we guess no angels are contented to be blind things may not be seen
Adapted from the poem, The Jig of Forslin by Conrad Aiken (The Four Seas Company: Boston, 1916) in Part IV: (1) where Mr. Aiken writes:
Now, unless persuaded by searching music Which suddenly opens the portals of the mind, We guess no angels, And are contented to be blind. Let us blow silver horns in the twilight. And lift our hearts to the yellow star in the green, To find, perhaps, if while the dew is rising, Clear things may not be seen.
Stuck in the loop.
Do over.
Do over.
Do over.
Do loop.
Do loop.
Loop.
Death spiral.
Never ends.
Now, unless persuaded by searching music
Which suddenly opens the portals of the mind,
We guess no angels,
And are contented to be blind.
Let us blow silver horns in the twilight.
And lift our hearts to the yellow star in the green,
memory is when you look back, answers float in to who? what? when? where?
Memory is when you look back and the answers float in to who? what? when? where? The members who were there then are repeated on a screen are recalled on a scroll are moved in a miniature drama, are collected and recollected for actions, speeches, silences, set forth by images of the mind and made in a mingling mist to do again and to do over precisely what they did do once — this is memory — sometimes slurred and blurred — this is remembering — sometimes wrecking the images and proceeding again to reconstruct what happened and how, the many little involved answers to who? what? when? where? and more involved than any how? how?
Scroll by Carl Sandburg as published in War Time under New Section of The Complete Poems of Carl Sandburg (Harcourt, Brace: New York, 1970).
Celebrated Halloween at work today and little goodie bags of candy were passed out to everyone.
I undid the twisty on my goodie bag and poured the candy out on my desk there, with the chocolate, were two rolls of Smarties.
For most people, they were just two rolls of smarties.
For a lot of people I know, they would be the keys to memories.
A whole lot of memories.
Memory is when you look back …
and the answers float in ..
to who? what? when? where?
For myself, I look at a roll of smarties and I am back in church.
Not just any church, but Berean Baptist Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan where this one member, Mr. Berg, came every Sunday with an old cloth Old Kent Bank bag, filled with rolls of smarties.
Once church was over, every kid and not a few adults made their way over to this guy to get their Sunday roll of smarties.
It was such a part of Sunday that Mr. Berg became the honorary Grandpa of the entire Church and was universally addressed as Grandpa Berg.
As I remember it, if I was nearby, I would get in line myself.
This went on for years and I found myself married to Mr. Berg’s daughter.
We had 7 seven kids, and getting their Sunday Smarties was as much of their day as any other kid and maybe more so as they called him Grandpa BECAUSE he was their Grandpa.
if there is magic here on this planet, it is contained in water
Adapted for this passage in the book, The Immense Journey by Loren C. Eiseley (Random House: New York, 1957) where Mr. Eiseley writes:
If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water.
Its least stir even, as now in a rain pond on a flat roof opposite my office, is enough to bring me searching to the window.
A wind ripple may be translating itself into life.
I have a constant feeling that some time I may witness that momentous miracle on a city roof, see life veritably and suddenly boiling out of a heap of rusted pipes and old television aerials.
I marvel at how suddenly a water beetle has come and is submarining there in a spatter of green algae.
Thin vapors, rust, wet tar and sun are an alembic remarkably like the mind; they throw off odorous shadows that threaten to take real shape when no one is looking.
Once in a lifetime, perhaps, one escapes the actual confines of the flesh.
Once in a lifetime, if one is lucky, one so merges with sunlight and air and running water that whole eons, the eons that mountains and deserts know, might pass in a single afternoon without discomfort.
The mind has sunk away into its beginnings among old roots and the obscure tricklings and movings that stir inanimate things.
Like the charmed fairy circle into which a man once stepped, and upon emergence learned that a whole century had passed in a single night, one can never quite define this secret ; but it has something to do, I am sure, with common water.
Its substance reaches everywhere; it touches the past and prepares the future; it moves under the poles and wanders thinly in the heights of air.
It can assume forms of exquisite perfection in a snowflake, or strip the living to a single shining bone cast up by the sea.
