On Death

Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there.
I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glint on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the autumn rain.
When you awake in the morning hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of birds circling in flight.
I am the stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there.
I do not sleep.

-Source Unknown-

Fool. Thou shouldst not have been old till thou hadst been wise.

Lear. O, let me not be mad, not mad, sweet heaven!
Keep me in temper; I would not be mad!

-Shakespeare, King Lear, Act I Scene V -

Old age

There is such a hard thing as seeing a childhood hero reduced to the harsh reality that old age brings.

We as younger generations who will eventually reach that stage, strive to keep our elders intact through our love, memories and stories, the only recourse we have to deal with ultimate death.

Writing with light

Photography has gradually become a passion for me. It has its downsides. It can be almost a compulsion to capture a scene or object, to freeze it in time and come back often to admire that moment or thing or person. Mostly it's a moment that I'm always trying to hold on to, even when it's just through one object.

It reminds me of Vikram Seth's statement in From Heaven Lake: "What is the purpose, I wonder, of all this restlessness? I sometimes seem to myself to wander around the world merely accumulating material for future nostalgias."

Sometimes it might have been better to forget the camera and simply absorb. Photography is what I would call a contemplative obsession. It is anti-nihilistic.

"Les étoiles mesurent pour nous les vraies distances. La vie paisible, l'amour fidèle, l'amie que nous croyons chérir, c'est de nouveau l'étoile polaire qui les balise..."
- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Courrier Sud -

A small pearl

Yesterday morning, while walking in Black River, I found this tear, and the pearl :)