By Nicanor Parra
My God, yes indeed! no one knows
how to appreciate a true word,
when we imagine it most distant
just when it is closest.
Oh me, oh me! something tells me
that living is no more than a chimera;
an illusion, a dream without boundaries,
a small passing cloud.
Let's take it easy, I don't know what I'm saying,
emotion is rising to my head.
Since it was already the hour of silence
when I started my singular assignment,
one behind the other, in dumb procession
to the empty stable the sheep returned.
I greeted each personally
and when I was near the grove
which sharpens the traveler's hearing
with its ineffable secret music,
I remembered the sea and reviewed the pages
in homage to my lost sisters.
Very well. I continued my voyage
like one who expects nothing from living...
How much time has passed since then
I could not say with certainty;
everything is the same, surely,
the wine and the nightingale upon the table,
at this time my younger brothers
should return home from school:
Just that time has erased everything
like a white storm of sand!
--------
The county schools had a half day on Friday, so I had my kids home shortly after noon, which was shortly after I got back from a doctor appointment. My blood pressure was marginally up, so she wants me back in a couple of weeks to see whether it's an anomaly or something that bears watching more closely -- my family history is not terrific where blood pressure is concerned -- but otherwise it was a pretty uneventful visit. I watched Star Trek: The Next Generation with Daniel and wrote a review of "Ethics" for TrekToday, and we had dinner with my parents. Here's a last set of photos from Clark's Elioak Farm and Enchanted Forest:
The Friday Five: Careers, Dreams, and Reality
1. What did you dream of being when you were a little child? An astronaut. (I thought that starships were like the Enterprise, not tin cans strapped on top of bombs.)
2. What did you think you might become when you were between the ages of 12-13? An AHHHHHHHCTRESS!
3. What career choices did you consider as a young adult? Everyone I knew went to law school so I knew that I did NOT want to do that. I was in grad school studying to become a college professor, doing journalism on the side because it was fun.
4. Did you follow along one of the career paths you considered? Freelancing is still more fun than academia was. If I had tenure someplace, though, I'd have a lot more money. Given how things have gone for most of the people (in particular the women) I knew in academia, though, I'm not sure that would have happened.
5. Have you changed careers since then? Was it by choice or necessity? I need a job -- know anyone who's hiring?
Fannish 5: What 5 series would you resurrect if you could?
1. VR.5. At least for long enough to resolve the series!
2. Pushing Daisies. A show with so much more life left in it, and nothing resolved at the time of its cancellation.
3. Arrested Development. I'd settle for the long-rumored movie, though I think half-hour episodes are the perfect presentation for this concept.
4. Commander in Chief. If I can't have a woman running the White House, having one there on TV every week would have been some small consolation.
5. Crusoe. I loved everything about that show from the cast to the scenery to the interpretation of the book!
It's too early in the season to evaluate Smallville but I'm so happy finally to see so much emphasis on Lois, and I get a real kick out of seeing Derek Reese aka Brian Austin Green aka John Corben as a Terminator! I hope Chloe stays angry at Clark; I thought she got too sympathetic too quickly, but maybe she's just afraid she'll lose Lois the way she lost Jimmy if she doesn't stick around to encourage Clark to keep Lois out of danger. (Is Jimmy coming back at some point, does anyone know? I have a hard time believing he's gone from this franchise.)
After that we watched the Due South two-parter "Mountie on the Bounty," which I enjoyed for so many reasons. Ray makes me howl -- "The goat ship?" -- and of course I loved the ships and ghost pirates and Canadian folk songs, real and manufactured. And I've been aboard an HMS Bounty replica, though there were no mounties at the time, so I adored all the shipboard scenes, even the bad gratuitous romances (Constable Turnbull for the win!).
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