"The sound of kiss is not so loud as that of a cannon, but its echo lasts a great deal longer."
~ Oliver Wendell Holmes
The first kiss of New Year's Eve starts the New Year on the right note (no pun intended). At the stroke of midnight, some people celebrate the New Year by toasting a glass of champagne, blowing horns, or setting off fireworks ( some of them sound like small cannons). The most memorable sound is the sound of a kiss.
Here is a beautiful group of pictures about that First Kiss.
“Love is a decision, it is a judgment, it is a promise. If love were only a feeling, there would be no basis for the promise to love each other forever. A feeling comes and it may go. How can I judge that it will stay forever, when my act does not involve judgment and decision.” ―Erich Fromm,The Art of Loving
Peter, Paul & Mary sing "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" In the song "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", the songwriter Ewan McColl describes that his love for Peggy Seeger was there from the first moment he saw her face. This song goes on to say, "He will love her until the end of time", that is, forever. This sweet song reminds us of Erich Fromm's quote above which states that "love is a decision, a beginning of a promise to love someone forever." Another sweet poem about the other end of the lover's body, is Pablo Neurda's poem called "Your Feet", from his book The Captain's Verses.
Your Feet
When I cannot look at your face
I look at your feet.
Your feet of arched bone,
your hard little feet.
I know that they support you,
and that your sweet weight
rises upon them.
Your waist and your breasts,
the doubled purple
of your nipples,
the sockets of your eyes
that have just flown away,
your wide fruit mouth,
your red tresses,
my little tower.
But I love your feet
only because they walked
upon the earth and upon
the wind and upon the waters,
until they found me.
The holiday season is here and gift giving seems to be associated with what you can buy from stores in a mall. I prefer the gifts from this list below.
"LAST MINUTE GIFT SUGGESTIONS: To your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To a friend, your heart. To every child, a good example. To all, charity. To yourself, respect." Author Unknown, but greatly appreciated
Tracey Lawrence - Find Out Who Your Friends Are
Friends are like our own shadows - separate and yet unique to us. Scientific American magazine defines friendship as "the feeling that someone truly understands you, someone who holds up a mirror through which you can see a side of yourself that would not otherwise be accessible."
We should always give our friends our heart. Wishing you a a holiday season that sparkles with joy and love.
Another gift this season is the gift of music from the new online performance website from the Curtis Institute of Music. It is beautiful to watch two friends transport us to another world through music. Perhaps there should be one more entry on the list above. I vote to add "To the world, music."
But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure, Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor, Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears. ~Kahlil Gibran
When we love someone deeply, we love despite our fears and doubts.
There is no way to avoid the hurt and pain of love. The wisdom of Gibran tells us that it is even inevitable.
This is the price those who love must be willing to pay for "the pain of too much tenderness."
We cannot direct the course of love.
"And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course." So for however long we are able, let us follow when love beckons us. Let us notice the four seasons and laugh with our whole hearts.
The nakedness of Love ( illustration from Kahlil Gibran's book "The Prophet")
“I took a deep breath and listened to the old bray of my heart. I am. I am. I am.” ~Sylvia Plath
It is never too late in the day or in your life to listen to the sighs of your heart. The interesting thing about your heartsounds is that we don't physically hear our own heartbeats, we feel them. Sometime you feel your heat beating faster when you are around the one you l0ve. Other times, you can describe the steady beat symbolically with words. In her book, "The Bell Jar," Sylvia Plath finds the lyrics : "I am. I am. I am." The beating heart symbolizes this bodily desire for life. As the years of your life tick by, reach into your heart and find not only those words that keep you alive, but also the words of self-love. Listen to your your own heart. That bray or brag is a constant reminder of our precious life and our deep need to love.
When love enters your mind, you might write a letter, send a text, or call someone on the phone. If you are a talented writer, you might pen the words below by Rabindranath Tagore:
"Most people believe the mind to be a mirror, more or less accurately reflecting the world outside them, not realizing on the contrary that the mind is a reflection of itself. We live in the world when we love it... Yes, the smile that flickers on a baby's lips when it sleeps - does anyone know where it was born?"
Tagore is a Bengali poet and winner of the 1913 Nobel Prize of Literature. His poems are magical. He also wrote:
When love enters your mind who do you think of? Do you see love as a beautiful strange flower?
A distracting smile? Does love occupy your whole mind and consciousness?
