tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699866497260414248.post7792078980784299866..comments2023-11-03T03:39:08.833-07:00Comments on Iraq War Grief Daily Witness: Iraq War Grief Daily Witness Day 60Jerryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01241842671993239496noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699866497260414248.post-58806943811673406912007-04-27T03:58:00.000-07:002007-04-27T03:58:00.000-07:00Witness.Canzoneby Mark Jarman There is a Renaissan...<A HREF="http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j167/graze_photos/9dc38e5f.gif" REL="nofollow">Witness</A>.<BR/><BR/><B>Canzone</B><BR/><I>by</I> Mark Jarman<BR/> <BR/>There is a Renaissance painting of paradise<BR/>In which people, still in their human bodies,<BR/>Are embracing as if they'd just arrived in paradise<BR/>Or—because some are angels—were being welcomed to paradise.<BR/>Nobody in the picture looks like a ghost.<BR/>Even the angels, winged for paradise,<BR/>Wear embraceable bodies. It seems that paradise<BR/>For Giovanni di Paolo is a place of happy reunions.<BR/>And now, when we anticipate reunions<BR/>Like those in every moment, paradise<BR/>Is not exactly the place we hope to arrive.<BR/>It's been made complicated—that arrival.<BR/><BR/>Our destination is where we hope to arrive.<BR/>Simple enough but now a paradox,<BR/>Since now we cannot be certain of our arrival<BR/>And have to pray simply that we arrive.<BR/>And of course we hope to arrive in our human bodies,<BR/>The ones we've always known since our arrival<BR/>On earth, the ones for which there are no rivals<BR/>Imaginable, except as an Italian ghost<BR/>Has painted them. But who wants to be a ghost,<BR/>Even if it means being part of a revival,<BR/>Even in such a classic, reunited<BR/>As form and content, body and soul's reunion?<BR/><BR/>Let's face it, only the hardiest can see union<BR/>With art as a satisfying arrival.<BR/>For most of us, our daily lives unite<BR/>Our needs for love and work. And their smooth union<BR/>Is, come to think of it, a blissful paragon,<BR/>A reason to tell the partner of our union,<BR/>Talking about our day over dinner, united<BR/>In crunching through bread and salad, of our body's<BR/>Desire to be united with their body.<BR/>It's a good day that ends with such a union.<BR/>And though we might still love each other's ghost<BR/>And say so, what we desire is not a ghost.<BR/><BR/>What we desire is both the flesh and ghost,<BR/>The full consort together, the living union.<BR/>We know that's health. We know that this new ghost<BR/>Of rumor and apprehension is a ghost<BR/>Like the horizon line, always arriving.<BR/>And now we have to live with the kind of ghost<BR/>That gives a bad name to every ghost—<BR/>I mean to every airy sense of paradise<BR/>Where the good—which should mean all of us—find paradise,<BR/>Despite the blemishes we've stuck to our ghosts.<BR/>It all comes back, doesn't it, to the body?<BR/>We wish we'd never have to leave our bodies.<BR/><BR/>Or have to leave the way we think of our bodies.<BR/>Giovanni clothes the heavenly in the ghost<BR/>Of class and calling. He paints no naked bodies,<BR/>Despite our expectations of the body<BR/>In heaven, restored to a primeval union<BR/>With innocence and ignorance. He says we'll be those bodies<BR/>Identified as us, and so we'll dress our bodies<BR/>As we have understood them. Maybe after arriving<BR/>We'll come to understand that to arrive<BR/>In heaven is to embrace a hidden body.<BR/>After all, this is but an interpretation of paradise,<BR/>Which says we bring our world with us to paradise.<BR/><BR/>I'm glad Giovanni di Paolo saw the arrival<BR/>Of souls in paradise as a time for reunion,<BR/>And not merely a mingling of bodiless ghosts.<BR/>I wish I could believe in that promise of paradise<BR/>As deeply as I believe in this mortal body.musing grazehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05199879355891540177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699866497260414248.post-59794272915096510502007-04-24T14:59:00.000-07:002007-04-24T14:59:00.000-07:00For peaceI witnessFor peace<BR/><BR/>I witnessanniethenahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03676273148688900739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699866497260414248.post-73678294460648631402007-04-18T21:35:00.000-07:002007-04-18T21:35:00.000-07:00For peace...For peace...Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12299790959227409091noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699866497260414248.post-53798246935220330512007-04-18T12:32:00.000-07:002007-04-18T12:32:00.000-07:00For peaceFor peaceroseshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08688973505776409029noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699866497260414248.post-37000054968591965552007-04-18T02:50:00.000-07:002007-04-18T02:50:00.000-07:00for peacefor peaceJerryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01241842671993239496noreply@blogger.com