Saturday, October 11, 2025

Il Pleure Dans Mon Cœur - Paul Verlaine

 

Il pleure dans mon cœur

Paul Verlaine



Il pleure dans mon cœur

Comme il pleut sur la ville;
Quelle est cette langueur
Qui pénètre mon cœur?

Ô bruit doux de la pluie
Par terre et sur les toits!
Pour un cœur qui s’ennuie
Ô le bruit de la pluie!

Il pleure sans raison
Dans ce cœur qui s’écœure.
Quoi! nulle trahison? …
Ce deuil est sans raison.

C’est bien la pire peine
De ne savoir pourquoi
Sans amour et sans haine,
Mon cœur a tant de peine.


Monday, September 29, 2025

Diamonds and Rust Song by Joan Baez


Well, I'll be damned
Here comes your ghost again
But that's not unusual
It's just that the moon is full
And you happened to call
And here I sit
Hand on the telephone
Hearing a voice I'd known
A couple of light years ago
Heading straight for a fall
As I remember your eyes
Were bluer than robin's eggs
My poetry was lousy you said
Where are you calling from?
A booth in the midwest
Ten years ago
I bought you some cufflinks
You brought me something
We both know what memories can bring
They bring diamonds and rust
Well, you burst on the scene
Already a legend
The unwashed phenomenon
The original vagabond
You strayed into my arms
And there you stayed
Temporarily lost at sea
The Madonna was yours for free
Yes, the girl on the half-shell
Could keep you unharmed
Now I see you standing
With brown leaves falling all around
And snow in your hair
Now you're smiling out the window
Of that crummy hotel
Over Washington Square
Our breath comes out white clouds
Mingles and hangs in the air
Speaking strictly for me
We both could have died then and there
Now you're telling me
You're not nostalgic
Then give me another word for it
You who are so good with words
And at keeping things vague
'Cause I need some of that vagueness now
It's all come back too clearly
Yes, I loved you dearly
And if you're offering me diamonds and rust
I've already paid

Songwriter: Joan Baez


Saturday, October 19, 2024

Scarborough Fair - Sarah Brightman -





Scarborough Fair
Simon & Garfunkel

Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
Remember me to one who lives there
For once she was a true love of mine
Have her make me a cambric shirt
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
Without no seam nor fine needle work
And then she'll be a true love of mine
Tell her to weave it in a sycamore wood lane
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
And gather it all with a basket of flowers
And then she'll be a true love of mine
Have her wash it in yonder dry well
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
where water ne'er sprung nor drop of rain fell
And then she'll be a true love of mine
Have her find me an acre of land
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
Between the sea foam and over the sand
And then she'll be a true love of mine
Plow the land with the horn of a lamb
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
Then sow some seeds from north of the dam
And then she'll be a true love of mine
Tell her to reap it with a sickle of leather
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
And gather it all in a bunch of heather
And then she'll be a true love of mine
If she tells me she can't, I'll reply
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
Let me know that at least she will try
And then she'll be a true love of mine
Love imposes impossible tasks
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
Though not more than any heart asks
And I must know she's a true love of mine
Dear, when thou has finished thy task
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
Come to me, my hand for to ask
For thou then art a true love of mine

Songwriters: Arthur Garfunkel / Paul Simon
Scarborough Fair lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc, Universal Music Publishing Group

Thursday, August 4, 2022

""Sublime Generosity", Fierce Like a Lion - Rumi -


I was dead, then alive. 
Weeping, then laughing. 
The power of love came into me, 
and I became fierce like a lion, 
then tender like the evening star.



Love said me , "You're not mad enough.
You don't belong in this house."
I went wild and had to be tied up.
Love said, "Still not wild enough
to stay with us!"

I broke through another layer
into joyfulness.
Love said, "It's not enough."
I died.
Love said, "You're a clever little man,
full of fantasy and doubting."

I plucked out my feathers and became a fool.
Love said, "Now you're the candle
for this assembly."
But I'm no candle. Look!
I'm scattered smoke.

Love said, "You are the sheikh, the guide."
But I'm not a teacher, I have no power.

Love said, "You already have wings.
I cannot give you wings."
But I wanted his wings.
I felt like some flightless chicken.

Then new events said to me,
"Don't move. A sublime generosity is
coming toward you."
And old love said to me , "Stay with me."
I said, "I will."

You are the fountain of the sun's light.
I am a willow shadow on the ground.
You make my raggedness silky.
The soul at dawn is like darkened water
that slowly begins to say "Thank you, thank you."

Then at sunset, again, Venus gradually
changes into the moon and then the whole night sky.
This comes of smiling back 
at your smile.

The chess master says nothing,
other than moving the silent chess piece.
That I am part of the ploys
of this game makes me
amazingly happy.

