Xenophobic Xylophones in eXistential splendor....

X is for Xanadu.....

Let's face it, there aren't that many 'X' words that would make for an interesting post.

I could talk about xenophobes and their reluctance to associate or trust people they don't know...

I could talk about wooden Xylophones and their differences/similarities to their cousins the metal 'bell-play' Glockenspiels...

But, why not talk about a place whose name is synonymous with beauty, luxury and opulence. Besides, Xanadu is a cool word to say--- almost sounds magical and definitely sounds mysterious.

Coleridge's poem, Kubla Khan, speaks of the savage conqueror's desire to build an earthly paradise, his Xanadu, in ten miles of the most fertile land in what is now the Inner Mongolian region of China. The poem also describes the pleasure dome's majesty....but, still, Xanadu was a man-made Utopia.

And, like all other 'unnatural' things, the world has a way of taking them back. In Coleridge's poem, the sea rises up and claims the pleasure dome, setting it adrift until the dome becomes a dome of ice.
Xanadu, is little more than ruins, today, having fallen prey to nature's own conquest.

The final portion of Coleridge's poem speaks of building the dome in the air and of drinking the milk of paradise... perhaps it's an attempt to construct a paradise that is eternal or that won't be swept away by the sea. Perhaps it is the narrator finally realizing that the only eternal paradise is one that was never built by human hands.....

A to Z reflections....

Another A to Z challenge comes to an end--- another collection of posts and poetry have been written, another deep breath of relief is released. For my fellow bloggers that survived as well, it's another 'challenge-completed' notch carved into the writing desk. I've come to enjoy my yearly foray into the world of all things alphabetical. This was my third year, though it was only the second year I had a workable theme (which made the challenge substantially easier than the first year I attempted this challenge.) And, though my first year was difficult because my focus was so scattered, I found this year was more difficult because I lost the enthusiasm that came with the first year excitement----excitement which helped me plug along until the end of the challenge. Year 3 was a success in the sense that I completed the challenge, though, this was the year that almost wasn't---- Somewhere about a third of the way through the challenge, I seriously considered

A million lives, beneath a single sky.....

Though our feet leave different prints,our tongues sound different words, there's a mirrored rhythm in the beating of our hearts. Though born in different worlds, our eyes sharpened 'neath different moons, there's an unspoken truth in the warmth of our touch. We may walk in different strides and dream different dreams, we may speak in different voices, maybe swim in different streams. It's plain to see, when dark night falls, as all the stars shine through, that underneath it all, there's no difference 'tween me and you.

Bitter Honey

Weaving dreams of beguiling gold, a future's price for happiness. What secrets do you, determined, hold? asks the summer wind's soft caress. A guarded name, a hidden hope. Spinning wheels clutching time, grasping straw that falls away, What dreams may come, we soon may find, won't recall at end of day. A cherished life, a memory lost.

From the Inkwell, From the Vein.....

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