1907

February 11, 2005

This morning Shelby Lynne sang warm over coffee and my heart smiled,
breathed easy. Last night I swung my hips to the blues.
In the rearview mirror the foothills bloom blue with ice and snow, sun
trickling over the treeline onto highway 91 and down over the valley.

Good morning, you.

That which then was ours, my love,
don't ask me for that love again.
The world was then gold, burnished with light --
and only because of you. That what I had believed.
How could one weep for sorrows other than yours?
How could one have any sorrow but the one you gave?
So what were these protests, these rumors of injustice?
A glimpse of your face was evidence of springtime.
The sky, wherever I looked, was nothing but your eyes.
If you'd fall in my arms, Fate would be helpless.

All this I'd thought, all this I'd believed.
But there were other sorrows, comforts other than love.
The rich had cast their spell on history:
dark centuries had been embroidered on brocades and silks
Bitter threads began to unravel before me
as I went into alleys and in open markets
saw bodies plastered with ash, bathed in blood.
I saw them sold and bought, again and again.
This too deserves attention. I can't help but look back
when I return from those alleys -- what should one do?
There are other sorrows in this world,
comforts other than love.
Don't ask me, my love, for that love again.

-- Faiz Ahmed Faiz
(Translated by Agha Shahid Ali)

After Callimachus

By using no spice but salt,
Eudemus, once in debt —
hence mortal peril — changed
his ways, and saved his skin
from creditors' long knives.
Now kept afloat by thrift
as sailors by a raft,
he therefore consecrates
this salt-cellar to what
gods — humble and without
high monuments — permit
his business to go on.

-- Stephen Burt

In other news, my scholarship check arrived.

6:38 a.m.



Northampton has ~an inch and a half so far, falling heavily now and blowing. Glad Miles and I went out so early! Nothing to do now but hole in and do homework, and (at a reasonable hour) call my Mom. Right, Mom?

But first, back to bed.

SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW ARE FORECAST THAT WILL MAKE TRAVEL DANGEROUS. DO NOT TRAVEL UNLESS IT IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY...AND IF YOU MUST DO SO...KEEP AN EXTRA FLASHLIGHT...FOOD...AND WATER IN YOUR VEHICLE IN CASE OF AN EMERGENCY. IF YOU GET STUCK STAY WITH YOUR VEHICLE.