Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Alpha (the beginning of a new season)

I feel I have come to the end of a cycle (the full collection will appear at some point on my site). So let this poem signal the beginning of a new season...

α
O write me a verse for the amorous one,
Who would give his all, a love to pursue.
Such fervour is oft brief, swiftly undone,
And we question: can love ever be true?
Of grandiose gestures we are most fond
We plan them through the wee hours of the night
Hoping to fashion some passionate bond;
In her heart of hearts, ‘I’ her new delight.
But blind are we, love’s nature to perceive
In our quest the fair maiden’s heart to smite
For love is both to give and to receive
A devotion that to passion gives sight.
Love is not love that gives the heart away;
It will share it - more and more, day by day.


Wednesday 31st May, 2006, Cambridge

5 Comments:

At 2:59 pm , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Another great sonnet btw, but it got me thinking of the unrequited love inherent in "philosophy" and of Diotima's story to Socrates in Plato's "Symposium". Do you agree with her words?...

"Marvel not then at the love which all men have of their offspring; for that universal love and interest is for the sake of immortality.'

I was astonished at her words, and said: 'Is this really true, O thou wise Diotima?' And she answered with all the authority of an accomplished sophist: 'Of that, Socrates, you may be assured;--think only of the ambition of men, and you will wonder at the senselessness of their ways, unless you consider how they are stirred by the love of an immortality of fame. They are ready to run all risks greater far than they would have run for their children, and to spend money and undergo any sort of toil, and even to die, for the sake of leaving behind them a name which shall be eternal. Do you imagine that Alcestis would have died to save Admetus, or Achilles to avenge Patroclus, or your own Codrus in order to preserve the kingdom for his sons, if they had not imagined that the memory of their virtues, which still survives among us, would be immortal? Nay,' she said, 'I am persuaded that all men do all things, and the better they are the more they do them, in hope of the glorious fame of immortal virtue; for they desire the immortal.


...of course there's much more to her argument, this being responsive to the "lower" mysteries.

-anon.

 
At 10:49 pm , Blogger Achilles said...

She goes quite deep, doesn't she. I must say that I personally would not find love 'for the sake of immortality' something to be desired, or even admired. I would rather someone appreciate my love together with me now for one hour 'live' than for hundreds of years when I am dead. Maybe that's selfish of me? Perhaps, but I think that living in the here and now actually leads to a greater appreciation of your life by others when you are gone anyway. (Living for the here and now in the sense of wanting to make a difference in someone's life 'now' - the person before me, rather than developing great ideas to help the world or to make people admire me for generations). I recently heard a horrid story about Rousseau, who had such great ideas and ways to further the world through his writings, but who didn't have the time to be a father to the 8 illegitimate children he had; he packed them off to orphanages without even giving them names... If this is what 'for the sake of immortality' looks like then I would rather not be marvelled at at all, ever :-)
On the other hand, if you do not live with a future perspective in mind then your life is full of activity (fun, enjoyment, even love) but devoid of hope... the love we experience with each other now is great, but incomplete.

 
At 11:38 am , Anonymous Anonymous said...

I agree that to live and love over th course of the present is the most pleasant and agreeable course, but perhaps in the long run, becomes "regrettable" if that love ever diminishes. I forget which Platonic dialogue states it (probably "Symposium"), but it usually is the case that once one "acquires" he object of one's desire, that desire itself often "diminishes", especially as it relates to "material" or "changeable" things. But to fall in love with another's "spirit" and eternal soul, and not mere physical existance would truely be a blessing, especially if one had sufficient character and constancy to find such a spirit's love returned. Those would be two rare natures indeed.

And don't lament too deeply for Rousseau, for he did what he thought was "best" for his children. Rousseau "Emile" (On Education) Book I:

64:] One also leaves nature by an opposite route when instead of neglecting a mother's care a woman carries it to excess. This is when she makes an idol of her child, when she augments and nurtures his weakness in order to prevent him from feeling it, and when hoping to protect him from the laws of nature she removes from him any painful impact -- without thinking to what extent she is preserving him for a moment from a few inconveniences only to accumulate accidents and perils later on, and to what extent it is a barbarous precaution to add the weakness of childhood to a mature man's burdens. Thetis, according to the fable, plunged her son in the waters of Styx to make him invulnerable. This allegory is beautiful and clear. The cruel mothers I speak of do otherwise: by plunging their children into softness, they prepare them for suffering, they open their pores to every kind of ill which they will not fail to be a victim of when they grow up.

[65:] Observe nature, follow the route that it traces for you. Nature exercises children continually, it hardens their temperament by all kinds of difficulties, it teaches them early the meaning of pain and sorrow. Teething gives them fevers, sharp colics bring on convulsions, long coughing suffocates them, worms torment them, plethora corrupts their blood, various leavens ferment it and cause dangerous eruptions. Almost all of the first age is sickness and danger: one half of the children who are born die before their eighth year. The tests passed, the infant has gained strength, and as soon as he can make use of his life its principle becomes more secure.

[66:] This is the law of nature. Why would you contradict it? Do you not see that in your efforts to improve upon its work you are destroying it, that you impede the effect of its aims? To do from without what she does within is according to you to increase the danger twofold. On the contrary, it is the way to avert it. Experience shows that children delicately raised are more likely to die. Provided we do not overdo it, there is less risk in using their strength than in sparing it. Accustom them therefore to the hardships they will have to face; train them to endure extremes of temperature, climate, and condition, hunger, thirst, and weariness. Dip them in the waters of Styx. Before bodily habits are acquired you may teach what habits you will without danger. But once habits are established any change becomes perilous. A child will bear changes which a man cannot bear. The muscles of the one are soft and flexible and take whatever direction you give them without any effort. The muscles of the grown man are harder and they only change their accustomed mode of action when subjected to violence. One can thus make a child robust without risking his life or health; and even if there were some risk, one should not hesitate. Since risks are inseperable from human life, can we do better than face them at a time when they can do the least harm?


-anon.

 
At 11:48 am , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Of course I did not have the courage of Rousseau's convictions. I raised, and subsequently probably spoiled, all three of my children. Cities and suburbs are not the best environment for teaching children "natural" lessons.

-anon.

 
At 11:57 am , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Emerson, "Conduct of Life" Essay VIII, Beauty...

I am warned by the ill fate of many philosophers not to attempt a definition of Beauty. I will rather enumerate a few of its qualities. We ascribe beauty to that which is simple; which has no superfluous parts; which exactly answers its end; which stands related to all things; which is the mean of many extremes. It is the most enduring quality, and the most ascending quality. We say, love is blind, and the figure of Cupid is drawn with a bandage round his eyes. Blind: -- yes, because he does not see what he does not like; but the sharpest-sighted hunter in the universe is Love, for finding what he seeks, and only that; and the mythologists tell us, that Vulcan was painted lame, and Cupid blind, to call attention to the fact, that one was all limbs, and the other, all eyes. In the true mythology, Love is an immortal child, and Beauty leads him as a guide: nor can we express a deeper sense than when we say, Beauty is the pilot of the young soul.

-anon.

 

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