D.H. Lawrencing Leonard ?

[mat james]

When I read this poem and extract I immediately thought of our friend Leonard.
(And maybe, hopefully, myself too.)
Who do you see in these lines?

Song of a Man Who Has Come Through

Not I, not I, but the wind that blows through me!
A fine wind is blowing the new direction of Time.
If only I let it bear me, carry me, if only it carry me!
If only I am sensitive, subtle, oh, delicate, a winged gift!
If only, most lovely of all, I yield myself and am borrowed
By the fine, fine wind that takes its course through the chaos of the world
Like a fine, an exquisite chisel, a wedge-blade inserted;
If only I am keen and hard like the sheer tip of a wedge
Driven by invisible blows,
The rock will split, we shall come at the wonder, we shall find the Hesperides.

Oh, for the wonder that bubbles into my soul,
I would be a good fountain, a good well-head,
Would blur no whisper, spoil no expression.

What is the knocking?
What is the knocking at the door in the night?
It is somebody wants to do us harm.

No, no, it is the three strange angels.
Admit them, admit them.

(D.H. Lawrence.)

...and;

"...What man most passionately wants is his living wholeness and his living unison, not his own isolate salvation of his "soul." Man wants his physical fulfillment first and foremost, since now, once and once only, he is in the flesh and potent. For man, the vast marvel is to be alive. For man, as for flower and beast and bird, the supreme triumph is to be most vividly, most perfectly alive. Whatever the unborn and the dead may know, they cannot know the beauty, the marvel of being alive in the flesh. The dead may look after the afterwards. But the magnificent here and now of life in the flesh is ours, and ours alone, and ours only for a time. We ought to dance with rapture that we should be alive and in the flesh, and part of the living, incarnate cosmos. I am part of the sun as my eye is part of me. That I am part of the earth my feet know perfectly, and my blood is part of the sea. My soul knows that I am part of the human race, my soul is an organic part of the great human soul, as my spirit is part of my nation. In my own very self, I am part of my family. There is nothing of me that is alone and absolute except my mind, and we shall find that the mind has no existence by itself, it is only the glitter of the sun on the surface of the waters."

{Apocalypse (1930)}
D.H. Lawrence.

[imaginary friend]

I like it when poetry tells about simple things, and uses the beauty of language and wordplay to elevate them.
I like when an elevated idea is presented in succinct prose (or metaphor).
So... I'm not crazy about the Lawrence poem, but the paragraph of prose is beautiful.

Mat, I'm also enjoying the dialogue on the Sahara thread

[Casar]

[edit] Myacidae

[lonndubh]

the bonds of matrimony seem very similar to other bonds, like government bonds for example - they crave thirty years and die very hard.

The marraige bond may sanctify by the effect of sacramental grace but something that may be called love or whatever it may be ---for it is intangible---climbs over the midnight wall of marraige and parts what G-d ---no not G-d---what money ,what economic and social opportunity have bound together .

[Casar]

[edit] (dominated the civil aviation)

[mat james]

I thought it was the Red Sea.
They were all communists back then, weren't they?

[Steven]

Hi Mat,

I see a possible "Lawrencing" of some of Leonard's poetry/lyric themes (and some of your poetry themes too).
"What is the knocking..." -- Reminiscent of the visitors who show up in "The Guests" (so, maybe a Lawrencing
of Rumi as well). The second work of Lawrence that you quoted, might be similar to "The Window."
With Leonard's "The Window" lyrics:
"Oh chosen love,
Oh frozen love
Oh tangle of matter and ghost"
-- possible similar ground to Lawrence's soul/flesh material that you quoted. -- That "Apocolypse" passage, it
appears to me, is an even more striking of a Lawrencing of Walt Whitman. Just some quick thoughts on this.

[Casar]

[edit] salire,

[lonndubh]

Mat James, I am colorblind, and they're all dead as far as I am concerned.

So its the Dead Red sea

[mat james]

That "Apocolypse" passage, it
appears to me, is an even more striking of a Lawrencing of Walt Whitman.

Yes, I see what you mean, Steven.
I didn't make the connection at all, but it is, as you suggest,
Very Walt!

Thanks,
Mat.

[mat james]

It's dead Red, for sure, even though it looks blue to me!

http://www.myspace.com/video/vid/31824277

[Diane]

"...For man, as for flower and beast and bird, the supreme triumph is to be most vividly, most perfectly alive. Whatever the unborn and the dead may know, they cannot know the beauty, the marvel of being alive in the flesh. The dead may look after the afterwards. But the magnificent here and now of life in the flesh is ours, and ours alone, and ours only for a time. We ought to dance with rapture that we should be alive and in the flesh, and part of the living, incarnate cosmos. I am part of the sun as my eye is part of me."