Love stretches our minds to become self-reflective. Our brains desire love and carry an optimistic hope for the future. When love enters the mind, one looks for a genuine connection, lasting relationships, and deeper intimacy.
“Love all God’s creation, both the whole and every grain of sand. Love every leaf, every ray of light. Love the animals, love the plants, love each separate thing. If thou love each thing thou wilt perceive the mystery of God in all; and when once thou perceive this, thou wilt thenceforward grow every day to a fuller understanding of it: until thou come at last to love the whole world with a love that will then be all-embracing and universal.”
When you love with your whole body and soul, says Dostoevsky, your love encompasses everything in this world. All creatures, all plants and leaves, and yes every single grain of sand become the object of our love and understanding. When the light of love enters your body, you can love the whole world.
Bob Dylan's great song reveals a darker aspect of life. Whereas Dostoevsky sees love in every grain of sand, Dylan sees a need for moral confession. Dylan and Doestoevsky see God everywhere, but come to a different conclusion. Dylan doesn't see love or good cheer. Nevertheless, Dylan realizes that the sun will light his way. Perhaps this "ray of light" will be the beginning of a new chance to find love ( "the newborn seed").
If we are to come to a full understanding of love, we must look for love in every grain of sand and in those who are still struggling, toiling and trying to find a greater balance between reality and dream.
"Every Grain Of Sand"
In the time of my confession, in the hour of my deepest need
When the pool of tears beneath my feet flood every newborn seed
There's a dying voice within me reaching out somewhere
Toiling in the danger and in the morals of despair.
Don't have the inclination to look back on any mistake
Like Cain, I now behold this chain of events that I must break
In the fury of the moment I can see the master's hand
In every leaf that trembles, in every grain of sand.
Oh, the flowers of indulgence and the weeds of yesteryear
Like criminals, they have choked the breath of conscience and good cheer
The sun beat down upon the steps of time to light the way
To ease the pain of idleness and the memory of decay.
I gaze into the doorway of temptation's angry flame
And every time I pass that way I always hear my name
Then onward in my journey I come to understand
That every hair is numbered like every grain of sand.
I have gone from rags to riches in the sorrow of the night
In the violence of a summer's dream, in the chill of a wintry light
In the bitter dance of loneliness fading into space
In the broken mirror of innocence on each forgotten face.
I hear the ancient footsteps like the motion of the sea
Sometimes I turn, there's someone there, other time it's only me
I am hanging in the balance of the reality of man
Like every sparrow falling, like every grain of sand.
Another version of this quote is: "When sleeping women wake, mountains move.” ~ Chinese proverb.
The biggest obstacle in life can be overcome if love is stronger. The recent death of Nelson Mandela reminds us that the love of freedom and the love of his South African people allowed Nelson Mandela to survive the jail cell that blocked his freedom. Like Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela used the spiritual side of life to give him strength against the forces of hatred and aparthied.
During the long years of separation from his family and countrymen, Mandela kept a copy of his favorite poem, “Invictus” by William Ernest Hensley, in his jail cell. He drew hope and inspiration from the final lines of the poem:
“It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.”
But Nelson Mandela also used the power of love to overcome his mountain of despair and imprisonment. Upon his release he met and later married Graca Machel. Together they moved mountains.
You know other women who moved mountains. They are the women who fought for social justice, equal rights, child welfare, job discrimination, and unsafe work conditions.
Move Mountains
This song (above) by Sarah Bella tells the story of compassionate and romantic love. So does this film about the wife of a coal miner in West Virginia. When her town and husband are becoming sick from coal mining that is contaminating their drinking water, Patricia Bragg decides to take action.
When you wake, are you moving mountains? It is possible if your love is powerful and fearless.
My daughter created a ceramic plaque in middle school, later turned into a mug, that said:
"Even impossible says "I'm possible."
Jack Johnson signs about things that may not be necessarily what "they say they are." Listen to his song. Maybe what you believe about your life is not really accurate. Think about turning things "Upside Down" or to put it another way--- Look at life from a different point of view. When you do, you may also see your love in a different way.
When a younger woman marries an older man, people can find many reasons to be critical of that arrangement and yet both Liv Ullman and Ingmar Bergman and Lauren Bacall, who married an older Humphrey Bogart, realized something else in these connections. Liv said about Ingmar, in the documentary "Painfully Connected" that "he changed my life." Lauren Bacall, also reflected on her marriage to Bogart – Bacall was 19, Bogart 45 - but she found life with him exciting because she met all these interesting people. Both of these young women had a chemistry with their older husbands. I think their relationships provide a truth about love as well. If it is a great love, it should change your life.