Hilton Head Island Multi Hull Regatta – Oct 24, 2026
According to Wikipedia, Mr. Eisely was a “scholar and writer of imagination and grace,” whose reputation and accomplishments extended far beyond the campus where he taught for 30 years.
Wikipedia states:
Loren Eiseley (September 3, 1907 – July 9, 1977) was an American anthropologist, educator, philosopher, and natural science writer, who taught and published books from the 1950s through the 1970s. He received many honorary degrees and was a fellow of multiple professional societies. At his death, he was Benjamin Franklin Professor of Anthropology and History of Science at the University of Pennsylvania.
His first book, The Immense Journey, was a collection of writings about the history of humanity, and it proved to be that rare science book that appealed to a mass audience. It has sold over a million copies and has been published in at least 16 languages. Besides being his first book, The Immense Journey was also Eiseley’s most well known book and established him as a writer with the ability to combine science and humanity in a poetic way. This book was originally published in 1946. Then, it was published again in 1957, a few years after the Piltdown Man hoax discovery.
In the book, Eiseley conveys his sense of wonder at the depth of time and the vastness of the universe. He uses his own experiences, reactions to the paleontological record, and wonderment at the world to address the topic of evolution. More specifically, the text concentrates on human evolution and human ignorance. In The Immense Journey, Eiseley follows the journey from human ignorance at the beginning of life to his own wonderment about the future of mankind.
conflict has entered new phase – maelstrom of factors of tension and risk
Based on the New York Times article, A New Level of Threat and Fear Risks Pushing the U.S. and Iran Back to Full War by David E. Sanger, Julian E. Barnes, Jonathan Swan, Maggie Haberman. Farnaz Fassihi and Eric Schmitt, the team of Times reporters that has covered Iran’s confrontations with the United States for decades, particularly during President Trump’s two terms.
The article states:
The conflict in the Middle East has entered a new phase in which a maelstrom of factors, from the political calendars in the United States and Israel to the potential for all sides to be seeking pretexts for action, are creating heightened levels of tension and risk.
Mahdi Mohammadi, a senior adviser to Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the lead negotiator and speaker of parliament, said on social media that Iran views the coming part of the war as existential.
“We are in a surprise phase of the war, and we will not fight a classic war,” Mr. Mohammadi said. “It will be an asymmetrical, fierce and conclusive war that will target the enemy’s strong points and weak spots.”
Gloom and doom but I do enjoy the word usage.
… a new phase in which a maelstrom of factors
… to be seeking pretexts for action
… creating heightened levels of tension and risk
Good writing.
And then to that last quote, a quote attributed to one Mahdi Mohammadi who is identified as being a senior adviser to Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the lead negotiator and speaker of parliament.
… We are in a surprise phase of the war
… we will not fight a classic war
… It will be an asymmetrical, fierce and conclusive war
… will target the enemy’s strong points and weak spots
Let’s read the complete quote again.
“We are in a surprise phase of the war, and we will not fight a classic war,” Mr. Mohammadi said. “It will be an asymmetrical, fierce and conclusive war that will target the enemy’s strong points and weak spots.”
Tight.
Concise.
Cold.
Not a lot of wiggle room.
Just words but I remember President John F. Kennedy said of Winston Churchill, that Mr. Churchill, “… mobilized the English language and sent it into battle.“
Notice the lack of words like .. Great … Beautiful .. Huge … Deal … People say … People don’t know … or … Never seen anything like it.
It is easy to conjecture that if Mr. Mohammadi’s statement had been said by someone in the United States Government it might had read:
We’re in what they call a surprise phase of the war. A tremendous surprise. Nobody expected it, although some people say they did. I knew it. I said it a long time ago. And we’re not going to fight a classic war. We’re not doing that. Why would we? Classic wars, very overrated. People don’t understand that. This is going to be something very different. Very powerful. Asymmetrical, they call it. I call it smart. We’re going to hit them where they’re strong, we’re going to hit them where they’re weak, and believe me, they have plenty of weak spots. Plenty. It’s going to be fierce, it’s going to be conclusive, and it’s going to be a tremendous victory. Nobody has ever seen anything like it. Not even close. And people are going to look back and say, ‘Wow, what a deal. What a beautiful thing.
