Simon Vincent's Blog, page 2

TO A BEING IMMORTAL

TO A BEING IMMORTAL
by Simon Vincent

            With diamond wings I set you freehigh above a crimson sky            you dare not fly just yetglorious wings laden with your loot            your perfect eyes filled with boiling tearsyou yearn for a perfect sky and gentle breeze.            You cling with tender clawsfor the journey you feel can wait            for one more kiss                one more caress.
            Go I beg youI set you free!            I release you from my spellleave me to my boring peace.
            And then finally you leaveon hollow broken wings            through velvet cloudsno calm tonight, a angry sky, a stormy sea,            but on you fly!High on high, the stars to reach            you crash through barriers not of manwith lightning speed            and I stand in awe and watch youas if I did not know            as if I did not carefor scorn builds hate            and hate is the marrow of the                       immortals.
           
            And yes I stand in aweand feel the coldness of your new-found strength            and on you flyfrom heaven...or is it hell? 
            I then grow oldan instant all it takes            a wise old manthe graying scars            not healed burning at my flesh.
            The horror of it all
            To think that mere mortalscan cast a spell on a             goddess like you.I pray for forgiveness,            and beg you nowfor I now know that I             cannot hold, much less release a sunbeam            or a star.
I can only feel their presence            for a borrowed fractionof our time.            And so I beg youto release me...then.
            For flesh and blood is all I know            For flesh and blood is all I am.         

My Mother's Obituary

Maria Rita Orta de Fernandez
On Saturday September 22, 2012 at 10:30 in the morning Maria Rita Orta de Fernandez, RN went to our Lord. She was under the care of Vitas Hospice at Metropolitan Hospital in Miami for a week. She passed away quietly from natural causes.  She was born in Cuba on May 22, 1913 making her 99 years old at the time of her passing. She was the daughter of Jose M. Orta and Abundia Rodriguez, from Rancho Boyeros, Cuba. She is survived by her two sons Angel Vicente Fernandez, Jr., his wife Grace (Spitale) and Jose Manuel Fernandez, her stepdaughter Marina Fernandez had pre-deceased her in 2002. She is also survived by her beloved grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Vicente O. Fernandez and his daughter Monica Fernandez. Star Bradley and her husband Eric and daughter Zoe Marina,  Ariana R. Fernandez and her daughter Chloe Marina. Frank L. Fernandez, his wife Diry (Cantero) and their daughters EllaMia and Maya. And also her beloved niece Doris Millares from Mississippi, and her extended Family.
Rita was a graduate of the University Of Havana School Of Nursing in 1948. She was married to Angel V. Fernandez (Angelito) a Parliamentary Stenographer/Court Reporter until his death in 1981.  She loved the Ocean along with her husband they loved living in Jaimanitas, Cuba next to the beach.  Among her family it was often said that she was the first woman in Cuba to wear two piece bathing suits, which she made herself. In her younger days she was renowned for her beauty and grace.
Rita and Angelito emigrated together with their children from Cuba to the US in October of 1960. In the US they lived in New York City for a year and then settled in Miami. While in New York she worked as a nurse for the Bronx Hospital and got her certification as a Registered Nurse. Back in Miami she worked at North Shore Hospital and later as a commercial Nurse for Suave Shoe Corporation. In her widowed years she enjoyed traveling with her family and gardening in her back yard. She was an independent woman till the end. Never sick a day in her life she faced life with quiet stoic demeanor, counseling all who knew her that the most important lesson in life is “understanding” one another and the situations that confront us.  And to always apply her own version of the “golden rule” she said, if someone offends you do not offend them in return because you then become like them, always know who you are and respect yourself.

