By all that is wonderful, it is the sea, I believe, the sea itself — or is it youth alone? Who can tell? But you here — you all had something out of life: money, love — whatever gets you on shore — and tell me, wasn’t that the best time, that time when you were young at sea; young and had nothing, on the sea that gives nothing except hard knocks — and sometimes a chance to feel your strength — the only — what you all regret.
Joseph Conrad, “Youth, Marlowe in a beer drinking session with men who had sailed in their youth
Category Archives: A Pocket of Resistance
Thoughts on the Sea
I have known its (the sea) fascination since; i have seen the mysterious shores, the still water, the lands of brown nations, where a stealthy Nemesis lies in wait, pursues, overtakes so many of the conquering race, who are proud of their wisdom, of their knowledge, of their strength. But for me, all the East is contained in that vision of my youth. It is all in that moment when I opened my young eyes on it. I came upon it with a tussle with the sea — and I was young — and I saw it looking at me. And this is all that is left of it! Only a moment, a moment of strength, of romance, of glamour — of youth!…A flick of sunshine on a strange shore, the time to remember, the time for a sigh, and — good bye — Night — Good Bye!
Joseph Conrad, “Youth, a Narrative”
A Brief Musing on Thursday Morning
i awoke, did my morning chores, and i was taking the cat litter box leavings out to the trash when it hit me:
i am not going to root first for any particular teams in the major league baseball playoffs. My number one rooting platform dawned me this morning as i scanned the sports headlines and learned all four playoff series were sweeps., i.e. four wildcard teams had swept the other four. That meant the owners and the networks lost four games of revenue. i then added up how many games would not be played if all of the series were sweeps. The total number is twenty-one games would not be played.
i’m rooting for every series in the playoffs are sweeps.
That’s what i’m rooting for: that the four division series are won in five games series, the two league series are won in four games, and the world series is one in four games. Along with the four games already not played that number is twenty-one. 21!
That my friends is a chunk of change lost.
i think these owners and the networks televising the playoffs don’t need anymore money, and might consider quit changing rules of what was once a beautiful sport for four to seven games in October. Nah, that ain’t gonna happen. Those coin counters aren’t going to let that happen.
Go, Sweeps, Go.
The Stars Early Wednesday Morning
Wednesday, October 4, 2023.
the sun had obeyed the meridian
and
was rising later;
the sky was dark,
well before first light;
there were no clouds:
only the street light
and
next door’s outdoor light
impacted my night vision
slightly
and
there were more stars
than i had seen in at least a year.
Venus, Regulus, Sirius, Jupiter
spoke to me
and
i returned to when
the skies filled the heavens
like lights on a Christmas tree
only doubled or tripled up,
a wonderful sight
i only saw at sea
like the Indian Ocean
oh so many years ago
when i would take a break
from my tasks as number two,
walk out to the weather decks,
stand at the safety rail,
looking skyward
thinking not of the stars
but
of you,
glorious, beautiful you
so, so right
for me.
Thoughts on the Sea
“Ah! The good old time — the good old time. Youth and the sea. Glamour and the sea! The good strong sea, the salt, bitter sea, that could whisper to you and roar at you and knock the breath out of you.”
Marlow in Joseph Conrad’s “Youth, a Narrative”