaret Atwood

"And as for the me that was then, well,
she 
is lost at the bottom of the oily lake,
waiting
(for now)
for a tide."
from "Doppelganger" 

"It's so easy to laugh; it's so easy to hate.
It takes strength to be gentle and kind."
from "I Know It's Over," The Smiths


"We think by feeling. What is there to know?
I hear my being dance from ear to ear.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow."
from "The Waking," Theodore Roethke

"Keep going, Kirie.  Keep going."  Alan Friedman, a mentor, and author of Hermaphrodeity


"Here is little faith and the turn of the wheel.
Here is the promise to unmask mountains
and see woodlight and this tender portion
of hands gathering love and dreams."
from "Liberation," Dana Thu

"....And yet sometimes
The wheel turns of its own weight, the rusty
Pump pumps over your sweating face the clear
Water, cold so cold! you cup your hands
And gulp from them the dailiness of life."
from "Well Water," Randall Jarrell.



Okay, now it's your turn.  What lines haunt you?  






3 comments:

  1. I loved you before and now I love you more. You quoted the Smiths. I LOVE the Smiths and Morissey's lyrics haunt me constantly. The song that so fits my current state of mind is "Everyday is like Sunday." Here are the words I am singing to myself today:Trudging slowly over wet sand
    Back to the bench where your clothes were stolen
    This is the coastal town
    That they forgot to close down
    Armageddon - come armageddon!
    Come, armageddon! come!

    Hide on the promenade
    Etch a postcard
    How I dearly wish I was not here
    In the seaside town
    ...that they forgot to bomb
    Come, come, come - nuclear bomb

    From Jung:“Enlightenment is not imagining figures of light but making the darkness conscious.”

    Finally, Nietzsche:"What, if some day or night a demon were to steal after you into your loneliest loneliness and say to you: 'This life as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable times more' ... Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse the demon who spoke thus? Or have you once experienced a tremendous moment when you would have answered him: 'You are a god and never have I heard anything more divine." ( I think of this quote almost daily).

    Also, my own personal prayer that I say 1-100x's a day is from Julian of Norwich, a Christian Mystic:All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well. ( I feel better after just typing it).

    Sorry for being so long winded. But, you asked.;-)
    Great post.

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  2. Belette: Don't even get me started on the Smiths. I am a HUGE fan, and "Every Day is Like Sunday" is one of my favorites. "Share some greased tea with me...every day is silent and grey.." It's so melancholy I can almost smell it.

    I'm so glad you commented. What great lines you have running though your head. Thank you for sharing them with me!
    K.

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  3. Hi Kirie - this is gonna sound goofy, because yeah, I've got a seething ocean of words to keep me company, but here are the ones that roar lately: "Remember who you are." from Disney's THE LION KING.
    For your November posts, give us more of your favorite words!

    ReplyDelete