"Childhood passed away and
the tigers and my passion for them grew old, but still they are in my dreams.
At that submerged, or chaotic level they keep prevailing. And so, as I sleep
some dream beguiles and suddenly I know I’m dreaming, then I think: this is a
dream, a pure diversion of my will and now that I have unlimited power I am
going to cause a tiger.
Oh incompetence, my dreams never manage to breed forth a longed for
beast.”
[From “Dreamtigers”]
Narrator
"Borges dream world extended from the house in Palermo to the city
around it and out into the endless continuity of the pampas. Here in the open
country he discovered another aspect of Argentina’s mythology. The land where his ancestors had fought, the vast sky and the gauchos..."
From “Jorge Luis Borges: The Mirror Man”
_______
The dark forest leads under a storm-cast flood of opaque black cloud above the dimly lit cabin, barely in sight. Leaves, burnt by the frozen winds crumple with delicacy under our unforgiving step. Sense-deprived, we share the hollow bitterness of the cold mystery ahead. With Mexican friends, we enter the home of the recluse. Maps of Metis land and the intriguing sizzle of wild game invite us onto the weathered upholstery of inspired comfort. Indrawn, yet tempting, the host’s gaze is untamed, always welcoming. As friends and I sit around the country table, the food begins with due presentation, decadent meats and thick bean dishes melt in a haze of tantalizing scents. Conversation ensues. Drink follows. I’m ridiculed for my lack of Spanish. Dejected, I comb the ghastly wilderness, alone under the silent, new moon. Pitch darkness swallows me in a mutual fight with my emotional vacuum, self-trust extinguished with each step upon the unknown forest ground. I walk until dawn. On my own, I know the comfort of the empty sky, the abandoned railways, and graffiti concrete beside shallow streams. All are mere steps towards the final return, to where I used to be.
_______
Dark"A dream of the dark is never a good aspected omen as after such a dream you are in danger of losing control of your temper and causing yourself a lot of hardships and losses. If you dream that dark is falling while you are traveling it is an ill omen for any business you try to conduct unless the journey is finished before it gets dark." (iDream)
_______
I revere my Jewish ancestors over the Hebrew G-D,
that is to say:
the personal history and presence of my ancestors are closer to me in bond
and in the formation of my living human identity
than are the laws prescribed in Hebrew society,
for we are of a greater human community
that is to say:
the personal history and presence of my ancestors are closer to me in bond
and in the formation of my living human identity
than are the laws prescribed in Hebrew society,
for we are of a greater human community
- excerpt from "Jewish ancestors"
Thanks for the late Borges stories - always blurring the real and the imagined.
ReplyDelete"On my own, I know the comfort of the empty sky, the abandoned railways, and graffiti concrete beside shallow streams. All are mere steps towards the final return, to where I used to be." - that's like a Di Chirico painting.