Lauren Bacall & Humphrey Bogart
With the film To Have And Have Not she forged the unforgettable partnership with Humphrey Bogart.
Love is about being present. It is mostly about giving: your time, your wisdom, sharing your dreams, and yes, even your poetry and song. The man in the Spelling Bee contest, Marshall Davis Jones, shows us another aspect of love: It is not a game where you win and lose. Love is about finding the right words even if they are misspelled.
Marshall Davis Jones
In his video "Spelling Father," you will find a very moving account of his love for his mother, but the sharing of his poetry, is another act of love.
Listen to this mother (Whitney Houston) sing. This tribute by Kevin Costner is another form of love, remembering a friend.
When you look in the mirored surface of this shiny metal heart, an outdoor sculpture entitled "Sacred Heart" by the artist Jeffrey Koons, you see your own image reflected back to you. Perhaps, this mirrored image serves as a reminder, that each of us carries within us our own sacred heart. If there are other people looking at the sculpture with you, or even the people we don't see who live or work inside the buildings mirrored against the ribbon of the heart, their faces are also reflected in the artwork. This sculpture reminds me we must all find a place to live in this world together. To achieve this togetherness, our world often forgets the sacred love we need to show one another.
This song (below) by Rascal Flatts, is often used as wedding song. Some people have used the song for the first dance at their wedding. A wedding of two hearts is no better time to call upon a spiritual force to guide us toward a sacred love.
"Forever in Time We'll Be" from Irene in Time - Andrea Marcovicci
After her husband developed a stroke, which took away his ability to communicate, but not his expressiveness for love,
this story, about the brain and loving relationships, written by Diane Ackerman appeared in the NY Times:
"Love is the best school, but the tuition is high and the homework can be painful. As imaging studies by the U.C.L.A. neuroscientist Naomi Eisenberger show, the same areas of the brain that register physical pain are active when someone feels socially rejected. That’s why being spurned by a lover hurts all over the body, but in no place you can point to. Or rather, you’d need to point to the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex in the brain, the front of a collar wrapped around the corpus callosum, the bundle of nerve fibers zinging messages between the hemispheres that register both rejection and physical assault."
"Whether they speak Armenian or Mandarin, people around the world use the same images of physical pain to describe a broken heart, which they perceive as crushing and crippling. It’s not just a metaphor for an emotional punch. Social pain can trigger the same sort of distress as a stomachache or a broken bone."
So, listen to this song of love, sung by Andrea Marcovicci. Doesn't your brain feel wonderful?
In the silent, transitional passage of wakefulness into sleep, all the noises of the day drift away. The last sound you hear is your gentle final whispers of love. The uniqueness of that "noise" is often the beginning of sweet dreams. The poet Rumi describes that moment here:
In my ear nothing remained except the noise of love. No reason or no idea remained in my spirit Except for the beauty of the world Of the eternal past.
~Rumi
As you begin to fall asleep, you can only guess about the future. But the beauty of the world is always something worth dreaming about.
Roses are best known and admired as ornamental plants grown for their flowers and scent. They are part of the family of plants called Rosacea and science has now sequenced the genome of the Rose. That is, scientists now know the genes (sentences) that make up the beautiful plant (paragraph) called the pink rose in the chapter on Roses. Nevertheless, the importance of the rose is more than just its genetic structure (genome). It is the destiny of the rose that gives the Rose its importance to humankind. For whom is this pink rose? Which person will receive its fragrance? What hand will receive the flower? It is this romantic mystery that make the rose important. This is the soul of the rose as depicted in the images below. The future of science may allow us to create new species of the rose, but it will never be able to re-create the soul of the rose. Only the woman in this painting by John William Waterhouse (inspired by a poem "Come into the Garde, Maud" by Alfred Lord Tennyson) knows why these roses draw her closer to the fragrance at the garden wall, or why her hand touches the wall with soft sensuality.
The last gift of love we can give someone is something so basic that it is overlooked. These are the words of praise. When everything about our physical beauty is gone: the alluring blooms of the rose or the golden wheat of the great harvest, we are left with our empty branches. This is the autumn of our life. But love doesn't die. The lover remembers his singer's love song. It is easy to comprehend that their love endures beyond death because something still glistens.
