Word City

Once upon a time there existed, and still exists now, somewhere, a place where the mist hides the long vision, and near where the horizon can be touched with the hand, a kingdom which, odd as it may seem took the name of Lexicon.

Sitting in the middle of the land covered by the realm is the Capital City called a bit unoriginally "Word City" which is full of inhabitants stable and transient.

Some years ago, in this varicolored place, resided two Words friends, taking advantage of the most
beautiful building of the city, surrounded by happiness, and every thing they need.

They were the word GOOD and the word IRENIC, they have found a similar trait in them, so they become friends and enjoyed their relationship.

One day IRENIC came back to her house, and she found in her mail a blue envelope with the City Hall seal that crushed her heart! In this mail the Major informed her that due to relevant regulations valid at the time she was to be evicting from the dwellings in beautiful places of the city and it was
imperative for her to leave the place carrying all her belongings and moved to the slums that surrounded the city.

IRENIC tried to tell GOOD of her predicament, but she found out that she was prevented to access to any way of communication and there was only the way to the slums opened to her. In a few moments she had become a pariah of the society. Without power to change her destiny, IRENIC was waning into oblivion, and she was not totally forgotten because there are some dictionaries that still list her. But it is just a question of time for her total vanishing.

When GOOD realized IRENIC could not be found in her house, she went to all the places where it was possible her friend could be, but when she could not find a trace of her, she decided to go to the City Hall to ask for the search of a lost word.

She was sent from office to office until a very formal civil agent informed her that since there was so few persons that used the word IRENIC in the normal language, and in the determination to keep downtown of Word City uncluttered, the law ordered that those word with no use were deported to the slums of the city to be forgotten, unless they were lucky enough to be brought back in use again.

GOOD tried to reason with the civil agent asking him to give her the new address of her friend, but we all know what a civil agent is, he was very 'helpful' but could not give GOOD any 'help' since the law enforced the erasure of all things belonging to those words destined to exile and loneliness. There was a coded number in the Main Computer that could be used only in case the word was retrieved from her expulsion.

Finding herself helpless to change this situation, she sat to think a way to help her sister and an idea came to her mind:

She would write a letter and put it in Internet, so everybody could read it. Maybe, just maybe, it could help.

This is the letter:

Dear users of internet in our language, I beg of you to make the effort of learning the greatest number of words you possibly can, and that you use them many, many times a day. This will help to relieve a very huge pain to our words that become forlorn expression without your help, and are condemned to oblivion in the most dire place of the world.

Since then, this note can be found everywhere in places of English speaking people, looking for supporter for this good cause to alleviate a painful and unnecessary exile.

Please, join us in this crusade.


The music is "Alone" written and  performed by Kenny G.


© 2013 Od Liam.

Oh, poverty!

The trendy lady was coming my way, it was a good opportunity to ask for alms.

I essayed some smiles staring at me in the shop window of the bake store, looking for one that she could find likable.

As my Grandma always tells me: "Child, you cannot catch flies with vinegar."

I am not sure I understand, but if flies are like me, surely they do not drink vinegar, if vinegar is that water put together with oil on the table.

When she was at my side, I spoke with a firm voice (Grandma tells not to be plangent when asking because that makes people reject you, I do not know the exact meaning, but it seems we must not cry in public), so I spoke with a firm, but underprivileged voice. This I have rehearsed with Grandma, and she was satisfied.

"Can you help me with some coins to buy food, madam?"

Looking down at me from her breastwork of furs, she said:

"Food?". "Is it that you have not breakfasted today?"

"Oh, yes madam", I answered civilly (Grandma advice again), "I drank two cups of tea made with the little bags that Mr. Watson gave us the day before yesterday and we are using since then". I informed her so she could see we are not in total hardship.

The woman arched her made up eyebrows, and while she let drop some coins in my hand, murmured:

"Tea cups..., used tea bags..., What a world!!" Then she seemed to think something and with a brightening face advised me:

"Child, tell your mother", ( the poor thing did not know my Mum is buying some vegetable since two years now, we have no news about her, but we are not worried, she will come back as soon as she finds whatever green she is looking for), "tell your mother to give you a good T-bone with smashed potatoes, instead of tea. It is more nourishing!"

Why people insist in saying words I do not understand?


Several days afterward I saw the furred lady again, I found her just turning a corner, when she saw me, she stopped and asked me:

"Have you eaten T-bones and smashed potatoes, this morning?"

Trying not to disappoint her, I answered politely: "Yes, madam!"

She looked doubtful and asked: "How many?"

This time, doing what Grandma says about always telling the truth, I answered:

"Two cups...!"


The music is a fragment of "End of Love".


© 2013 Od Liam.

Reverie

Silence in Paradise bears out its vacuity.


