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Panmiro — Myself in Mirrors
by-nc-sa
Published: 2011-07-27 00:29:59 +0000 UTC; Views: 279; Favourites: 4; Downloads: 6
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Description
My name is Narcissus,lover of reflections,
beloved of the empty Echo
Bounding against rocky faces
to end
where I
started... arted
arted
arted
artful!
I paint the world in crimson hues!
So I may know... what? Pain?
Pain! I know no Pain!
So I must be Baldr!
Waiting for!...
my mistletoe
So I may be a martyr
artyr
artyr
tyr
Tyrant, Ceasar! KING! Conqueror of Days!
and nights... long nights...
Casanova! lover-boy!...
without a thing to love,
but reflections
in mirrors
lengthening
into
forever:
Narcissus
arcissus
cissus
issus
issus
sus
sus
sus
us
Us
Comments: 45
I liked the echo of your words. You manipulate your words carefully and cleverly.
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He is! I'm sure you know he is the patron of literature/poetry. Everyone thinks I'm crazy when I mention it. But it's true.
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He is! I've always thought of him as the god who takes all the areas other gods leave behind, like the Protista Kingdom of the deistic world. I think though, specifically, he was the god of poetry and literature as it was being experienced... the traveler's laments, the soldier's love poems, the thief's soliloquies, and the historian's traveling records. The nitty gritty heart of human action. 
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I totally agree with that! He just picks up where everyone leaves us. I mean, we have the muses, but he's a god.
And that's an interesting observation, and makes total sense. You've read Homer? I love Homer. He does that -- reduces these great heroes to humans.
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Both the Iliad and the Odyssey: though I'd have to say that the Iliad does a better job of hero reduction, even of god reduction. Thinking about it, if you're an all powerful immortal being, what choice do you have but to involve yourself with human affairs? To be remarkably human in aspect? Otherwise you get bored.
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Achilles' ghost in the Odyssey regrets his death, and argues with the entire concept of kleos. I think he said something like, "Even the life of a poor man's slave is better than being king of the exhausted dead" (paraphrasing, of course).
That's a really interesting observation (about the gods being bored); I hadn't noticed it until you pointed it out, but it makes sense. The gods' involvement with humans seems to be what creates a lot of the gods' involvement with each other.
On another (read: random) note: I remember when Athena calls Odysseus a chameleon in the Odyssey -- she literally jokes with him. Many of the Greek gods and goddesses seem more approachable than the deities of other religious -- though that depends on if one is on the good side of a god or goddess.
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I think the Greeks had a more approachable pantheon long before Luther ever came up with the more approachable version of the judeo-christian god. Basically because they realized that for a god's life to have any meaning they would have to lock into the mortal version of meaning. Since they can't be hurt and their lives go on forever, they have no darkness to which they can compare their light, no death to make life sweeter, so they live vicariously through mortals, joking with them, interacting with them, even honoring them. I think it makes more sense, in some ways, than an all-knowing, all powerful god who is all-wise and has his own mysterious reasons for doing what he/she/it does and makes the religion more understandable and entertaining. Aristotle said something to the point that a true supreme deity is much too perfect to contemplate anything but that which is perfect (aka itself), so it would follow that any god who involves themselves with mortals is inherently imperfect, and I kind of think the more imperfect the better: teach by example, not by command. But yes... Iliad, Odyssey: I think the gods also make puns in Greek, but I'm not sure. It's pretty sweet.
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The funny thing about the Judeo-Christian God is that He doesn't always seem all-knowing. We don't know if he actually is and just pretends not be to "test" his people. You're correct about the imperfections; it is essentially what the religious narratives of the Greeks were about.
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Why bother with us if he/she doesn't have a bit of imperfections. Why make us in his image at all, if not to hold up a mirror?
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Funny thing, I actually just used that in my essay about the second chapter of Genesis. Eve and Adam had the capacity to sin -- did that mean God could sin? But He doesn't ever, really. Except He gets angry, and is called a "jealous God" whenever He sees the Israelites worshipping other deities. I think it's because they were such a small group, compared to the nations around them -- without holding strong to their beliefs, their culture would disappear, since they could easily become completely assimilated.
