RIP margaret...

RIP Margaret Mahy

(March 1936 - July 2012)

“Reading is very creative - it's not just a passive thing.

I write a story; it goes out into the world;

somebody reads it and, by reading it, completes it.” 

I am currently writing a tribute for Margaret.

I hope to post it up here very soon...



out of sight, but not out of mind...

I'm more scared of
  never seeing her smile again

  than I am of going blind.

(c) Brent M Harpur, 2012.

“I'm the Beast. You're the Beauty," he said. "It's all a story, isn't it?”
(Margaret Mahy, 'Maddigan's Fantasia'.)
Footnote:
This photo is a very close impression of how I see sources of light (with my very rare eye condition & complications) at night time. The blue ball in the sky is actually the moon. With the severe curving of my cornea (in my one sighted eye), street lamps get very sharp, pointed shafts (halos?) of light around them. This in turn makes my sight very poor walking towards an unnatural light source & better when they are behind me. I am delighted when (sometimes) my cheap camera on my phone captures my world and the way I see/perceive it.

more than a rhetorical question...

and when

was the last time

you purchased an airline ticket

to go & see someone...

...and didn't

buy a return fare??

(c) Brent M Harpur, 2012.

"For one human being to love another is perhaps the most difficult of our tasks;

the ultimate, the last test & proof: The work for which all other work is but preparation."

(Rainer Maria Rilke)

love, part one...

(i)

Just when darkness,

it settles in...

& I wish I'd been blessed

with thicker skin.

You bring me poems of stars,

delicate drawings of butterflies...

Fill my heart with hope / love,

return sight to wretched eyes.

(ii)

This distance

and winter chill,

it weighs heavy on me;

Like the posture

of a blind man

straining to see.

(iii)

But

faraway or near,

one thing is clear;

I'm not going anywhere.

Every path I have ever known

has led me...

Here.

Into your arms,

my dear.

Into your arms,

my dear.

Into your arms,

my dear!!

(c) Brent M Harpur, 2012.

"What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other?" (George Eliot)



belief...

I believe in you

and your art

so, so much!!

Today,

I put a book in the mail

to you.

It is one of your favourite artists...

I put some lavender in there,

a card,

some music,

my heart.

I trust that it finds its way to you.

And upon arrival,

hope that it

brings a smile to your face

until we see each other next.

And I hope that

Frida's work

will continue to inspire you,

remind you to

keep painting,

through the pain,

the fatigue,

the rejection,

the elation,

the joy...

&

never give up.

I believe

that one day,

maybe in a short lifetime

not long after our's...

A lovesick artist

will buy another artist

a book of

your art...

He'll post it to a girl in another city,

whose art has

stolen his heart,

in turn, hoping that it may

help to inspire her

(from a distance)

to keep creating

and to never, ever

give up.

That's why you have to keep going,

to keep painting,

to keep

dreaming & painting

with your eyes & heart wide open.

That's what your art will be

to someone else

one day.

This is not a poem.

This is what 

I truly believe.

(c) Brent M Harpur, 2012.

"As practice makes perfect, I cannot but make progress, each drawing one makes,

each study one paints, is a step forward." (Vincent van Gogh)

trust...

'

There's a

full moon

in my bed...

I wish it was

you, instead.

But I am content

that you're

in

my heart,

my head.

So many things uncertain

and that I cannot see;

But one thing's

a certainty:

When you smile,

it

unravels

me.

When you and I are

together,

and you hold me

(as I fall asleep):

Everything

in my world

finally makes sense.

(c) Brent M Harpur, 2012.

"My life has been awaiting you, your footfall was my own heart's beat." (Constantine Cavafy)