The Fire Sword at the Entering Gate prevents the coming back of the old dwellers.

A century and another century must go by during seven aeons and one aeon before the dream ends and humankind in its own essence leaves the exile of Reality.

And by that time when Adam pronounces the name Eve, there will be not the echo of «Lilith» in his soul.


© 2013 Od Liam.

"Adam, Eve and the serpent", picture from the XV Century.
"Adam and Eve Evicted from Paradise", by Gustave Doré.
Pietro Mascagni, Cavalleria rusticana - "Intermezzo"

The Liebster Award

Undeserving prizes as I am, I had the heart-warming surprise of receiving two mentions! The first one from Aunt Mary. Thank you Auntie! Here it is:

But this distinction has rules:

The rules

1. Each person must post 11 things about themselves.
2. Answer the questions that the tagger set for you plus create 11 questions for the people you've tagged to answer.
3. Choose people and link them in your post.
4. Go tell them!


Now for Auntie questions:

 1. What is your birthplace?
Incredible enough it is an island called Gozo  (meaning Joy in Spanish)
    and a little village called Zebbug (meaning Olives), all this in Malta

2. What is your nickname?
Odliam  

3. What is your favorite picnic spot ?
Ramla Bay, Gozo. (Not the only one)

 
4. When did you get scared last time?
When the Cessna I was travelling in went down!

5. What is your favorite color?
Ochre

6. Do you want to go to moon?
No, I am already there!

7. Who is your favorite comedian?
Messelff!!!

8. What do you prefer...A long drive or A wonderful dinner?
A wonderful dinner...  I have (had) too many long drives!

9. Which is your favorite movie?
The Deer Hunter   (It is hard, very hard if you want to know)

10. Are you happy with your life?
Of course, it is the one I created.

11. What do you think about me?
 I do not think, I feel you are a wonderful person. And I am good at feelings! 


 Random things about me for Auntie:

Lone and lonesome
Odd
Having a mind and a brain separated
I love Winter
My best friends are ghosts, angels, and elves
Writing tales is a compulsion
Poetry puts me upside down
I like to be hugged by beautiful women
I do not like noisy environment
I love Opera (Oh well, nobody is perfect!)
The smell of old oak triggers melodies in my mind, but not in my brain.






This is the second award:

Now for the 3 Heads in the Clouds questions:

 1)What's your sign?
     One with the thumb and the forefinger extended, all others bend over the hand palm!  he he he, look for the two plates!


 2)Tea or coffee?
     Toffee!

 3)Do you have hairy feet?
     My feet are from noble origin, they are pristine, spotless.

 4)What have you dreamt last night?
      About little hands telling me tales in sign language.

 5)If you could change one thing about this world, what would it be?
     Eve's Apple; maybe by a laptop.

 6)Describe yourself with one word.
     Outstanding   (upright in the yard).

 7)If you were a superhero, which powers would you like to have?
     Time controlling.

 8)What's the best smell in the world?
      Morning chocolate at a Gstaad cottage.

 9)Do you like to watch yourself in the mirror?
     I try, but always find a strange in there!

10)What's the weirdest word you know?
      I   (and it goes uppercase in the bargain).

11)Are you really from planet Earth?
      Depends on what you call Earth.


 Random things about me for 3 Heads in the Clouds:

Useless but not verifiable.
Mismatched.
Wishful Writer, in search of the "ful".
Pseudo-Poet lost in Poetryland .
Owner (?) of an imp called Elf.
Wind shrub with no roots.
Never mind my brain.
Love Mystery, like this in uppercase. 
I am searching every pit on Earth looking for Truth (It lives in a pit, you know)
I am bewitched by Schubert's  Unfinished (Unvollendete) Symphony (It has so many possibilities!).
None of the above. 


Before disclose nominates let's display the questions to be answered:

 1) What justify your existence?
 2) What colour is your time?
 3) Have you found your soul?
 4) What does the word LOVE mean to you?
 5)  If a "rose" would not be called so, what name you think would be appropriated?
 6) Why the feet fingers have not names, and they are collectively called "toes"? 
 7) Do you know the names of Cinderella's sisters
 8) Where is the Dead Sea, or you didn't know when it was even sick? 
 9) Do you think ewes are promiscuous?  
10) How does salt taste?
11) Do you think life on Earth was a serendipity? 


And last but not least, the most difficult decision... always plagued by thoughts of leaving out some of the deserving bloggers, but there must be a breaking point.

In the hope of keeping the playing sense, WE (Elf and I) nominate: 

Christy & John, their blog Περί Αλός is a masterpiece of Greece naval history, even if you must translate it to English.

Miles Dethings, also an outstanding blog, even if you must translate it from Spanish!