Mother of All (Poem for my late Mother)

MOTHER OF ALL
Mother of all            hold me to your bosomone more time I pray.            Take my handcaress my neck            with your ethereal touchthat soothes the searing pain.            Let me rest, forget,            pacify the nightso dark!            Demons lurk, bloodiedpiercing eyes of scorn            disgrace aboundsand all along            foolish friends sing and dance.From deceit the truth reborn!            Let us go thentake my hand            the eternal waveskeep endless time            in our world, our seasand between our toes            clouds where angels singvelvety soft and warm.            Feels like homethe genuine for us            no borrowed crown shall do! And Oh, your touch            the glow, aura, splendorsanctuary for saints and sinners            purity for alldevotion, love, in splendid candor.            Fill my cup with love,sweet nectar of your essence.            Let me gaze into your emerald tearless jewels            that I scorn to sharelike the moon and stars            are theirs, so I must bearthe stranger's turn            the fortunate soulsthat fate has graced            with your blessed eyesand golden smile.            Your face is timemother of all.            I cherish the thoughtyou're mine!



 Traduccion de la poesia “Mother of All”—Escrita para mi madre, Maria Rita Orta de Fernandez, por: Simon Vincent (Angel Fernandez)
MADRE DE TODOMadre de todo abrazame a tu pechoTe ruego, una vez mas toma mi manoAcariciame el cuello con tus manos de sedaQue me calman el dolor y me dejan descanzar y olvidarPacifican mis noches tan obscuras.
Mis demonios esperan, sangrientosCon sus ojos sin piedadLleno de pena, suspiro, y mientras tantoLos tontos cantan y bailan,De una mentira nace la verda!
Te ruego, toma mi manoLas olas eternas marcan el tiempoEn nuestro mundo del marNuestras huellas se quedan en la arenaLas olas…bellas nubes donde los angeles cantanCon carino y ternura!Si, este es lo nuestro, el legitimo, no uno prestado,Que nos llama.
Tu mano acaricia, brilla tu pavorEres sanctuario para santos igual que pecadoresPerdon y piedad para todos!Devocion, Amor y FranquesaLlena nuestra fuente con carinoCon el nectar dulce de tu almaDejanme amparame en tus esmeraldas brillantes que todo lo venY que lagrimas no pueden conquistar, Y que me duele compartir,Como la luna y las estrellas son del universoTemo que tengo que rendir su turnoA los extranjeros, a los afortunados seres humanosQue el destino le ha dotadoLa mirada de tus ojos banditos y sonrisa de gracia.Tu cara es mi solMadre de todoBendita sea la luz que nos guia.Que orgullo gritar…ERES MIA!

Book Review "Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress"

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is a wonderful book for all of us who love books. How can you not fall in love with the little seamstress? I also experienced a totalitarian regime that censored "subversive" writing. I remember friends being sent into the mountains of Cuba to teach the peasants to read. Great idea, no one in our country had ever done that, it could have changed the lives of the peasants if only once they could read and write they had the freedom of choice of what to read. But alas, the great Cuban revolution went the other way, the way of tyranny and persecution. And it continues to this day. Perhaps someday this wonderful book can be read in a free Cuba. Anyhow it hit a nerve with me and the story, although simple and short, made me laugh and at the end,  I also felt I lost the little seamstress. This is what a book should do; get you involved in the story and make the characters your friends, if for a brief time. Great read. Made me want to get back to my Balzac!



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Heaven on Earth

Heaven on Earth

Earth look up, with laughter

In your eyes,

The Son of God stepped down,

And in our midst he lives;

He came to save, redeem us all-

The God of Mercy answered our call.

But Earth, beware, though Christ

May bless, to bring us

Joy, Eternal Life.

His life He’ll give.

So Earth look down, let teardrops

Fill your eyes,

The Son of Man stepped down,

And now all dead He lives.

Diana (The People's Princess)

DIANA

(The People’s Princess)

You walk in the splendor of life

with footsteps of feathers and lace.

Like Actaeon before me

I dare not cross your path,

for I who hunted the wild and free horizon

now beg you for thy love and mercy.

Thus, fear not from me Diana,

for I am not a prince!

The trail my destined past, must not, I pray,

my future smear.

I have felt the ebb of emptiness

and seen the ruin of castles made of sand,

I've endured the illusion of a once charmed love.

I...now can bear the truth

and feel the ripples of a quiet sea.