- Rumi -

-- Version by Colman Barks
"The Essential Rumi"




Saturday, June 25, 2022

Love Letter Form Gibran To May "Mary" Ziadeh & About Love & Hate





                                      

A woman said unto a man, "I love you." And the man said, "It is in my heart to be worthy of your love." 
Ant he woman said, "You love me not?" 
And the man only gazed upon her and said nothing. 
Then the woman cried aloud, "I hate you." 
And the man said, "Then it is also in my heart to be worthy of your hate." 

Sunday, June 5, 2022

I Miss You so Much - Rumi -

A Portrait  by Kahlil Gibran .
If the wind had taken me to you,
I would have held tight to the skirts of the wind.

I miss you so much that I would fly to you faster than a bird;
But how can a bird with a clipped wing fly”


*

You left and I cried tears of blood. 

My sorrow grows. 
Its not just that You left. 
But when You left my eyes went with You. 
Now, how will I cry?
*
In the early dawn of happiness
you gave me three kisses
so that I would wake up
to this moment of love

Between my love and my heart
things were happening which
slowly slowly
made me recall everything

You amuse me with your touch
although I can’t see your hands.
You have kissed me with tenderness
although I haven’t seen your lips
You are hidden from me.
*

Monday, May 16, 2022

My Friend - Gibran -



"My friend, thou art not my friend, but how shall I make thee
understand? My path is not thy path, yet together we walk, hand in hand." - Gibran -

My friend, I am not what I seem. Seeming is but a garment I wear--
a care-woven garment that protects me from thy questionings and thee from my negligence.

The 'I' in me, my friend, dwells in the house of silence, and
therein it shall remain for ever more, unperceived, unapproachable.

I would not have thee believe in what I say nor trust in what I
do--for my words are naught but thy own thoughts in sound and my
deeds thy own hopes in action.

When thou sayest, 'The wind bloweth eastward,' I say, 'Aye it doth
blow eastward'; for I would not have thee know that my mind doth
not dwell upon the wind but upon the sea.

Thou canst not understand my seafaring thoughts, nor would I have
thee understand. I would be at sea alone.

When it is day with thee, my friend, it is night with me; yet even
then I speak of the noontide that dances upon the hills and of
the purple shadow that steals its way across the valley; for thou
canst not hear the songs of my darkness nor see my wings beating
against the stars--and I fain would not have thee hear or see. I
would be with night alone.

When thou ascendest to thy Heaven I descend to my Hell--even then
thou callest to me across the unbridgeable gulf, 'My companion, my
comrade,' and I call back to thee, 'My comrade, my companion'--for
I would not have thee see my Hell. The flame would burn thy eyesight
and the smoke would crowd thy nostrils. And I love my Hell too
well to have thee visit it. I would be in Hell alone.

Thou lovest Truth and Beauty and Righteousness; and I for thy sake
say it is well and seemly to love these things. But in my heart
I laught at thy love. Yet I would not have thee see my laughter.
I would laugh alone.

My friend, thou art good and cautious and wise; nay, thou art
perfect--and I, too, speak with thee wisely and cautiously. And
yet I am mad. But I mask my madness. I would be mad alone.

My friend, thou art not my friend, but how shall I make thee
understand? My path is not thy path, yet together we walk, hand
in hand.

- Gibran -





Friday, January 28, 2022

A Bridge to Older Posts ....




A Bridge to Older Posts .... : 

