ihaveonlymydreams

[ihaveonlymydreams]

A Modern Christmas

The angels descended with blazing wings

singing GLORIA in a chorus of a thousand voices

but the shepherds took for granted

the special effects and the full surround sound

and they found the Child and His Mother

in a stable

the Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes

and they felt a kind of emotional pity

as when they saw photos of starving orphans

in Africa

and they said

.

Sorry but we have nothing to give

only escalating piles of debt

mortgage and insurance payments

ever-increasing taxes

and joyless jobs that we work from 9 to 5

for the rich overlords who take from us

our petty gains

.

We cannot afford anything

not even the 1.5 children who baffle us

with their strange fashions and desires

and who are baffled by us in return

who will one day grow into joyless workers

and put us away in our old age

as men put down a sick dog

.

We have nothing to offer

but the ennui of those who rush madly

from distraction to distraction

and the casual adulteries

offhand murders

the sickly sweet vices of worn-out lusts

the enthralling fascination with illusory violence

and the sleepless nights spent trying to forget

what we are and what we have become

.

And the Child looked on the shepherds

with the wise eyes of One who has seen all things

and He said

.

I accept

the debts

and the distractions

the petty sorrows that break your hearts

the sleepless nights

and misunderstandings

the false joys and mindless lusts

I ask for no other gifts

For though their weight be more than the world’s weight

My shoulders will bear the burden

.

And the shepherds asked

But if you take this away from us

what will we have?

And the Child said

.

Peace

.

But not as the world gives

Peace within chaos

and in the midst of war

Stillness at the heart of disorder

Joy that no man can take from you

with mindless violence

or cruel words

The joy of those who have nothing to lose

because they have given everything they have

.

And the eternal Child in the manger smiled

with empty wounded hands

while outside the stable the bombs exploded

and the sharp staccato of machine guns

pierced the night

.

And the angels sang

Peace on earth

to men of goodwill

.

But only the shepherds heard

.

[ihaveonlymydreams]

I messed up the hot glue a little bit but I'm sure my mistake will eventually be lost to time.

[ihaveonlymydreams]

After learning that it was Fibonacci Day and reading about the Fibonacci sequence and the Golden Ratio in nature, I just had to write a Fibonacci poem to celebrate. The syllables in each line follow the Fibonacci sequence.

Since I wanted it centered, you get the poem in an image, but I'll put the text under a cut.

Upon Learning About the Golden Ratio in Nature

God's

Math

Paints worlds

In patterns.

Spiral galaxies

Down to trees and flower petals

Showing off His love of beautiful arithmetic

[ihaveonlymydreams]

[ihaveonlymydreams]

Basilica di San Vitale 

Late antique church in Ravenna, Italy. The 6th century church is an important surviving example of early Christian Byzantine art and architecture. 

[ihaveonlymydreams]

"As this world becomes increasingly ugly, callous and materialistic, it needs to be reminded that the old fairy stories are rooted in truth, that imagination is of value, that happy endings do, in fact, occur, and that the blue spring mist that makes an ugly street look beautiful is just as real a thing as the street itself."

- Elizabeth Goudge

[ihaveonlymydreams]

anyone wanna see the silly thing I spent my hard-earned money on today?

[ihaveonlymydreams]

Was curious how far Ithaca was from troy today while listening to epic the musical and rereading the illiad and I found this map

I think odysseus would have been better just to walk😭

[ihaveonlymydreams]

[ihaveonlymydreams]

Every time they make a screen adaptation of The Iliad they don't go far enough with the scale of the myth.

If I made a film version of The Iliad I would make it a series titled "The Legend of The Iliad" but every episode the title card would look different. First "The Iliad" would be absolutely center focus and larger text, then get smaller and smaller as "the Legend" gets larger. By the last episode, you can barely see The Iliad anymore because the legend had overtaken it.

I'd match it in the art style. Early episodes are realistic depictions of ancient Greek life with dirt on faces and chitons and peploses and reasonable combat. As the series goes on it looks more and more like the paintings. Combat is overblown and the music is louder than the screams.

Episode one Helen is a girl called Eleni with a toothy smile; final episode she's decked in beauty, demi-goddess, unblinking with swans flying past the walls of Troy when she walks past. The world that existed before the war is not the world that existed after it.

[ihaveonlymydreams]

burns I have run into while skimming bits of the Odyssey recently (from memory):

Phaiakan guy when Odysseus doesn't want to take part in their games: yeah, you look more like a merchant sailor than an athlete (GRIEVOUS insult)

Odysseus: yes, well, the gods divide their gifts. they make some people pretty, and some people intelligent and likable. you, for instance, are clearly one of the pretty ones.

---

Suitor: if we let this beggar try to string the bow with the rest of us we'll be dishonored, it'll ruin our reputations

Penelope: oh, you don't need to worry about that :) men who hang around living off of other people's households don't have any reputation left to lose

[ihaveonlymydreams]

lies about sea creatures by ada limón

[ihaveonlymydreams]

why are all these modern aus for the Odyssey set in a high school. where's the retelling where Odysseus is just a guy lost in an airport who keeps missing his connecting flights home due to a comical series of delays and disgruntled airline employees

[ihaveonlymydreams]

they should invent someone who will come into my kitchen and be hungry for me btw

[ihaveonlymydreams]

now you have :)

[ihaveonlymydreams]

[ihaveonlymydreams]

The frogs are back!

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