For you who came to me, and not with fear,

aimed your bow and arrow,

And I winced and spied the mellow rich desire in your eyes.

I sensed...and fell, and in the fall

I arched my spine and reached for you,

but where?

Where are you?

I turn to search for you Diana,

And I beg you; “Are you free?"

And then...I see...

I see you are not there,

No!

You're here...with me.

with me.

Sea Lust Title poem of my poetry book is today's poem

SEA LUST

I was born to love the sea,

Nurtured on a beach at heaven’s door

I was blind, my search led nowhere

There are so many roads to the sea

I would merge, I’m not whole

Close your eyes, can you hear how the sea calls to me?

Turn around and don’t laugh as I stumble in the darkness,

A choice I was given on the road I would follow

But I’m blind and there’s nothing until I find me.

Oh God, find Simon, and then I’ll be free

To travel in my glory road to the sea.

Hey,

You can’t do it all

You go down to the sea and scrunch a seashell in the sand

Till there’s nothing anymore ‘cept the ripple of the waves at

Heavens shore.

Just you and the sea

The kind of aloneness that brings good thought, sea thoughts,

Of love and life and the tug of a fish at the end of your line

Aloneness with things God made, not man.

And it’s not the aloneness of a bleak-blank room,

Of walls and chairs and the city-sounds and city-dust

Streaming through the window.

That kind’s hell.

And brings bleak-blank thoughts and you don’t know what life is.

In the night, no ships at all

Two strangers, two people are we

Who reach, and touch

Communicating the incommunicable—

Then part

The richer for having met

The poorer for having lost

Each other.

And there’s no such thing as love

And if there is, you don’t want it anymore.

‘Cause you want to do everything

and go everywhere

and live all you can

And you can’t do it all but you want to

And a man-made thing’ll trap you

And people will discourage you and they’ll tell you to give up.

So you go down to the sea and your breathe in the air

and it’s free

and it’s wild

and it’s yours.

You see the rocks growing on the water after the rain

Reflecting ‘round the ripples of the sea

Their hard brown souls

And the smoothness of the water

Their peaks cause no break

They float atop the plate.

And a long-legged bird stands on one

Surveying his domain

A pelican waves goodbye

As I race off in my little boat

To skim the high waves

Shouting Hee Hah and Yippee Ka-yay!

Bucking like a cowboy on the rolling tide

Lord, the waves are rough today!

Hey, look what the waves did to the sand

The tide relaxes, then rushes back.

Do you think those seagulls will attack?

The sun burns brownly to our skin,

Back on shore a white-breasted bird

Spreads his crooked black wings

So high and far, out of reach.

So I rest my wave-tossed body the sea has wet

Drip down into the sand-brushed blanket

Lie hotly; touch her hand to mine,

While within my heart love soars.

All life reviewed in a single day

As the sea washes the shore

And you can’t do it all but you’ll try.

Go on,

Laughing at the people reading record-album covers in the store

And sitting on buses and benches, and more

Dead than alive.

You can do it all…do it all,

Go on till you die

Reaching for God’s golden shore

And Death’s all that can stop you

From doing more.

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Todays Poem for my Wife

Words of Peace

Your words sing joy for a tired soul

The world was dark and noiseless,

I call the minstrels passing by

To stay a while or linger long.

Within these gates life bursts in song;

For such is my mirrored palace,

Abode of dreams,

That your words form crystalline

Tinkling, tinkling, in the air,

Filling voids with sounds of Joy

Their sheer beauty shattering silence

To fall shimmering on my ears.

While all around the world is still.

Homage to T.S. Eliot

ON HEARING ELIOT READ ALOUD

The ghost of a moment

When candlelight flickers,

The ghost of a chance

To gather more treasure,

To store away hours

Enveloped in shadows,

Wrapped up in the timbre

Of the resonant voice

As he reads from the poet

The sound reaches through me

And enters, and settles,

Exciting and soothing.

While candlelight flickers

Each word finds its meaning-

Breathless. I, captive,

Aware of the author,

Yearn to discover

All Eliot's dream-world,

I will wander forever

Through the land of his voice.