Ode to the Berry

red. seedy. round. juicy. tiny. friendly.
summer treat. earth ripened. heady scent.
tickles my mouth. like sweet candy.
flavored in green meadows.
by the garden fairies
and many rains.
so yummy
to me.

Rambling about Twain's Sails

I keep Mark Twain's quote on my blog because it reminds me of how I want to live life. Fearlessly. Curiously. Expectantly. In order to "catch the trade winds in your sails," you do need to have the sails unfurled and ready to catch them in order to be pushed to new seas and around new shorelines. But when you are docked in a harbor, of necessity your sails must be lowered.

So where am I now? Hmmm, I suppose I am where I will always be: on the open seas, up the coastlines, and in harbors. I need all such places, not just for variety but because each is essential to a ship's life, if we can compare life to a sailing vessel.

The open seas are where the trade winds are caught to new destinations. It is where you meet the storms and waves of the seas, and your strength and build will get battered. Through the regions of doldrums and endless seascape, you must trust that the compass and the Captain know where you are headed, even when you can't see land for months. It is also the place of the most amazing views, such as a placid night clearly illuminated by brilliant jewels in a black velvet sky. In such moments, you feel alive and know you are fulfilling the function for which you were created.

The harbors are for repairs and supplies, for new directions. Each harbor is distinct and the load placed in the hold is specific. The supplies and repairs equip the ship for the next leg of the journey to make sure the cargo arrives to its destination. If the weak boards are not replaced, that could mean danger on the high seas, and if the stowaway is not caught, it could mean mutiny or an unexpected burden. The harbor is for renewal and restoration, a reality check for oiling the squeaky places.

The coastlines provide the route from one harbor to the next, when the route doesn't involve crossing oceans. They are unique and provide information about the differences in the make up of earth's landscape and varied inhabitants. Each country's coastline, while similar in essentials for docking and trading, similar in needs, is unique in language and custom. Discovering these idiosyncracies offers your ship a wealth of knowledge and adventure, through which the coral reefs of Australia will become distinguishable from the shoreline of Sharm il-Sheikh.

"Explore. Dream. Discover," wrote Mr. Twain, which is what I want to do anyway, whether recouping in a harbor, sailing down the coast of Africa, or somewhere in the middle of a Pacific storm. Admittedly, there are always factors at work that want to keep me in the harbor, until the repairs become an excuse for staying. It is in this one choice that the regrets of what I don't do could, twenty years from now, replace the list of things I did do. That is why the term "fearless" is included in the page title, because to be fearless in my world is to know I am not trusting myself to sail me, but the Captain.

Heh, I tend to think in similes and metaphors, images in my head that in one snapshot can explain to me a feeling, a purpose or a concept. It appears that Twain's sails have blown me on a metaphorical journey in today's description. But I let them take me, because what is a ship, if not made for sailing!? ;)

ask me

don't ask me to paint a big picture
i can't see that far from
where i sit with my feet dangling
like a child's on a tall bench

ask me about the bird that flew
by my window in greeting
or the way the morning smells
from my balcony door

ask me about the sound of her
voice and the flavor of tears
or about the way the trams clatter
across the city cobblestones

i wish sometimes that i could tell
you what everything means
or think macrocosmically in a way
that places events in order

but the future is over the next slope
and i can't tell you surely
where that road will curve and what
jungles and mountains await

but if you ask me, i will tell you
that the wind plays tag with
oceanwaves and the ice cream stand
will sell us chocolate at 2 pm

ask me for the here and now and i
will tell you how your words
paint the horizon in rainbow colors
and entice me over the slope

Living vicariously

"Guess where I am," he said over the phone.
"On top of a mountain?" I guessed, already having a vague idea of his plans.
"We're at the foot, getting ready to go on a three hour mule ride up the side!"

I love that my dad calls me from random and adventurous places way on the other side of the globe, this time from here. Having inherited a love of adventure from him, I'm sure he knows I would love to be there also. I am tickled pink that he thinks of me and shares the moments across the distances!

Poeticalness Day

As I left my flat this morning I saw the national blue-and-white flapping in the breeze, and pondered what flagging day today might be. Ah, then I remembered: it is this day. I am a fan of poetry and summer, and especially of the two together. I will go to the market to buy cherries and peas today, which are two treats most certainly associated with Finnish summertime in my mind. And as to the poetry, here are 2 short ones for you to enjoy this summer day, wherever you are!



A kids' poem:

THE PORCUPINE

Any hound a porcupine nudges

Can't be blamed for harboring grudges.

I know one hound that laughed all winter

At a porcupine that sat on a splinter.

--Ogden Nash



An Arabic poem:

FREE HARBOR

Many ships have asked for sanctuary

In the harbor of my eyes

I refused asylum to all of them

Your ships alone

Have the right to take refuge

In my territorial waters

Your ships alone

Have the right to sail in my blood

Without prior permission.

--Suad al-Mubarak al-Sabah