Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Happy Valentine's Day

One day in the desert a bedouin
looked up and saw a mirage shimmering
ahead. Not water, but the splendor
of a dazzling girl.

In the thirsty, burning desert
among dry thorns, under a shadowless sun
he tried to reach her but instead
of that marvelous love he found death.

In his immaterial, immortal sleep
he still saw the splendor of that girl shimmering ahead, an eternal mirage.
And in his endless dream he began to walk looking for her.

--The Mirage, Avetik Isahakian (1904)

15 comments:

  1. It's my 16th wedding anniversary today - congrats to us ;-)

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  2. Anonymous12:40 AM

    That's beautiful.

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  3. At first I thought it was the translation to a song about the Bedouin's Daughter - an extremely ribald song here in France.
    LOL -
    But it's a very moving poem -
    thanks!
    & Happy St. Valentine's Day!
    Sam

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  4. Anonymous4:50 AM

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  5. Happy Valentine's day, PBW!

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  6. Above comment was SPAM (on Valentine's Day? where's the love?) so it has been deleted.

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  7. Happy anniversary to you and your lady, Simon. You don't look old enough to have 16 of anything, except maybe teeth. ;)

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  8. Anonymous11:17 AM

    now that was beautiful.

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  9. Anonymous11:42 AM

    And another wish for a Happy Valentine's Day to you, PBW! Your blog has already contributed to the joy of my day (not just for the beautiful poem):

    Work was delayed this morning due to weather, so my husband and I opened our Valentine's Day presents early. He entered one of your latest book giveaways, and when he didn't win was going to buy the book for me - but I, not knowing any of this, got to the bookstore first! So he then searched through your blog for other recommendations, chose a few and researched some other reviews, and finally selected Shadow's Touch . He is an academic film guy in a literature department who has, to my knowledge, never cracked a romance novel. The gift - especially for the care with which it was chosen - is going to keep me smiling all day.

    Thank you for your writing - both on the screen and on the page.

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  10. Happy Valentine's Day, PBW!

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  11. Anonymous5:46 PM

    Ah, Happy Love Day, PBW. May yours be great!

    And that was a cool poem, very nice.

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  12. Oh I love that poem. Happy Valentine's Day PBW!

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  13. Happy Valentine's Day! Hope you had a good one.
    Ann
    P.S.Would it kill them to put a little space between the letters of the word verification? I already know I need new contacts, but do I really have to go pull out the reading glasses too? :o)

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  14. Beautiful poem. Thanks for posting it.

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  15. Anonymous6:03 PM

    As you're growing up as a teenager, there are a number of things that you look forward to; getting your drivers

    license, graduating from high school, going to your senior prom, having your first date and having your first beer.

    The problem with this last one is that the drinking age and the thing you want make it something that you just can't

    have yet. And still, you want it and will go to any lengths to get it.

    Underage beer drinking is certainly no secret and to try to sweep it under the carpet isn't going to make it go

    away. But the most odd thing about underage drinking when it comes to beer is that even after kids sneak their first

    beer, they still want to have another one. If you're wondering why that sounds so strange then you need to think

    back to when YOU had your first beer. It was pretty nasty tasting. Let's be honest, beer is bitter and is an

    acquired taste. Very few people, if any at all, enjoyed their first beer. Many even get sick after it because of the

    taste or the fact that they're not used to the alcohol yet.

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