Balqis, awesome blog full of deep thoughts in the form of poetry and Haiku

Rum-Punch-Drunk, owner of a quirky mind to find subjects to discuss with her readers, unique and special blog!

Kleopatra, a special blog full of ideas and opinions with the bonus of letting the readers to write their own feelings.

Dan Bonser, Eclectic, interesting and funny blog, do not let it pass! 

Moonomo, Haiku, Limericks and a fresh way to share important or not too important subjects .

Thank you to all involved in this project! I didn't try to bother anyone, please try to be lenient with "us" if I failed in my trying!

This is it!   (And way too much!!)


The music is a fragment of "Second Waltz" composed by Dmitri Shostakovich, performed by the Andre Rieu created waltz-playing Johann Strauss Orchestra.


© 2013 Od Liam.

The Absolute!

For years he had walked in the shadows of the light of the world, all the scaffolding holding his life rested on the external securities that gave an anchor to his existence.

While he enjoyed this sense of security, he was presented with the opportunity to travel to a beautiful place full of spectacular landscapes that made happy his soul.

Feeling he might take advantage of this opportunity, he decided to sit still to let these beautiful images sunk into his person and gave him peace and elation.

While he was in this process, he let the hard materialistic beliefs to get down, and his spirit, who was waiting this moment since he was born, took the rudder and guided him into himself.

At the beginning the road seemed rugged and steep, but after a time, as if he would have reached the world roof, started to see that the landscapes that was seeing now left poorly depicted, despite their beauty, the real places he was admiring minutes ago.

Walking on the inner personal paths that just had discovered, uncovered the beauty of his soul, and understood that this was his own self, his environment, his life, the galaxy, the infinite... in a word, everything: The Absolute!


Goes with us , in our inner trip, the song "Enter the Mystery" by BLD performed by the trio Stup.

© 2013 Od Liam.

Justice served

(This is a work of fiction, no offence intended to anyone's beliefs.
Beside the absolute humanization of celestial spirits turns the tale into a fable).


----------------------------------------ooOO00OOoo--------------------------------------


The Panel adjourned for the time being.

There were no more applicants to obtain the visa.

Everybody was satisfied after a difficult task, everybody except Michael. He was following the legal procedures and could not find a fault, but... something was not right!

He was walking the paths of the Garden thinking deeply when he heard the Voice asking him:

You are thinking furiously, my friend, why is it?

Oh, exclaimed Michael, I haven't felt you Lord!

It is because you are thinking so intensely!

The soft feelings of the Lord encompassed Michael wholly.

Yes, Michael was now giving all his attention to the Lord, by now you must know what was I thinking about.

No, my child, I respect your privacy, so if you want to talk about that, tell me.

The careful ways of the Lord always surprised Michael.

Well, Sire, Michael fighted in search of a simple way to put things, you see, it is eons I am part of the Panel you are Chairman; when a soul presented the case of life to be granted access to the Garden most cases are simple and easy: Yes or No.

But sometimes there are some doubts and then the Defence Counsellor claims the First Amendment, that is, he asks for Divine Mercy, and win his plea since there is no contention to that!

The Lord was felt as smiling, and He said: Yes, the idea is to be on the easy side.

Yes, Sire, Michael was intense in his words, I understand that, but sometimes it is, well, it seems as if it is unjust, I beg Your pardon for my words, to give the same reward to those who earned it and to those who are getting it by a technical reason.

The feeling of a smile accentuated  in the Lord, and He said:

Well, maybe you are right, so I will tell you what we will do next time we faced a situation as you described: We will take two steps, first we will accept the First Amendment as is the custom, then you will pronounce a judgement to balance the situation. Anything you deem right to apply to the soul.

But... Michael was overwhelmed, but it is a serious responsibility, Sire! I do not know if I can cope with it!

Oh, you'll do well! the accented smile lingered in His lips, and then He was gone!

Michael rested on a bench in the Garden, the creased forehead giving evidence of the hard moments of thoughts he was developing.

Time went by uneventful for many eons. It is difficult to measure time in Eternity since time does not exist in there.

Then one pseudo-day a soul was facing the Panel, the Defense Counsellor presented, with a smile, all the good deeds carried out by the soul. The Devil's Advocate was looking despairingly into his suitcase not finding any document to present to the tribunal.

After scratching the  bottom of the case he found a small paper that he put on the table with a look of no hope.

The Panel read the small paper, made a consult between them, and the Speaker said:

There is a small problem here, this soul has been very good as human, only there was not warm in the contact with other people, being a hermit always was aloof and not giving comfort to others. We acknowledge the good part of the soul, but in true justice, if we consider the situation we should not accept this soul in the Garden!

The Devil's Advocate was pleasantly surprised and started to have hope of winning this case, when the Defence Counsellor said aloud:

I recognize there are some truth in the way the Speaker present the case, but I want now and here to ask the application of the First Amendment!

