Tuesday, March 1, 2016

The Strong Sun (Aging)





At thirty, you’re not done for, but your breath is already flagging!
At forty, you’re not done for either, but your body’s preparing for it,
Ahead of time!
At twenty I never got tired of anything.
At sixty, it is called lameness —
At sixty-eight, the strong sun knocks you out, and the life of the body feels as if it is in deep water—
At the end of the day, the bed is sweet; one is content.
Now I wait quietly without really knowing why…

When you get old, your life gets corrugated like a grooved tin-roof, fetish in some areas, but it’s just worn-out machinery at work.
You’re like an old barrel, separated by a sort of path covered by new tiles.
Now the fatigue, the ache in the back, the loss of stamina from inaction, and all signs of old age.
Work is a curse, it precedes death.
No way to chase away those gloomy thoughts!


No: 5095/2-28-2016

The Legend of Huallallo (In English and Spanish)

Versión en Inglés
The Legend of Huallallo
(The false Wanka God) 




From the Hills of the Mantaro Valley
Murmured and moaned Huallallo (the false God)
As he plunged and plundered the:
Minds, and wills and souls of the Wanka Race—
Hunting his prey from the valley plateau
To the top of the mountain called Unishcoto
To command all must adore and worship him:
Taking the sweetness out of the land.

Thus came Con Ticsi Viracocha –as Huallallo
Lay brooding by the waters of the Rio Mantaro
Planning his escape to the East!
Whereupon Con Ticsi Viracocha, had decided to punish
His disloyal and idolatrous nation, —and allowed
Invaders to conquer them from the south.

Huallallo fell to his knees, — like cast iron clasps!
Stripped naked, and light hearted, tired of his evil, he
Converted heart and soul! Saved from a grievous fate
Upon which, Con Ticsi Viracocha lifted the woe and curse
From the land. And the False Wanka God, Huallallo—
His remains, were cast aloft, creating Huaytapallana—
(White Mountain).

#2870 (11-22-2010) Revisad 2-27-2016






Versión en Español
La Leyenda de Huallallo Carhuancho
(El falso dios Wanka)


Las montañas del Valle del Mantaro
Murmuraron y gimieron
Mientras Huallallo (el falso dios)
Arremetía y robaba la mente,
Voluntad y el alma de la raza Wanka—
Cazando a sus presas desde la meseta del valle
Hasta la cima donde esta Unishcoto,
Para ordenar quo todos
Debían adorarlo y rendirle culto;
Y así fue.

A este punto en el tiempo, Huallallo,
Quien entusiastamente había buscado
Por convertidos—
Destruyendo la dulzura de la tierra-
Estaba dando vueltas ahora
Por las aguas del Rio Mantaro
Para hacer su escape hacia el este,
Porque Con Ticsi Viracocha
Había castigado a la nación Wanka,
(Por su deslealtad, e idolatría)
Permitiendo a los invasores (del sur) conquistarlos.

Desnudo,
Solazado y gozoso
Perdiendo su malicia,
En sus rodillas Huallallo cayó
—como hierro, y fue convertido,
Y su alma fue salvada de un grave destino—
Así, Con Ticsi Viracocha
Levanto la crueldad gravosa
Al enemigo, y maldición de la tierra,
Y los restos del falso dios Wanka,
Huallallo, fueron convertidos
En lo que hoy es conocido

Como el Nevado del Huaytapallana.

Rosamund’s Limbo (A poem)

. . .




To die and not be noticed—
Or to feel you have not been noticed!
Now exiled to another existence, wherever!
Perhaps to an expanse where you are hidden in a ripple of time!
She, Rosamund, couldn’t say!
But no beings spoke of man, or woman wherever she was—
A moment later, when she became aware, the first days had already passed…
Days in silence.
A merciless silence, in a land inhabited by stones and beings unknown.
This is how it was, things sprang up, then disappeared—
‘One minute alive, the next then dead!’
She told herself over and over: ‘…one moment alive, the next dead...’
Nothing mattered: eating, sleeping, talking, nothing at all mattered!
‘Someone is pouting!’ she whispered, ‘But where?’ she saw nobody.
Then she saw beings with animal mouths.
Then she saw shadows, everything shadows, shades, eclipses of beings.
Beings that appeared to congeal, harden as they came more alive, as if using less energy…
Where from?  Some window, in some unknown forward-dimension.
The fainted beings increased, then they moaned, disappeared.

