Arthur Fuller
fuller.artful at gmail.com
Sat Jul 26 09:31:03 CDT 2008
I am wondering how well my favorite poem will translate to Russian. I used to think T.S. Eliot the greatest poet of the 20th century (I can recite "Profrock" no problem.) But then I came upon this masterpiece: <poem> Caxtons are mechanical birds with many wings and some are treasured for their markings - they cause the eyes to melt or the body to shriek without pain. I have never seen one fly, but sometimes they perch on the hand. Mist is when the sky is tired of flight and rests its soft machine on ground: then the world is dim and bookish like engravings under tissue paper. Rain is when the earth is television. It has the property of making colours darker. Model T is a room with the lock inside - a key is turned to free the world for movement, so quick there is a film to watch for anything missed. But time is tied to the wrist or kept in a box, ticking with impatience. In homes, a haunted apparatus sleeps, that snores when you pick it up. If the ghost cries, they carry it to their lips and soothe it to sleep with sounds. And yet they wake it up deliberately, by tickling with a finger. Only the young are allowed to suffer openly. Adults go to a punishment room with water but nothing to eat. They lock the door and suffer the noises alone. No one is exempt and everyone's pain has a different smell. At night when all the colours die, they hide in pairs and read about themselves - in colour, with their eyelids shut. -- Craig Raine <http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/index_poet_R.html#Raine> </poem> It may take you several minutes to work it out, but wow. I wish that I had written that. Arthur On Sat, Jul 26, 2008 at 11:09 AM, Shamil Salakhetdinov < shamil at smsconsulting.spb.ru> wrote: > Thank you, Tina, > > Yes, his name is Damir. > > <<< > For all the differences we can find among peoples, I find myself > awestruck again and again by our much greater similarities. > >>> > Yes, the same feeling here - in fact this was my intention (:)) to > highlight > how similar we're in our general perception of this world by publishing > these simple movies on everyday life here - I'm a kind of "sick & tired" to > watch and hear mainly bad and "yellow/hot" news from mass-media both local > and world-wide - Internet access is not limited here, CNN, BBC etc. as well > as all the main western and eastern magazines and newspapers are available > here for the one who is interested to see this world from different > angles... > > ...in the same time I think/see there are some small but very significant > differences in our attitude to this world and our lives: main AccessD > thread > isn't right place to talk about them - maybe I come to dba-OT one day to > talk about that differences how I see them, and how to help each other to > understand the roots of these differences, and to find a way to live in > piece and fruitful cooperation on this planet... > > <<< > Please forgive me for waxing too philosophical here. > >>> > That's OK, Tina - as you can see I'm philosophical and relaxed here too, > this weekend, and I'm really enjoying the fresh view of this life, which > only children can provide us with... > > <<< > I enjoyed Damir's video, I hope he will do many more > to share with all of us. > >>> > Thank you, Tina. > > In fact Damir makes a new part release every weekend, when I come to > country > side where he stays summer time with his grand-mother - there are seven > parts now - some of them are published there on YouTube on my account - > http://www.youtube.com/user/ShamilMS ... > > Enjoy! :) > > Thank you. > > -- > Shamil > > -----Original Message----- > From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com > [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Tina Norris > Fields > Sent: Saturday, July 26, 2008 3:32 PM > To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving > Subject: Re: [AccessD] Weekend OT: Russia today by seven years old > boy'seyes... > > Hi Shamil, > > That's a beautiful look into the birthday celebration of historical St. > Petersburg and into the lovely surrounding countryside. Your young > Damir did a wonderful job. (Did I get the name right?) > > What struck me profoundly, once again, is how familiar everything really > is - we are half a world apart, we speak a different language, we have > different forms of government, etc., but the beauty of the earth looks > the same, the face of the mime entertaining people looks the same, and > the enjoyment of the young boy and his parents looks the same in St. > Petersburg, Russia as it does here in Rapid City, Michigan, in the USA. > Furthermore, the emotional settings evoked by the musical selections for > the several segments of the video, are familiar and easily understood > across these many miles. > > For all the differences we can find among peoples, I find myself > awestruck again and again by our much greater similarities. Please > forgive me for waxing too philosophical here. > > I enjoyed Damir's video, I hope he will do many more to share with all > of us. > > Tina > > Shamil Salakhetdinov wrote: > > Hi All, > > > > Have a look if you're curious how everyday life looks like here both in > the > > St.Petersburg city downtown on this city "birthday" eve 27th May 2008 and > in > > the country side here this summer: > > > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m62TnvXqQBc > > > > Enjoy! :) > > > > -- > > Shamil > > > > P.S. Most of the stuff done by my seven years old son who made all the > pics, > > video clips, copied them on Dell notebook from photo camera memory card > and > > combined into movies using English versions of MS Movie Maker running on > MS > > Windows Vista... > > > > That's amazing what kids can do these days using nowadays technologies! > > > > > -- > AccessD mailing list > AccessD at databaseadvisors.com > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com > > -- > AccessD mailing list > AccessD at databaseadvisors.com > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com >