And now, I said, let me show in a figure how far our nature is enlightened or unenlightened: --Behold! human beings living in a underground den, which has a mouth open towards the light and reaching all along the den; here they have been from their childhood, and have their legs and necks chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before them, being prevented by the chains from turning round their heads. Above and behind them a fire is blazing at a distance, and between the fire and the prisoners there is a raised way; and you will see, if you look, a low wall built along the way, like the screen which marionette players have in front of them, over which they show the puppets.- Plato, "Republic"
I see.
And do you see, I said, men passing along the wall carrying all sorts of vessels, and statues and figures of animals made of wood and stone and various materials, which appear over the wall? Some of them are talking, others silent.
You have shown me a strange image, and they are strange prisoners.
Like ourselves, I replied; and they see only their own shadows, or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave?
Sunday, April 12, 2015
The Power of Shadows
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Oft in the night
I see the shadows of the trees
On my bare chamber walls.
Silhouettes dancing –– dancing
In strange and secret rhythm ––
To the restless music of the wind.
~ FreeThinke
A memory we all remember. Well captured.
________ My Shadow ________
I have a little shadow
___ that goes in and out with me,
And what can be the use of him
___is more than I can see.
He is very, very like me
___ from the heels up to the head;
And I see him jump before me,
___ when I jump into my bed.
The funniest thing about him
___ is the way he likes to grow —
Not at all like proper children,
___ which is always very slow;
For he sometimes shoots up taller
___ like an india-rubber ball,
And he sometimes gets so little
___ that there's none of him at all.
He hasn't got a notion
___ of how children ought to play,
And can only make a fool of me
___ in every sort of way.
He stays so close beside me,
___ he's a coward you can see;
I'd think shame to stick to nursie
___ as that shadow sticks to me!
One morning, very early,
___ before the sun was up,
I rose and found the shining dew
___ on every buttercup;
But my lazy little shadow,
___ like an arrant sleepy-head,
Had stayed at home behind me
___ and was fast asleep in bed.
~ Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)
Made me think of Peter Pan.
Conceited?
Not me,
It's just that I am what I am
And I'm me!
When I look at myself
And I see in myself
All the wonderful things that I see
If I'm pleased with myself,
I have ev'ry good reason to be.
I've gotta crow!
I'm just the cleverest fellow
'Twas ever my fortune to know;
I taught a trick to my shadow
To stick to the tip of my toe
I've gotta crow!
I've gotta brag!
I think it's sweet
I have fingers and feet I can wiggle and wag.
I can climb trees and play tag with the breeze
In the meadows below
I've gotta crow!
If I were a very ordinary
Ev'ry day thing,
I'd never be heard cock-a-doodling
'Round like a bird!
So Na-tu-ral-ly
When I discover the cleverness of a remarkable me,
How can I hide it
When deep down inside it just tickles me so
That I've gotta let go and crow!
I'm really a rare thing,
Such a fair thing,
I can't keep still!
I'm bursting with pride
And I just couldn't keep it inside
If I tried so...
Na-tu-ral-ly
When I discover the cleverness of a remarkable me,
How can I hide it
When deep down inside it just tickles me so
That I've gotta let go and crow!
~ Comden and Greene
Dedicated to the eternally young, blithe spirit of Mary Martin, who could never grow old in the heart of anyone privileged to have seen her as Peter Pan.
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