  1. Definition of Critical Thinking
  2. The Funeral Oration , Pericles
  3. Immanuel Kant Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Ske...
  4. Realpolitik
  5. Ian Shapiro's Democratic Justice
  6. ‘The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbab...
  7. The Spoils of Happiness
  8. What Is a Philosopher?
  9. Politics of Recognition , Dr. Amy Gutmann
  10. The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus
  11. On Forgiveness By CHARLES L. GRISW
  12. How it all began - A concise history of Lebanon
  13. Marcus Aurelius on Embracing Mortality and the Key to Living with Presence
  14. The Meditations of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus - Book V -
  15. The Meditations of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus . -Book VI-
  16. A Real Science of Mind - Tyler Burge & Out of Our ...
  17. The Shortness of Life -Seneca-
  18. Individual vs. the Crowd, and the Power of the Min...
  19. The Lesson History Teaches Is Tragic - By Robert ...
  20. We Don’t Actually Want to Be Happy - By Jonathan R...
  21. The Beauty of the Ordinary -Pico Iyer- NYT , The ...
  22. Even Physicists Don’t Understand Quantum Mechanics...
  23. Eating the Sun: the Science of How the Universe Wo...
  24. Matthew 23 King James Version (KJV)
  25. A Philosopher on Brain Rest - Megan Craig - NYT's ...
  26. Democracy Is for the Gods - Costica Bradatan - NYT...
  27. On Justice & Injustice - Plato, Republic ..
  28. The Four Desires Driving All Human Behavior. -Bert...
  29. Philosophy, Life and Philosophies of Life
  30. Søren Kierkegaard On Procrastination
  31. Just War Theory - Encyclopedia of Philosophy , Ale...
  32. The Just War - Thomas Aquinas
  33. Principles of the Just War
  34. The Church's Just War Theory - Parts 1 & 2
  35. A New Refutation of Time - Jorge Luis Borges -
  36. Looking Death in the Face
  37. Out of Our Brains By ANDY CLARK - The Stone NYT -
  38. Is the ‘Dumb Jock’ Really a Nerd? - The Stone, NYT -
  39. The Sacred Spell of Words - From The Stone NYT -
  40. On Loneliness ..Olivia Laing ( From The Lonely City )
  41. The Uncertainty Principle ...Werner Heisenberg
  42. Richard Feynman on the Life-Expanding Common Groun...
  43. My Perception and Your Reality - Nietzsche -
  44. Hermann Hasse On Solitude
  45. Some Machiavelli ,CONCERNING CRUELTY AND CLEMENCY,...
  46. What ‘Justice’ Really Means
  47. A God Problem
  48. Simone de Beauvoir on How Chance and Choice Conver...
  49. Christopher Hitchens on Mortality
  50. Reclaiming the Imagination
  51. St Thomas Aquinas' Conditions for a Just War






Friday, January 21, 2022

Unzeizable












In every boat, there's a forest sleeping
In every high tide, there's a moon smiling
In every drop of rain, there's a cloud traveling
In every grain of sand, there's a shore resting
In every scar, there's a knife sparkling
In every fruit, there's a tree singing
In every cat, there's a panther roaring
In every window, there's a dream calling
In every thirst, there's a fountain blooming
In every hand, there's a caress waiting
In every tunnel, there's a promise walking
In every silence, there's a word hiding
In every eye, there's a fire burning
In every heart, there's another heart beating


...And the world
(and you in it)
is an infinite matryoshka doll:
No beginning, no end.
What you'll find will forever slip away from your fingers,
And every morning
there's a new you
beginning.


Wednesday, January 12, 2022

Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree. -Emily Bronte-

Autumn Leaves - Eva Cassidy

Bou Elias ..

"Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree. » 
- Emily Bronte - 

The falling leaves drift by my window
The falling leaves of red and gold
I see your lips the summer kisses
The sunburned hands I used to hold

Since you went away the days grow long
And soon I'll hear old winter's song
But I miss you most of all my darling
When autumn leaves start to fall

Since you went away the days grow long
And soon I'll hear old winter's song
But I miss you most of all my darling
When autumn leaves start to fall

I miss you most of all my darling
When autumn leaves start to fall

***


Sunday, January 9, 2022

Il n'y a pas d'amour heureux - Louis Aragon






Il n'y a pas d'amour heureux 
- Louis Aragon -


Rien n'est jamais acquis à l'homme. Ni sa force
Ni sa faiblesse ni son cœur. Et quand il croit
Ouvrir ses bras son ombre est celle d'une croix
Et quand il croit serrer son bonheur il le broie
Sa vie est un étrange et douloureux divorce
Il n'y a pas d'amour heureux

Sa vie elle ressemble à ces soldats sans armes
Qu'on avait habillés pour un autre destin
A quoi peut leur servir de ce lever matin
Eux qu'on retrouve au soir désarmés incertains
Dites ces mots ma vie et retenez vos larmes
Il n'y a pas d'amour heureux

Mon bel amour mon cher amour ma déchirure
Je te porte dans moi comme un oiseau blessé
Et ceux-là sans savoir nous regardent passer
Répétant après moi les mots que j'ai tressés
Et qui pour tes grands yeux tout aussitôt moururent
Il n'y a pas d'amour heureux

Le temps d'apprendre à vivre il est déjà trop tard
Que pleurent dans la nuit nos cœurs à l'unisson
Ce qu'il faut de malheur pour la moindre chanson
Ce qu'il faut de regrets pour payer un frisson
Ce qu'il faut de sanglots pour un air de guitare
Il n'y a pas d'amour heureux

Il n'y a pas d'amour qui ne soit à douleur
Il n'y a pas d'amour dont on ne soit meurtri
Il n'y a pas d'amour dont on ne soit flétri
Et pas plus que de toi l'amour de la patrie
Il n'y a pas d'amour qui ne vive de pleurs
Il n'y a pas d'amour heureux

Mais c'est notre amour à tous deux