Ok, I know :: it’s been awhile. What kept me? Oh you know, the usual. Hospitalisation, moving and a wedding. A slightly better excuse than four weddings and a funeral, but stop all the clocks anyway. I’m working on a new post as we speak but it’s long and kinda in depth so I thought I’d share somebody else’s wisdom with you in the meantime…
This quote found it’s way to me shortly after the stroke and offered abiding solace to guide me through the challenge of a ravaged body. Which is what I imagine Viktor Frankl, the inspiring existential therapist who survived the Holocaust to pen his seminal work :: Man’s Search for Meaning would have wanted. He gave me a light in the darkness.
And in keeping with the fiery theme, here’s a poem for good measure by the “laureate of American lowlife”, dark & morethan mildly twisty Charles Bukowski::
How Is Your Heart?
*
during my worst times
on the park benches
in the jails
or living with
whores
I always had this certain
contentment-
I wouldn’t call it
happiness-
it was more of an inner
balance
that settled for
whatever was occuring
and it helped in the
factories
and when relationships
went wrong
with the
girls.
it helped
through the
wars and the
hangovers
the backalley fights
the
hospitals.
to awaken in a cheap room
in a strange city and
pull up the shade-
this was the craziest kind of
contentment
*
and to walk across the floor
to an old dresser with a
cracked mirror-
see myself, ugly,
grinning at it all.
what matters most is
how well you
walk through the
fire.
And with that, I’ll leave you to your weekend. In South Africa, it’s cold :: winter is coming and we’re celebrating Freedom Day. So whoever you, wherever you are – this one’s for the firewalker’s on their path to liberty. Big love!
My song fire is based on this exactly:-)., lovely post scarlet! http://natemaingard.bandcamp.com/track/fire
so funny! I was just thinking to myself while you were singing “Fire” tonight :: man, I should’ve included that here. felt like I was missing a third reference to integrate both. awesome gig by the way :: LOVED the “Crazy’ cover (going through a cover phase – artists paying homage to those who’ve inspired them.. the highest form of praise).. you just keep rocking harder and deeper! looking forward to the EP! and our 2nd interview. lots love, Sx
Sometimes we’re not ready to understand that which comes into our lives until the circumstances of our personal universes can make space for their acceptance. I suspect this is a protective factor mostly, and when I first heard of Viktor Frankl I shrugged off his work as beyond my comprehension, and therefore generally irrelevant, and now… It seems I may be ready to engage as deep as it will encompass me. So, thank you for this serendipitous reminder; I am in the process of ordering his book.
I also agree that, “what matters most is how well you walk through the fire” And I need to remember to cherish those things we gain by it.
You may have already seen this but I found it apropos. (Mynabirds- what we gained in the fire)
This sent me back and forth and back and forth, not sure if I wanted to comment here or comment on Nate’s track or both, and so I hemmed myself into silence and thought, just read this again and again and enjoy the stroll through the fire. Though” this craziest kind of contentment” haunted me for days after.
Erik–glad you posted that song–I felt it got the short shaft last week and it is so apropos here.
All this fire spreading through the blogosphere.
…much LOVE to my fellow firewalkers (starters)! Thank you for your comments and apologies for my radio silence. Nate’s music is sheer magic – he’s just recorded a new album called ‘Home’ and I’m brimming with joyful expectancy to spin new tunes on my decks. I blessed to have him round for a simple soup dinner on return t Scarborough so he brought his guitar, strummed and sang as I cooked. I realize fortunate I am by the friends I keep – both near and far, old and new, in ether and on earth.
my Texas sista :: I adore the line ‘I hemmed myself into silence…’ as for the song, well it seems a wired thread links us three…
most eloquent Erik :: thank you for the music. and your words. hope you enjoy Viktor’s book! you will be encompassed by meaning. all of which, you’ll understand…