Sonnets To Orpheus II, 18

Tänzerin: o du Verlegung
alles Vergehens in Gang: wie brachtest du's dar.
Und der Wirbel am Schluß, dieser Baum aus Bewegung,
nahm er nicht ganz Besitz das erschwungene Jahr?

Blühte nicht, daß ihn dein Schwingen von vorhin um schwärme,
plötzlich sein Wipfel von Stille? Und über ihr,
war sie nicht Sonne, war sie nicht Sommer, die Wärme,
diese unzählige Wärme aus dir?

Aber er trug auch, er trug, dein Baum der Ekstase.
Sind sie nicht seine ruhigen Früchte: der Krug,
reifend gestreift, und die gereiftere Vase?

Und in den Bildern: ist nicht die Zeichnung geblieben,
die deine Braue dunkler Zug
rasch an die Wandung der eigenen Wendung geschrieben?

---

Dancer: oh you transposition
of all that's transient into movement: you brought it here!
And the whirl at the end, that tree made of motion,
did it not take control of the whole sweeping year?

Didn't the treetop around which your soaring swarmed
suddenly blossom with stillness? Above it, too,
wasn't it sun, wasn't it summer, the warmth,
this unlimited warmth from you?

But it bore too, it bore, your tree of ecstasis.
Aren't these your peaceful fruits: the vases
striped with ripening, and the riper urn?

And in the photos: isn't there the mark
remaining, that your eyebrow's stroke so dark
wrote swiftly on the wall of its own turn?

---

Copyright ©1998,1999,2021 Howard A. Landman

“The wall between myself and bliss” (excerpt)

The wall between myself and bliss
has never been so paper-thin
as this: some days when I am near it
golden light comes leaking in
like sunlight through a stained-glass window,
autumn leaves, or shoji screen.
Warm and welcome, pure and present,
yet still not directly seen.
While some may argue nonexistence
of the sun, bathed in warm brightness
I heed no such rhetoric.
I only want to walk in light.

1994

Copyright ©1994,2020 Howard A. Landman

I built a Wall …

So, I was playing Civ 5 as Harun al-Rashid, having trouble with China to my east and trying to be friendly to Montezuma to my south. But after I settled China by destroying their invading army, Montezuma double-crossed me and invaded himself. It was difficult defending because I had just finished a war; at one point I had to pay 300 gold to quickly build a Wall around my southernmost city to increase its defensive strength. (I normally try to avoid spending ANYTHING on military early in the game, as it slows down growth.)

But this gave me a goal. Montezuma offered peace if I would pay him off with gold and resources, but I declined.

A little later, he offered peace for free. But I declined again.

Finally, as I was pushing into his territory and threatening to take one of his cities, he offered peace with 52 gold now and 11 gold per turn for 25 turns (52 + 275 = 327 total). I accepted because it achieved my goal, which was to get at least 300 gold from him.

That’s right: I built a Wall, and I got Mexico to pay for it. 🙂