The above poem was set to music by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Listen here.
The word Beauty, if capitalized, is a synonym for God , said the naturalist John Muir. He referred to the Beauty of Nature. One woman who also understood the true meaning of beauty was Audery Hepburn.
She often quoted this poem called "Time Tested Beauty Tips," written by Sam Levinson.
For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.
For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.
For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.
For beautiful hair, let a child run his or her fingers through it once a day.
For poise, walk with the knowledge you'll never walk alone.
People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; Never throw out anybody.
Remember, If you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm.
As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.
The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides.
The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole, but true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows, and the beauty of a woman with passing years only grows!
Audrey Hepburn worked not only in the glitz of Hollywood , but also as a UNICEF ambassador in the hunger-torn landscape of Somalia and bringing love to the hungry and forsaken children of Ethiopia.
Although admired by millions for her acting role, she struggled with personal love until her last marriage. Here is a beautiful film of her reading from the book The Diary of Anne Frank.
When you contemplate beauty, says Anne Frank, you cannot be unhappy.
Think of all the beauty that's still left in and around you and be happy. Anne Frank
Lou Reed, rock musician and soul singer died this week, but his music lives on in the hearts of those who found his poetic style riveting. I was introduced to the music of Lou Reed when I was in college. I wrote record reviews for my college newspaper and one of the first albums I reviewed was Lou Reed’s Rock N' Roll Animal, his first gold record. His songs had so much to say and the music was
unrelenting.
A few years later I saw a guy standing on
the street in New York's Greenwich Village whomI immediately recognized as Lou Reed. He was thinner than I
expected and wearing shorts. He looked at me and I smiled back at him, with a
look of recognition. Sure, he was famous, but I kept my distance. That is how
many New Yorkers act around the rich and famous.
His recent death
reminds me how much I loved his music. This song I’ve chosen to remember him is
about transformation into a new man. Thephrase that seems most memorable to me is his understanding of love
that fits inside him like "a pocket of the heart."
I look at the shirt I am
wearing. Right over my heart is a pocket. Inside that shirt pocket you can only
stuff something small: a phone number, a photograph, two tickets to a concert. That little pocket can hold so much promise and if it’s the right person, there are no regrets. In the pocket of the heart, love can fill that space. Not just any love, but a mindful, mindless love.
Lyrics to
Set The Twilight Reeling :
Take me
for what I am ... a star newly emerging
Long
simmering explodes ... inside the self is reeling
In the
pocket of the heart, in the rushing of the blood
In the
muscle of my sex, in the mindful mindless love
I accept
the new found man and set the twilight reeling
At 5 am
the moon and the sun ... sit set before my window
Light
glances off the blue glass we set ... right before the window
And you
who accept ... in your soul and your head
What was
misunderstood ... what was thought of with dread
A new self
is born ... the other self dead
I accept
the new found man and set the twilight reeling
A soul
singer stands on the stage ... the spotlight shows him sweating
He sinks
to one knee ... Seems to cry ... the horn are unrelenting
But as the
drums beats he finds himself growing hard
In the
microphone's face he sees her face growing large
And the swelling
crescendo no longer retards
I accept
the new found man and set the twilight reeling
As the
twilight sunburst gleams
As the
chromium moon it sets
As I lose
all my regrets and set the twilight reeling
Nadezhda Filaretovna von Meck is best known today for her artistic relationship with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. She supported him financially for 13 years, enabling him to devote himself full-time to composition, but she stipulated that they were never to meet.
He dedicated his Fourth Symphony to her and during thse years he created some of the world's most beautiful music and wrote her over 1,2000 letters
There is a Russian website where all(?) the Tchaikovsky/Von Meck letters are published: http://www.tchaikov.ru/letter.html
With the help of Google Translate you can read them (in bad English of course, but in general it’s quite clear what it’s all about).
The title of the Fourth symphony reads: "Dedicated to my best friend." He wrote in one of his letters to her: "But I never told you that I owe you everything. The main thing is that I love you so much. Your Petr Chaikovsky
Their friendship ended with a letter. After 13 years, this invisible friend wrote to tell him she could no longer support him financially. She ends the letter with the words "remember me sometimes."
The Piano Trio gained much popularity in Tchaikovsky's lifetime and was a work that naturally found its place in memorial events in St. Petersburg and Moscow. It is fitting therefore to listen to this excerpt as both a tribute and memorial to their friendship and love.
