Tuesday, March 30, 2010

the eternal dreamer

for the next two days
i am living on the thirtieth floor
of a hotel in downtown toronto

it's to do with
my work

my role

~

my days
are circumscribed by time

it's how things get done

it's how things get measured

and yet i know myself
well-enough
to know
that i exist
outside of time

so i make a point
of finding
the timeless
and making it my acquaintance


for i love
the timeless
in whatever form it takes


we hear him and take him among us like a wind of music,
like the ghost of a music we have somewhere heard;

we crowd through the streets in a dazzle of pallid lamplight,
we pour in a sinister mass, we ascend a stair,

with laughter and cry, with word upon murmured word,


we flow, we descend, we turn. . . . and the eternal dreamer
moves on among us like light, like evening air . . .



all words conrad aiken from the house of dust

15 comments:

Elisabeth said...

These photos are amazing, neon lights out of focus. They remind me of how when i was a child I loved to unfocus my eyes while looking at the Christmas tree. The light reflected from the baubles and tinsel seemed to drip like water and splash across my vision. Thanks, Steven.

Pauline said...

marvelous, marvelous, marvelous, especially this notion: "I make a point
of finding
the timeless
and making it my acquaintance"!

Barry said...

Out of time and, being on the 13th floor, likely out of place as well, but still able to dazzle us with unique observations and beautiful images.

Jenny Stevning said...

Ahhh...the eternal dreamer...I love it! Amazing photos. Thank you, Steven.

Linda Sue said...

Bright lights Big city- Always an energizer or energy drain depending...You, of course will see the beauty all around you. Stay well and safe.

Butternut Squash said...

I lived on the 23rd floor for a year. There was a stillness up in the air. I found it easier to think. As if the layers of history weren't as thick up there.

Reya Mellicker said...

love the shimmering lights and I really really LOVE the swings over water. Wow!

In my personal cosmology, we are quintuple souled people. One of the souls exists outside of time. One is timeless, one eternal. The other two are constrained by time in very specific ways. Very cool to think about!

steven said...

elisabeth the big city energy is so ennervating, i love it - but i can manage it in short doses and i don't have my big city guard up so i am looking at lights, paint, brick, colour, people, especially people. i've got more pics coming. well i hope i do - i haven't looked at them yet! have a peaceful evening. steven

steven said...

pauline - it's funny how that space makes itself more and more available as i get older. steven

steven said...

barry - even higher - the thirtieth - hoo boy!!! beautiful jimungous bed, free food, free everything. crazy times but i'll ride this one out!!! toronto - downtown - wow!!! steven

steven said...

hello jenny - yes there's a big piece of me that i am happy to characterize as the eternal dreamer. because in my own view, dreams are little bridges into the real world. have a lovely evening. steven

steven said...

linda sue for me it's an energizer. rich colourful loud detailed energy. i appreciate it more for not being in it very often. steven

steven said...

butternut - the sounds and the experiences at that height are so different. there;s a sense of unfolding, of processes, of mechanisms. thanks for visiting! steven

steven said...

reya thankyou and thankyou. i'm glad!!! i'm intrigued by your sense of a quintuplet soul. i am thinking in terms of fractals. but i don't know why or what it looks like. perhaps that'll show up on gone to earth. steven

Golden West said...

How fun to have a change of scenery cities can be so invigorating! But always so nice to be home again...