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Eyes Like Stars
Mar. 1st, 2006 01:34 pm♠
“What shame, you dolt, to long for skies when earth's at hand!
What a great crime if now my hard heels sprout with wings,
for the green earth is sweet, and I have heard it said
that even in the Elysian Fields souls weep for earth.
My belly, my course hands, my feet adore the earth,
nor do wild wings torment me nor far gods enchant me,
for if our eyes are made of clay, they shine like stars!”
-- The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel by Nikos Kazantzakis
One appreciates the strength and rigor of the call not to look to the heavens and gods for our meaning and our salvation, but life on earth is not quite as sweet as this worshipful stance would have it, however wondrous and grand it may be. I can understand why we have dreamed of more enchanted realms and divine realities to transcend the daily struggles and tragedies. Our eyes shine all the brighter for the hopes and dreams that burn behind them.
The challenge, of course, is not to let those dreams make our actual lives harder and more tragic.
xXx
“What shame, you dolt, to long for skies when earth's at hand!
What a great crime if now my hard heels sprout with wings,
for the green earth is sweet, and I have heard it said
that even in the Elysian Fields souls weep for earth.
My belly, my course hands, my feet adore the earth,
nor do wild wings torment me nor far gods enchant me,
for if our eyes are made of clay, they shine like stars!”
-- The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel by Nikos Kazantzakis
One appreciates the strength and rigor of the call not to look to the heavens and gods for our meaning and our salvation, but life on earth is not quite as sweet as this worshipful stance would have it, however wondrous and grand it may be. I can understand why we have dreamed of more enchanted realms and divine realities to transcend the daily struggles and tragedies. Our eyes shine all the brighter for the hopes and dreams that burn behind them.
The challenge, of course, is not to let those dreams make our actual lives harder and more tragic.