From above the Panel, it was felt the great warm coming from the Ultimate Judge, and the feeling of happiness brought the sense of "Granted".

The Speaker said:

Clad the soul for entering the Garden, and adjourned the session.

Michael accepted the final decision but he felt as if there was not balance in the outcome, so he started walking on the inner paths of the Garden thinking how to find a way to serve justice.

After a while he had an idea and in that same moment felt the Presence Who asked him:

Have you found a solution, Michael?

Yes, Sire! I think it would be a nice way to keep things made up for! Michael was truly happy


Will you tell Me your answer to this situation? It was a strange question coming from the Lord, but Michael decided to ignore the reasons.

Yes, Sire, here it is:

The soul will be granted all the benefits of the Garden, but for half the Eternity and a pseudo-month, during three pseudo-days of the each pseudo-week this soul will have no hands and would not caress any flower, leave, or plant of the Garden, neither the chubby cheeks of the Cherubims!

Michael thought he heard a burst of laughter from above, but could not be sure.

The comfort he felt told him that his way to serve justice was accepted.

The music is the song "Archangel Michael" by Llewellyn


© 2013 Od Liam.

Corn

The cloak of heat covered the shores along the river.

It was noon, and a flock of children came running and crying, breaking the ease of the heavy afternoon, jumping into the warm waters or hanging from a rope tied to a tree bough that protruded into the river before letting them to fall in the middle of the brown waters, while some old guys with their rods and fishhooks approached the south bend down the river knowing that the noisy kids will frighten the fish toward them.

Roland was coming through the corn field using a small lane open between the tall plants making  the leaves, ears of corns, and the crest tremble when he moved between them.

He was in the middle of the field when thought he saw a movement to the left of the tiers of stems. Stopping and making a effort he could see a beautiful girl clad in a soft dress with printed ears of corn in it. He was amazed of the incredible beauty of the girl and tried to approach her but she was lost in the maze of plants before he could take more than two paces in her direction.

For a second he thought to follow the girl full of perfume of new corn, but he did not want to arrive late to Mère Odille's house, it was Wednesday and it was the day she baked her famous pone and prepared the best tea in the region mixing herbs known only to her.

He arrived the hut and greeted Mère as always: Salut, Mère!

She was busy in her kitchen and with a quick glance to the boy answered: Salut, Roland! Comment vas tu, gosse?

Fine!, just fine, Roland reverted to English, trying not to show his lack of knowledge of the old country language, and added quickly: It seems there are new people in town!

Why you say that? asked Mère Odille, curiously. She was the depository of all town gossip and didn't know about new people in town!

Because I saw an unknown very beautiful girl a moment ago in the corn field. Roland could not express how beautiful she was.

How was she dressed?, Mère Odille asked what seems an idle questions.

She has a light dress full of corn ears and the smell of fresh corn all over, continued Roland in an enthusiastic comment.

Mère Odille suspended her chore and looking into the eyes of Roland said: It was not new people in town, Roland! It is the soul of the corn, and appeared as a  handsome man to young girls or as a gorgeous girl to young boys to lure them into the field and feed new blood and life to the plants.

You must keep away from the corn field, gosse! You have been selected, that is why you saw the soul of the corn as a beautiful girl. It will try to trap you into the sown field. Promise you won't enter the place ever until after the harvest!

Yes, mère, Roland was a bit confused so he made a half promise, how could such a beautiful girl be a handsome man at times! It seemed more of the superstition hold for the cajun people!

The day passed slowly but finally after eating the last pone and drinking the last tea in the kitchen, Roland prepared to go back home.

Mère Odille reconvene again to Roland: Remember, gosse. Do not enter the corn field, just walk on its borders and do not accept any invitation into the plants, no matter how beautiful the person who is calling you is!

Yes, mère! Roland was full of good tea and pone so he answered lightly, and started his walk home.

The first hundred paces were easy and uneventful, but as soon as Roland started to walk the rim of the field there was a small, almost imperceptible movement near the borderline plants and the beautiful girl appeared at Roland side.

He was speechless, the beauty of the lass was incredible, she took Roland's hand and guided him toward the center of the field, here there was a soft place with warm dirt around, she made Roland to step into the soft spot and caressed gently his hair, his arms, his crest, his corn ears, its leaves, and let it moving slowly following the other plants motions, all the field seemed happy and full of life, time passed and silence covered the area.

The heat was very heavy but night was coming, boys and veterans started to come back from the river with a healthy supper in mind.

While the last dragonflies looked for a place to let the night went by, the hot waves were reluctantly dying in the arms of the last light of the day sunbeams.  


The music is a fragment of "The Corn Field" composed by Epic Hybr.


© 2013 Od Liam.