Tag Archives: past

NOT TO BE BORN IS BEST

Posted on July 15, 2021 by Universal Octopus

Looking with dispassion,with equanimity,with detachment,doesn’t it shine brighter than a thousand suns?And in every minute particular? The broken wingthe severed fingerthe uncompleted life‘the smyler with the knife’the loss of all things dearthe smell of fearspirochaetes, viruses and germsand the ever-chewing … Continue reading →

Posted in Ego Ego God of the Jungle | Tagged a thousand suns, born, breath, death, detachment, dispassion, equanimity, Eternal empty wind, Evermore, fear, Heaven, joys and pains, past, viruses and germs | Leave a comment

ARMISTICE DAY

Posted on November 7, 2020 by Universal Octopus

‘Died some pro patria non dulce non et decor.’So Ezra Pound adapted Horace’s linesfor those whose sufferings for their nationhad bred a dull, dark, painful generationwith gloria cauterised from their minds. In the calendar their deaths are still recorded.Poppies and … Continue reading →

Posted in Blondin | Tagged Armistice Day, bombs, Ezra Pound, FAITH, Flanders, gloria, grief, Martyrs' Memorial, medals, November, Oxford, past, poppies, present, refuge, remembrance, St Giles, transcendental dust | Leave a comment

POLITICIANS PAST AND PRESENT

Posted on September 30, 2020 by Universal Octopus

THENDear God,Please help meTo help themTo help us! NOWDear God,Please help meTo help themTo help ME! .

Posted in Gnomonic Verses | Tagged God, help, help ME!, help them!, help us!, past, please help!, politicians, present | Leave a comment

WHERE ARE YOU NOW?

Posted on September 16, 2020 by Universal Octopus

It was different in the past.Especially in the village. Before you could readBefore there were newspapersBefore there was radioBefore there were telephonesBefore there were filmsBefore there was TVBefore there were computersBefore there were smartphonesBefore there was the endless whisperingof global … Continue reading →

Posted in Gnomonic Verses | Tagged friends, future, global gossip, Hey? Mrs Robinson?, Imagination's Daughters, neighbours, Now, past, present, TV | Leave a comment

WAITING

Posted on April 30, 2020 by Universal Octopus

Magdalen’s groundsare full of life,full of space. Space, which is mownand cleared,tended and enclosed,its waterways unchoked,brown and sparkling clear. It is home to ducksand coots,to dragonflies and deer. Grass and paths and gatesand streamsand yesterday’s undergraduatesare waiting. Not for the … Continue reading →

Posted in Oxford Blues | Tagged being, dragonflies, ducks, future, Magdalen, Oxford, Oxford Blues, past, peace, space, undergradutes, waiting, waterways, Yes! | Leave a comment

SEPARATISM

Posted on April 12, 2020 by Universal Octopus

This flowering of the Human Spiritis a reaching outinto the empty wastelandof the egoic mindin search ofthe lost gardens of Eden. This fruitless endeavourto fill its wastelandwith memoriesof its past (My was)and thoughtsof its future (My will be) is stitched … Continue reading →

Posted in Gnomonic Verses | Tagged Eden, egoic mind, future, Gnomonic Verses, Here and Now, Human Spirit, light, memories, past, peace, separatism, thought, un-separate?, wasteland | 1 Comment

EMERGENCY EXIT

Posted on February 28, 2020 by Universal Octopus

I must be present nowbefore I can have a past;I must be present nowto create a future then. If I still my present mindand exchange present thoughtsfor nothing at all,I have escaped past and futureand achieved a timeless peacewith no … Continue reading →

Posted in Bamboo Leaves | Tagged Bamboo Leaves, escape, Exit, future, I, I am, mind, nothing, past, present, timeless peace | Leave a comment

SHADOWS

Posted on December 25, 2019 by Universal Octopus

We peer into the shadowswhere yesterday’s sunlight glows,trying to capture and holdyesterday’s sunlit gold. We peer into tomorrowto predict and plotwhere that sun will likely go(but where, perhaps, it will not). Today’s sunshine still blazesits disc ever overhead.Past and future … Continue reading →

Posted in Blondin | Tagged Blondin, dead, future, gold, ight, land of the dead, past, predict, Remember the Light, shadows, sunlight, sunshine, tomorrow | Leave a comment

FREEDOM

Posted on December 10, 2019 by Universal Octopus

Freedom from the Pastis the Present.Freedom from the Futureis the Present. The Presentis a crack that runsthrough the universe.Into it everything disappearslike snowflakesinto a bonfire. For Māra’s people,the Presentis a mental spacefilled with memories,thoughts of the Future,sense impressionsand a random … Continue reading →

Posted in Bamboo Leaves | Tagged Bamboo Leaves, blazing, crack, dusty cobwebs, freedom, future, Mara, memories, past, present, snowflakes, sun at noon, thought, universe | 1 Comment

SHADOWS OF ETERNITY

Posted on July 11, 2019 by Universal Octopus

Products of the Pastare apparent all around us.All of them outlastand eternally surround us. The Past for its own sakeis always out of view,following in the wakeof something always new. Looking for the Past itself,records are all you find;fossil, video, … Continue reading →