As time must have passed, where time seems not to have existed, familiar as it was becoming, a strange bond developed between them and her!
As if all were joined together, in the same boat! Beyond their differences.
Was she still alive?
In a dream of fatigue?
She stirred imperceptibly, with this statement-question—!
Thus came a somnambulistic moment, ‘I’m dreaming, I’m dreaming,’ she told herself.
She repeated this over 100, no 1000, no 10,000 times, as then she stopped to take her inventory, feeling strangely empty and venerable…

The Ground echoed.
This whole place was of crumbling rock and sand, and in the distance was a faint path.
Vapor was rising covering the path.
It was as if teasing her.
She figured if she took it, it would lead to no place, to nothingness, no fork in the road, as Robert Frost, once implanted in a poem.
Then she looked beneath her knees, a clumsy hand had traced in the sand the inscription “You must await trial, you must pay!”
It was as if an invisible hand had reached all the way to her, alone.

#5096/ 2-28-2016
Copyright © by Dennis L. Siluk, Dr. h.c.


Vignette . . . “Facundo’s Mother” (March, 2014: Lima, Peru; San Juan Miraflores) - In English and Spanish





It has been said, and perhaps not said too much, or too loud, or taken too seriously, for my liking people speaking unthinkingly they say that love is a cure all.  I say—there is an opposite side to the coin of love, it can destroy good sense and makes the loving person a fool, and this story I bring to your attention may prove my point, and I’m sure the reader perhaps knows even more course tales on the subject then this one—I dread to hear it! In this story it is a mother’s love, and fear of her son!

       She is at peace now, Catalina, it wasn’t that way always in her earth-life, quite the opposite, living with and by her son; and perhaps someday Facundo will come to see the wisdom of some counsel, and breaking of old cadaverous habits for this too, has brought to him an unsettle mind, and so remains to this day, his way presently in earth-life. She loved her child, Facundo, and loved well.  —Facundo’s mother Catalina.
       He was angry still, as was his way with her, with the neighbors. She obeyed her heart, not her logical thinking, and the heart said ‘Do not mind him.’  He was ever quick with harsh words for her, as those beatings he gave her also were quick and swift, taking her money for drugs; we all knew this in the neighborhood, all of us. She blamed God for his ways, for not helping her, but God put all of us in her way to help her, and she’d not help herself; it looked to us, she wanted to be a martyr, and so she was.
       Well, she did no wrong, and he was in his own drug induced world, and he obeyed pride and she obeyed him, that drove her against her heart’s prompting her to escape his evil ways, as we all told her to do, and she wouldn’t do; and then he told her not to talk to us neighbors because she was getting strong, and for the most part, again she obeyed.
       In a way, she had a saint’s heart, with an aureole sweetness, goodness and meekness but short with determination to do anything but blame God for her stubbornness to endure.
       He, Facundo, had expressed himself in no certain way to the neighbors to stay out of his affairs with his mother. And most of us did, not all. Not me and not my wife, we told her to go to a support group, or escape the neighborhood, but she said, he’d just find her. No telling what wackiness he was on the verge of doing. He was the dark personified element in her fear. His mysterious influence seized her body and soul. She told my wife, “He’s going to kill me yet,” I suppose she meant beating her to death, or mentally. She was sixty, he thirty-eight, no kid, a bum, he didn’t work, he just complained.
       She had written her will out, leaving him half of whatever. 
       There is the possibility of one mind unconsciously telling another mind, to go and die; like a dog or animal, or flower, if there is no love there, that is what they do, they go forevermore into the dust of the earth. He abused her warm generosity and swift forgiveness, and the drugs made him into a primitive beast, dominating all of her, with no love, noticeable. But of course this is what drugs and alcohol do: along with cutting emotion out of the soul. That is why the demon can retire once he’s got you on alcohol or drugs, he need do no more. So the beast dominated her, you could see this on her face, hot dread; she was quick not to not please him.
       Now that she is dead, what can he do? I asked myself, once the money is gone, what then?  She had a heart attack, six weeks ago, perhaps with a nervous breakdown to boot: who’s to say, but dead all the same.
       Believe it or not, kids, more kids than you think are like that nowadays.
       I saw him a few days ago, he stopped to say hello, shake hands, mingle with a few gestures, words, no residuum of sorrow about him, nothing in his voice to indicate he was grieving a loss, still possessed by his drug, and from what I saw of him, melting away to nothingness; he was in another mind, in that he was out of his mind, with inane behavior.
       The neighbors blamed him for her death, and some wanted to press charges, there was much irritation in their manners for this madman, but they did little to nothing. My wife asked what I thought of it, why he had no emotions. I said “He’ll get them when he wakes up, and gets off the drugs, then look out, he’ll be suicidal.”

