There is something to be said for the ways in which soulmates are so often as briar-branches growing together in a tangle. When two know each other for long enough, there is a shared trajectory which cannot be explained any better by averaging out the prior trajectories of each part of the equation than by taking the trajectory of either one or the other. That process of becoming-together leaves both quite intact: you can trace each branch well enough with finger hovering anxiously above. Yet it still makes a distinctive shape, leaves a vector mark which would show on either should its other suddenly disappear. Perhaps nothing; perhaps something interesting. Excellent piece.
I want to house a whole little host of birds on the branches as you write about them. This is so well put. It reminds me also of the idea in the Bible of grafting in olive branches---though not part of the vine originally, able to be wefted in with skill---and in time becoming quite part of the system.
great writing as always! and i think i might just go hunting in your wastepaper basket for that sermon on belief too - sounds like it could be yet another interesting piece!
The standard past participle of 'smite' is, I think, still 'smitten' rather than 'smited'. So 'Avarice smitten'. Which, given the commonest use of 'smitten', would inevitably introduce another sense, which a reader inclined to wander off like this might pursue. By whom does the avaricious young man, in the midst of his charts and company statements, discover himself smitten, perhaps as unexpectedly but as definitely as the reader, in a paragraph about investing in start-ups, would come upon this word with its double sense? Is she an elegant, mature lady in whose bosom he fantasizes about curling up, having misplaced his investment, like an injured rabbit clasped inside a shepherdess's cloak? Or a younger lass who might look up to him and whom he might have hoped to shower with gifts with his winnings? What is he going to do now?
Oh! Language’s possibilities are so elastic. You’ve fashioned my ignorance into something with real intrigue to play and fiddle with. Thank you also for your generous reading; your own fabric-sample of words you’ve presented me with. What a writer you must be! You’ve made the sweet, misguided man-boy Avarice such a real thing. I can smell the painstakingly laundered shirt on his back and the gentle pungency of his cologne. I hope the sweet boy is loved, whoever he chooses. Thank you so very much for this excellent comment. It meant an awful lot.
This is wonderful Alice. Really splendid! Gave me a beautiful aching feeling. Seems to have been written from the chest and better for being a bit erratic. If this is solipsism sign me up for more.
I am a sucker for love literature and your two final texts are some of my favorites. "For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." Much love!
What thoroughly kind comments - swaddled in lambswool and kept very safe. Thank you so much, Sam. I've missed your writing very sorely and the particular world-view which you impart, each time unfolding and dispatching a new little tenet or piece of the system. And yes! Aren't those Pauline epistles are so wonderful? Though I delight in comparing the sudden gravity found here with 1 Corinthians 13 with the pleading, more venal voice readers hear later on - 2 Corinthians 11: 'I hope you will put up with me in a little foolishness. Yes, please put up with me!' So human somehow.
“I’m not a good writer” NONSENSE. I never want to hear this again!
A beautiful piece. Line after line, pure gold. Thank you Alice! Xx
To have such a truly kind comment from such a phenomenal writer is a privilege I shall lie very close by my heart. Thank you deeply, Miriam xx
There is something to be said for the ways in which soulmates are so often as briar-branches growing together in a tangle. When two know each other for long enough, there is a shared trajectory which cannot be explained any better by averaging out the prior trajectories of each part of the equation than by taking the trajectory of either one or the other. That process of becoming-together leaves both quite intact: you can trace each branch well enough with finger hovering anxiously above. Yet it still makes a distinctive shape, leaves a vector mark which would show on either should its other suddenly disappear. Perhaps nothing; perhaps something interesting. Excellent piece.
I want to house a whole little host of birds on the branches as you write about them. This is so well put. It reminds me also of the idea in the Bible of grafting in olive branches---though not part of the vine originally, able to be wefted in with skill---and in time becoming quite part of the system.
An absolute masterpiece. Alice, once again you have outdone yourself.
Thank you sincerely, Jack!
I’m glad you got it off your to-do list, too.
great writing as always! and i think i might just go hunting in your wastepaper basket for that sermon on belief too - sounds like it could be yet another interesting piece!
The standard past participle of 'smite' is, I think, still 'smitten' rather than 'smited'. So 'Avarice smitten'. Which, given the commonest use of 'smitten', would inevitably introduce another sense, which a reader inclined to wander off like this might pursue. By whom does the avaricious young man, in the midst of his charts and company statements, discover himself smitten, perhaps as unexpectedly but as definitely as the reader, in a paragraph about investing in start-ups, would come upon this word with its double sense? Is she an elegant, mature lady in whose bosom he fantasizes about curling up, having misplaced his investment, like an injured rabbit clasped inside a shepherdess's cloak? Or a younger lass who might look up to him and whom he might have hoped to shower with gifts with his winnings? What is he going to do now?
Oh! Language’s possibilities are so elastic. You’ve fashioned my ignorance into something with real intrigue to play and fiddle with. Thank you also for your generous reading; your own fabric-sample of words you’ve presented me with. What a writer you must be! You’ve made the sweet, misguided man-boy Avarice such a real thing. I can smell the painstakingly laundered shirt on his back and the gentle pungency of his cologne. I hope the sweet boy is loved, whoever he chooses. Thank you so very much for this excellent comment. It meant an awful lot.
This is wonderful Alice. Really splendid! Gave me a beautiful aching feeling. Seems to have been written from the chest and better for being a bit erratic. If this is solipsism sign me up for more.
I am a sucker for love literature and your two final texts are some of my favorites. "For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." Much love!
What thoroughly kind comments - swaddled in lambswool and kept very safe. Thank you so much, Sam. I've missed your writing very sorely and the particular world-view which you impart, each time unfolding and dispatching a new little tenet or piece of the system. And yes! Aren't those Pauline epistles are so wonderful? Though I delight in comparing the sudden gravity found here with 1 Corinthians 13 with the pleading, more venal voice readers hear later on - 2 Corinthians 11: 'I hope you will put up with me in a little foolishness. Yes, please put up with me!' So human somehow.
Thank you - very very sincerely :)