To A Stranger

Passing stranger! you do not know how longingly I look upon you,

You must be he I was seeking, or she I was seeking, (it comes to me as of a dream,)

I have somewhere surely lived a life of joy with you,

All is recall’d as we flit by each other, fluid, affectionate, chaste, matured,

You grew up with me, were a boy with me or a girl with me,

I ate with you and slept with you, your body has become not yours only nor left my body mine only,

You give me the pleasure of your eyes, face, flesh, as we pass, you take of my beard, breast, hands, in return,

I am not to speak to you, I am to think of you when I sit alone or wake at night alone,

I am to wait, I do not doubt I am to meet you again,

I am to see to it that I do not lose you.

Walt Whitman

I am free...

 I am free, I am free. I am free...

Sur: Regreso al amor

Yo-Yo Ma - Soul of the Tango - Sur: Regreso al amor by Astor Piazzolla

Redemption Songs

We are on the second floor of some unknown small place. There is this stage on the first floor. It is crowded. We are staring at the stage together. Poems and stories... The soft light on the stage... Young people... the songs that we don't know... the words that I cannot catch... And then they play Redemption Songs from Bob Marley, just a small part...

Won't you help to sing
These songs of freedom?
'Cause all I ever have
Redemption songs
Redemption songs
Redemption songs

I just feel happy, so happy to see you again. I feel tranquil. I feel I am alive. The moment becomes the song, vivid and bright. Redemption Songs.

Correct Words

My last tens days in New York... I feel like I have a lot of things to say, but I cannot find the correct words. They don't come.

 

It tastes as though leaving something you have imagined but you have already forgotten behind.  Maybe an understanding of the time, your body, and the distance. Maybe missing someone you have fallen in love with. Maybe, the taste of the constant conflicts in your thoughts. It is as though not to have the strength to stop the waves and surrounding yourself in the end. A strong feeling of facing yourself and unknown.

Montauk Lighthouse

The view from the Montauk Lighthouse.

Thank you Dan!

Baby Can I Hold You

Sorry
Is all that you can't say
Years gone by and still
Words don't come easily
Like sorry like sorry

Forgive me
Is all that you can't say
Years gone by and still
Words don't come easily
Like forgive me forgive me

But you can say baby
Baby can I hold you tonight
Maybe if I told you the right words
At the right time you'd be mine

I love you
Is all that you can't say
Years gone by and still
Words don't come easily
Like I love you I love you

Tracy Chapman - "Baby Can I Hold You"

The Invitation

It doesn’t interest me

what you do for a living.

I want to know

what you ache for

and if you dare to dream

of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me

how old you are.

I want to know 

if you will risk 

looking like a fool

for love

for your dream

for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me

what planets are 

squaring your moon...

I want to know

if you have touched

the centre of your own sorrow

if you have been opened

by life’s betrayals

or have become shrivelled and closed

from fear of further pain.

I want to know

if you can sit with pain

mine or your own

without moving to hide it

or fade it

or fix it.

I want to know

if you can be with joy

mine or your own

if you can dance with wildness

and let the ecstasy fill you 

to the tips of your fingers and toes

without cautioning us

to be careful

to be realistic

to remember the limitations

of being human.

It doesn’t interest me

if the story you are telling me

is true.

I want to know if you can

disappoint another

to be true to yourself.

If you can bear

the accusation of betrayal

and not betray your own soul.

If you can be faithless

and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty

even when it is not pretty

every day.

And if you can source your own life

from its presence.

I want to know

if you can live with failure

yours and mine

and still stand at the edge of the lake

and shout to the silver of the full moon,

“Yes.”

It doesn’t interest me

to know where you live

or how much money you have.

I want to know if you can get up

after the night of grief and despair

weary and bruised to the bone

and do what needs to be done

to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me

who you know

or how you came to be here.

I want to know if you will stand

in the centre of the fire

with me

and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me

where or what or with whom

you have studied.

I want to know 

what sustains you

from the inside

when all else falls away.

I want to know

if you can be alone 

with yourself

and if you truly like

the company you keep

in the empty moments.

From Invitation by Oriah

http://www.oriahmountaindreamer.com/

Hawaii

.

It was an incredible day. I realized how much I miss looking at the stars in the silence. There were so many... so beautiful...

And here I am:

Thank you Rui and Li Hsiang!

Yitirmeden

Pinhani - Yitirmeden

An old song that makes me think every time I listen.

Would you have time to sit and think?
You don't understand before you lose them
Your loved ones are at the end of the road.
Hug that person at every chance,
Instead of crying after they're gone.
Won't bring them back no matter how much you cry.
Maybe they're standing by you,
Your mom and dad, as much as they can,
Even your (older) brother's 47.

Life is like a black box
It opens for everyone when the day comes
But if you ask, it's always too late.

Don't think our good days are over
Maybe we'll never have any better.
But every day is beautiful still,
It's obvious it's hard to stay close
Always easiest to stay far.
But the hardest is to be alone

Maybe your first lover's sleeping
Next to you, on your left side
Every memory is hung on your wall

Life is like a black box
It opens for everyone when the day comes
But if you ask, it's always too late.

Maybe your first lover's sleeping
Next to you, on your left side
Every memory is hung on your wall

Life is like a black box
It opens for everyone when the day comes
But if you ask, it's always too late.

Harita

"Cok zaman once, henuz gencken ve anilarim tazeyken, onun hakkinda yazmayi bir kac kez denedim. Ama tek bir satir bile yazamadim. Biliyordum, ilk satiri yazabilsem gerisi kendiliginden gelecekti, ama basaramiyordum bu ilk satiri yazmayi. Her sey fazlasiyla belirgindi, acikti ve nereden baslayacagimi bilmiyordum. Nasil bir harita, asiri ayrintili oldugunda pek ise yaramazsa, oyleydi iste. Ama simdi biliyorum ki, ancak ve ancak eksik kalmis dusunceler ve anilar, yazinin mukemmel olmayan teknesine dolusabilir. Naoko'yla ilgili anilarim her gecen gun biraz daha silindikce, onu gitgide daha iyi anliyorum. Simdi artik neden benden onu unutmami istedigini biliyorum. Kuskusuz bunu Naoko da biliyordu. Onun bende kalan anisinin er yada gec silinecegini. Iste tam da bu yuzden onu unutmamam icin yalvarmis ve onun var oldugunu hep hatirlamami istemisti."

H. Murakimi, Norwegian woods

Fire Island

Ocean...

Thank you Dan!

Fire Island, New York

Caumsett State Park

North Carolina

Thank you Olga!

Sliding Rock

Thank you Olga!

Asheville, North Carolina - Sliding Rock

Bethpage Air Show

From Bethpage Air Show, 2018. Thank you Dan!

Star

A star crossed the sky...

Who Has Dreamed

"Who has drank will drink, who has dreamed will dream. He will not give up that alluring abyss, that sound of the fathomless, that the entrance into forbidden, that effort to handle the impalpable and to see the invisible; he returns to it, bends over it, he takes one step forward, then two; and thus it is that one penetrates into the impenetrable and there is that one finds the boundless release of infinite mediations."

Victor Hugo, (From "Love" by Leo Buscaglia)

The Question

"Exactly!" said Deep Thought. "So once you do know what the question actually is, you'll know what the answer means."

The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy - Mostly Harmless

Christmas Eve