No: 1062 (5-15-2014)
Reeditad: 7-2015


Spanish Version
“La madre de Facundo”
(Marzo 2014: Lima, Perú; San Juan de Miraflores)

Ella  está en paz ahora, Catalina, no siempre fue de esa forma en su vida terrena, casi lo contrario, viviendo cerca de su hijo, y viviendo con él; y tal vez algún día Facundo llegue a escuchar la sabiduría de algún consejo, y rompa viejos hábitos desagradables, porque esto también, le ha ocasionado a él una mente perturbada, y así continúa a la fecha, su comportamiento en la vida terrena.  Ella amaba a su hijo, Facundo, y lo amaba mucho—la madre de Facundo, Catalina.
       Él todavía estaba enojado, como era su comportamiento con ella, con los vecinos.  Ella obedecía a su corazón, no a su pensamiento lógico, y el corazón decía: “no le hagas caso a él”.  Él era rápido con palabras duras para ella, así como esos golpes que le daba también eran súbitos y rápidos, llevándose su dinero para las drogas; todos sabíamos esto en el barrio, todos nosotros.  Ella le echaba la culpa a Dios por la forma de ser de él, por no ayudarla; pero Dios nos puso a todos nosotros en su camino, para ayudarla, pero ella no se ayudaba a sí misma; nos parecía a nosotros, que ella quería ser una mártir, y así lo fue.
       Bueno, ella no hizo ningún mal, y él estaba sumido en su propio mundo de drogas inducido, y él obedecía al orgullo, y ella le obedecía a él, lo que la condujo en contra de la advertencia de su corazón de escaparse de sus malos tratos, como todos le habíamos dicho que lo hiciera, pero ella no lo haría; y entonces él le dijo que no hablara con nosotros, los vecinos, ya que ella se estaba volviendo fuerte, y como siempre, de nuevo, ella obedeció.
       De alguna forma, ella tenía el corazón de una santa, con una dulzura de aureola, bondad y mansedumbre pero corta en determinación a hacer algo, sólo echarle la culpa a Dios por su propia terquedad para soportar.
      
Él, Facundo, había dado a entender a los vecinos, de alguna forma, estar fuera de sus asuntos con su madre. Y la mayoría lo hizo, pero no todos. No mi esposa ni yo, nosotros le dijimos que fuera a un grupo de ayuda, o que se escapara del barrio, pero ella sólo decía, que él la encontraría de todas formas.  Sin contar qué tontería él estaba a punto de hacer. Él era el oscuro elemento personificado en su miedo. Su influencia misteriosa agarró su cuerpo y alma. Ella le dijo a mi esposa, “Él va a matarme aún”, supongo que quiso decir que la golpearía a muerte, o mentalmente.  Ella tenía sesenta años, él treinta y ocho, no un niño, un vagabundo, él no trabajaba, sólo se quejaba.
       Ella había escrito su testamento dejándole la mitad de lo que sea. 
       Cabe la posibilidad que una mente inconscientemente le dijo a la otra, ve y muere; como un perro o un animal, o una flor, si no hay amor allí, eso es lo que hacen, ellos van para siempre al polvo de la tierra.  Él abusó de su generosidad cálida y de su rápido perdón, y las drogas hicieron de él una bestia primitiva, dominándola toda a ella, sin amor que se notara.  Pero, por supuesto, esto es lo que las drogas y el alcohol hacen: junto con sacar las emociones del alma.  Esto es por qué el demonio puede jubilarse, una vez que te mete en las drogas o el alcohol, él no necesita hacer nada más. Así la bestia la dominaba, podías verlo en su cara, tremendo pavor; ella era rápida en no dejar de complacerlo.
       Ahora que ella está muerta, ¿qué puede hacer él? Me pregunté, una vez que el dinero se acabe, ¿qué sigue?  Ella tuvo un ataque al corazón, seis semanas atrás, tal vez con una crisis nerviosa para completar: quién puede decirlo, pero muerta lo mismo.
       Para creer o no, algunos hijos, más hijos de lo que se piensa, son así hoy en día.
       Lo vi a él unos días atrás, él se detuvo para saludar, dar la mano, alternado unos cuantos gestos, palabras, no había rastros de pena en él que se notara en su voz para indicar que él estaba sufriendo por una pérdida, todavía poseído por sus drogas, y por lo que vi de él, fundiéndose en la nada; él estaba en otra mente, es decir estaba ido, con un comportamiento absurdo.
       Los vecinos lo culparon por la muerte de ella, querían denunciarlo, había mucha irritación en sus modales por este hombre irascible, pero hicieron casi nada.  Mi esposa me preguntó qué pensaba sobre esto, por qué él no tenía emociones. Dije: “Él lo tendrá cuando salga de las drogas, luego, mira, él será miserable”

