on women:

No More Clichés

Beautiful face

That like a daisy opens its petals to the sun

So do you

Open your face to me as I turn the page.

Enchanting smile

Any man would be under your spell,

Oh, beauty of a magazine.

How many poems have been written to you?

How many Dantes have written to you, Beatrice?

To your obsessive illusion

To your manufactured fantasy.

But today I won't make one more Cliché

And write this poem to you.

No, no more clichés.

This poem is dedicated to those women

Whose beauty is in their charm,

In their intelligence,

In their character,

Not on their fabricated looks.

This poem is to you women,

That like a Shahrazade wake up

Everyday with a new story to tell,

A story that sings for change

That hopes for battles:

Battles for the love of the united flesh

Battles for passions aroused by a new day

Battle for the neglected rights

Or just battles to survive one more night.

Yes, to you women in a world of pain

To you, bright star in this ever-spending universe

To you, fighter of a thousand-and-one fights

To you, friend of my heart.

From now on, my head won't look down to a magazine

Rather, it will contemplate the night

And its bright stars,

And so, no more clichés.

Octavio Paz

I meant human life on earth (I am under the depressing impression total nuclear winter would end that).

finally some good news! :) 5% left and becoming smarter and stronger! :) Now I know it must be time for bed.

thanks for posting those quotes. Best thing I've read on the whole thing.

On another note: when I was in the Army, I distrusted everyone above the rank of captain: seems like they all turned into politicians beyond that point. Not to say that there might have existed those who were different (bows to RMP): but I think the exceptions prove the rule.

should have said "that there might NOT have existed" (bows again to RMP!)

Reminds me of something I would think and say during the first Gulf war, when my reserve unit might have been deployed and thankfully was not: better everyone walk than I or my friends die. Hell: let's reorganize our whole society's infrastructure on an emergency crash basis before I have to die just so the status quo can continue.

in the bardo now, bebop-o? with all these wrathful and peaceful deities the reflections of our own minds? With only the Clear Light of Compassion as our guide?

And Avalokita was mentioned.

Reality is always turning up to wink at me and remind me of what is important.

for speaking up about what is important in all this: the incredible human suffering that my county has caused for no good reason. The Iraqi dead and those with destroyed lives are the ones who should be at the center of the discussion. While I mourn each and every American soldier who dies or is wounded in the war, they are the collateral damage: it is the Iraqi people who are the ones who should be our main concern. It is a sadness and a shame beyond telling.

very nice quote: thanks.

thank you.

thanks for the link to the world opinion site. Fascinating and useful for thinking it all through.

I will start immediately quoting to everyone that "justice is the origin of rule" as well :) It sounds like Plato's Republic!