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Such large ideas, from such small nations
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It's interesting to look at a timeline of the ancient Hebrews and what stories they were writing and telling at that time.
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It's really cool. Expecially when you can pick out new events in old stories. The myths of Babylon for example
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I really like old Persian fairytales. Scheherazade's tales.
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Yes. Yes. I have been saving up all my spare change to buy the illustrated, leatherbound copy that Barnes and Noble produces.
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Really? I've gotten a beautiful old copy from one of the local used book stores. I haven't seen the Barnes and Noble Edition... I'm sure its beautiful though. I'm saving up for an edition written in Arabic
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I've been checking around where I am; it's an artsy college town. The Barnes and Noble one is beautiful. Blue leather, illustrations.
Do you speak Arabic?
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I'm learning Arabic, and I love 1001 Nights, so I thought trying to read some passages in Arabic (with trusty dictionary at hand) would be a good way to learn. I already borrowed a book of poetry from my teacher, it has English translations opposite the original Arabic. Ideally I'd like something like that for 1001 Nights, but just finding a good Arabic edition would be good enough. I live in an artsy college town too, but our Barnes and Nobles is about as far from the University as It can get without being outside city limits, so I don't get down there often. Mostly I just hang around the local trade-in book shop.
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I'm learning Latin and Greek, but on my own time. I think a 1001 Nights edition like that might be difficult to find, unless you know where to look -- perhaps look up the publisher of the poetry book your Arabic teacher leant you and see if they have a version like that?
My town is exactly like that, too, which is infuriating. The shortest route between the university and B&N on Google Maps is 3.7 miles. I try to use the bus to get there, but sometimes the buses here are a bit off. It's not a huge town, though. Just a smaller, eco-friendly town. There's a bookstore downtown I have not checked out yet called Bird's Nest Books. I seem to never be able to find their "other door" (they have a sign on their front door that says "use other door").
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You go to the University of Montana, in Missoula
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Oh sweet muffin mix. I read this, went to your homepage, and discover you go there too. And the more hilarious thing is that my friend Spencer knows you and told me I reminded him of you.
This is ridiculous.
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Hahahahahah. Spencer Sheehan? Yep. That's hilarious in its serendipity. What are you majoring in?
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Yes. Spencer. King of Oratory.
I'm a psych/German double major. And yourself?
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I take it you did Speech and Debate with him. I'm a political science major with an option in international relations and comparative government, and a minor in southeast Asian studies. And that's a good choice for double majors. I find all the most interesting psychologists were German.
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I never met him during speech. Just this year. But I did do speech, and I know he loves oratory almost as much as coffee. And I'm glad you're majoring in that. We need more people like you out there. I am going through the process of changing my major to a double major in German and classical languages.
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Nice. You like language? ... you like the Hindi Language?
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Yes! I'm the Emily girl you added on Facebook.
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Hah. I should have realized... actually I think I did realize... or did I?
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Confusion: it's a college thing.
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... Yep... I think it might just be a "life" thing.
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I used to want a textbook to life, but there's just so many confounding variables in a situation.
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Exactly! As soon as I realized it would be a Math text detailing probability I was instantly turned off the idea.
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Poems about life are better. They're called "cliché", but if you look at all the tiny facets and situations they cover, they are anything but.
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Congratulations, you are now one of my facebook quotes.
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Oh, wow! Thanks. I might have to be vain and go like that next time I'm on... kidding.
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You win an internet for that.
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Wow, very powerful. The manipulations of the words mimicked one's train of thought brilliantly, and the message was clear: all of us are narcissists to some extent.
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Narcissism makes the world go 'round. The human race wouldn't be dependable without it. That being said, I'm glad the mimicry came across well, I was going for a kind of emptiness, like someone sending out their thoughts and getting echoes back. I'm also glad its powerful to some extent.
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