No: 1062 (15-Mayo-2014) 


Borobudur (a poem)


(Borobudur, Largest Baddish Temple in the World, 800 A.D.) July, 1999


Beneath the bluish-white, sun-ridden sky,
Long was the day, and long the climb to the shrine’s summit:
To the top rim of Java’s Borobudur’s body, thus where lies
The pinnacle of the Dhammapada, its canonical teachings….
Yet I moved firmly by myself from one level to another
Examining its etchings and carvings…
Long I sat, exhausted, had the stones a voice, and would loudly cry:
“The Path to the Deathless is awareness…”

I felt the pulse of earth throb, from the ground up, transmitting a
Spiritual repose, from this volcanic structure, of a million black stones,
Coverings its immense boarders! Built 800 A.D., that basted once in Glory!
Wider than the widest Pyramid of Egypt! Crowned, with a Stupa.

Originally written 9-19-1999/ two months after my trip to Japan and Java, and reedited and titivated, 2-27-2016.

Originally published in the book “Sirens” by the same Poet/Author.  Dennis l. Siluk, Dr. h.c.  #5093    

A Strange Sorrow ((Alcoholism) (in Poetic Prose))




With alcohol one superficially rediscovers the heartbreaking emotion that makes most men and women at one time or another the world’s master,
—and its servant…!
Alcohol, makes a person’s hand idle — shunning work!
Alcohol is what s/he lives for…
The very thing s/he spends hours sitting, daydreaming, in smoked-filled, noisy bars…
A strange sorrow with no tomorrow—
Asked, “What does an alcoholic need to stop?”
Says the respondent: “Something better than what he’s got, why else would he stop!”


#5099 (1 April, 2016

Note 1:  The author has not done much in the area of alcoholism in a long time, being at one time a professional drinker, meaning, an alcoholic. So this poem, is the catch up poem, for after 33-years of sobriety, its way overdue.

Note 2: The poem is dedicated to: Samantha Shields, and Mike Kempe, and don’t ask me why!


Note 3:  Being a licensed CD Counselor, in the State of Minnesota, and having Graduate Studies at the University of Minnesota in that very field, an internship at Ramsey Hospital, and working in the field for fifteen-years, and writing three books on alcoholism, now with a Doctorate Degree in Social work, and an undergraduate degree in Psychology, —not that I need all that to say what I’m going to say, but, it might help—: when you are drinking you forget that you have forgot about thinking of other people. You see them, but you really don’t. One day is like the day before. You say, “Tomorrow we’ll start over,” but everything begins again as before. Your family and friends hide their tears. When people talk to you it appears to them that you are talking to yourself, for the gaze of the drinker is elsewhere. 

A Nameless Anguish


Café de Flora, Paris, 1997 (The author’s regular spot for coffee and ham and
Cheese sandwiches)


One knows that one needs to be needed—
And that this need, is needed to survive:
To survive day and night, especially at night,
Each and every night; even when they say
 “Darling, it’s nothing!”
For one lives by this need… ((as the tireless
voice inside of you, like rattling pebbles
reminds you: it is something!)(if one cannot
find a need, s/he lives under a watery sun…))

When I came back from Paris in 2002, my mother
Who lived down stairs at the time, I thanked
Her for watching my house, I lived upstairs.
She said, “I felt needed!” She was bristling
With fire in her eyes, it was as if she meant:
“The honor is mine!”


#5094/2-28-2016

Note: the Author has been to Paris four times (last time, 2002, first time, 1997).