Black crows..black crows invaded our country, and they pointed to me..
(Steve Reich)
Crow was white. Once. Then she flew too close to the sun and was burnt to the core. All they saw were ashes and dark, dark embers. Perhaps that's all there ever was. Now there is no north north of the future. Just a black sun, aloof and isolated with endless time on her hands, a black star, the essence of crow-ness
"What must it be like to have such darkness in your eye, such bitternes in your heart?", asked the man to the crow.
"You tell me," replied the crow, saddened that she had stooped down to the level of Man.
"But that croaky voice, such ugliness"
"Hush now, for thou art not Majnun"
~~~~
"But how did you come to choose this music, crow?"
~
Crow bent her neck and just smiled. "Oh, I don't know. Must there be a reason for everything?!"
~
"I bet it was the cover, you liked the wild expanses, the crystal-clear skies. Am I right?"
~
"Yes, that's it! Never before have I seen such openness. You always did like songs about heaven and hell"
~
"Crow, let us go from here. We can't collect mud and sticks forever and our voices have become harsh living here."
~
And on hearing those words crow suddenly became very, very sad. "Yes, my child, but I will fly on ahead of you. And when you look up and see the blue star you will remember me, and I will be close by, as if I were talking to you as I am now"
~
Crow waited. Patiently. And then with infinite gentleness she unfolded her wings. As she took flight she took one last look back and let out a cry. The world was startled and then the snow brought everything back to silence once again. Old, ancient crow, beloved crow, soared toward the sun and then disappeared.
5 comments:
Just to continue from the post at Flowerville, what exactly does crow-ness mean? i am an admirer of your blog, it is so philosophical and erudite, yet i have not understood crow-ness at all.
is it to do with language or words? or am i so dull?( i bet it is the latter)
the point is......even an 'i love you' is really only an approximation, a vague need or desire or want or a real feeling conveyed through three words, such cliched though. sometimes there is more pain in a popsong, as Walcott wrote, than in all of Cambodia, he said.
yesterday, i wrote on music, i fancifully called it what music is. that was my state of mind then, what i feel i mean by music. it did not, it never will exactly convey what i wanted to say. it was not a game, it was really honest but i was unable to actually say what i wanted to.so, with your crow-ness. obviously, philosophy scares me unless written by Kierkegaard or Adorno. that could also imply my inability to read, to understand. but for an average person, language never really helps.
the expression of love, the tangled net of emtions lies unexpressed. last time i departed from a dear friend at Piccadilly, i did not look at him. that was the closest i came to saying how bad that moment was.
re the Rumi you quoted, with all respect to the sufis, their ecclecticism is not proletarian. hence, i could never convert to sufism.
anyway, just a thought. i must repeat that your posts are so well littered with everything that the erudition is a cause of envy.
cheers
Also, you question the constant hankering after truth, authenticity.
why?
it used to be an occupation in ancient times. Socrates and others like him w'd be unknown if that wasn't the case. In muslim eschatology, God asks to be known, sought.
searching for authenticity is a balance against the culture of hypocritical awareness. it is not a marxist dialectic. i remember your unhappiness at my use of decadent for countryside. it is a legitimate query. surely, questioning through analogies and words is allowed?
i may not understand crow-ness but it is a legitimate idea of yours, related through some 'set'cognitive values. we set the level of our understanding against thoughts that usually don't disturb us. whether words are adequate to express any genuine question is another problem.
i have started to lose the thread. i should limit myself to smaller comments.
ciao
I'm not sure that I've understood crow-ness either!
Crows, so misunderstood!:)
I was listening to some music and thought of someone I know and love. Some of it is based on actual conversations. That is all!
(i will read your post on music and get back to you)
I'm not sure I agree with you, Kubla. Most people-whether they're living in cambodia or not!- do not read philosophy, do not feel this scepticism to words. Could I suggest George Steiner here (Errata)?
As someone who is so acutely aware of orientalism I'd be a bit surprised if you think that 'easterners' have to go through the whole radical doubt towards religion and words malarky.
of course, you're right. Words are never the actual thing but so what? It is ungrateful to not see that words are what connect us and help us get by. (In any case, you use them so fluently in your posts I'm surprised that you take sucha view).
This really is a question of temperament I feel Kubla. I just don't buy into this whole "anxiety" thing.
What on earth does 'proletarian' mean ? Isn't that a specific class created by industrialisation?
In any case, it is the ordinary folk who still sing the songs and poetry of the sufis. It's not something one *can* convert to!:)
Keep well,
b.
Yes, i think you're right. Questioning is allowed but it seems to me ther eis a time and place for everything, a limit to questions [if your loved one asks, "but *why* do you love me? then you know you're in trouble!:) ]
Socrates was seen by the Greeks as un-Greek wasn't he? (according to Nietzsche).
have you read Berlin's wonderful essay on naivete?
In any case, there seems to me to be a difference between the old desire to understand and the modern to 'know'. The former can accept that there are things we cannot know and (ideally) learns to live with mystery. The former *tends* to reduce everything to its own terms: "he who sees ratio sees only himself" (blake)
sorry, that should be: "the *latter* tends to.."
you raise some very interesting points Kubla. 'fraid can't give a very coherent response.
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