Saturday, May 14, 2011

Garden Theatre ( Autumn ) II


I died for beauty, but was scarce
Adjusted to the tomb,




When one who died for truth was lain
In an adjoining room.


He questioned softly why I failed?
"For beauty," I replied.


"And I for truth, - the two are one;
We brethren are," he said.


And so, as kinsmen met a night,
We talked between the rooms,


Until the moss had reached our lips.
And covered up our names.



Emily Dickinson.
In memory of my father, whose birthday it was today, 14 May, 1926.

11 comments:

  1. Hello Faisal:
    The words of Emily Dickinson fit so very perfectly with your well chosen and lovely images. A most attractive and pleasing post with which to start the weekend.

    Have an enjoyable day!

    [We think that your comment on our latest post was lost when Blogger went down hence no reply. But thank you anyway.]

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hello Jane and Lance,
    Yes, my comment was chewed up thanks to the Google Department. I certainly hope you are rewarding yourselves, as you should. Emily Dickinson has been my sister through many a dark night. God bless, Faisal.

    ReplyDelete
  3. So...if truth and beauty are the same then truth must be...subjective. Aha! Thanks, Emily.

    And thanks, Faisal - this is interesting stuff. The images (tableaus?) remind me of Frederick Sommmer:

    http://www.google.ca/search?q=frederick+sommer&hl=en&site=webhp&prmd=ivnso&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=tfbOTfm0NIfdgQeb-5mtDA&sqi=2&ved=0CDcQsAQ&biw=1065&bih=597

    But your images are prettier and more...hushed.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thankyou Peter for such a generous comment. I've seen a couple of Sommer's portraits, but never all the other work...it's amazingly beautiful. Thanks for pointing him out.
    I like your sense of humour!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Faisal, moving visual and verbal selections in memory of your father.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thankyou, James. My father adored nature.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Quoting Emily is perfect. Certainly for me, and my poetic influlences, her, Robert Frost, Whitman, Bishop, and Wordsworth are tops on the list (if you go back far enough in my career).

    ReplyDelete
  8. ED's poems are succinct. This one I've always felt for. Among the others you mention, Benjamin, I like Robert Frost a great deal ( have read a few mid-century American poets ). Elizabeth Bishop too. I was hoping yo be a poet in my youth...

    ReplyDelete
  9. dear Faisal, this post and the garden theatre below are both exquisite. I love your creativity in choosing and placing those objects. The ED poem goes so well as everyone above has said, and it is very moving that you dedicate it to the memory of your father. cheers, catmint

    ReplyDelete
  10. Absolutely Gorgeous again! I have a tiered floor lamp and on each tier I have an old abandoned bird's nest. I love them!
    Your photos are just lovely!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Catmint, you're a trooper, and thankyou for your eye.
    Calling Ravens, thankyou, too. Do you know of Esther Woolfson's book, Corvus: a Life with Birds, detailing, in particular, her bringing into her home of a rook? She has a website/blog.

    ReplyDelete