the hum of passing days

the hum of passing days

@humofpada.bsky.social

Light, sound, and distance.

340 followers376 following234 posts

the hum of passing days
@humofpada.bsky.social

I took a ferry to a small island I hadn't been to in years. After a walk through the village, I burned incense at a temple dedicated to the water goddess and then sat at the beach. High above the sea, airplanes crossed the autumn sky, their silver shapes pointing towards an unknown destination.

the hum of passing days
@humofpada.bsky.social

Looking out through the window, I noticed a black kite circling high above the bay. On the far shore, sunlit hills rose up. Massive clouds, their distant peaks just visible over the ridge, towered near the hidden horizon. I wondered what lay beneath them, what land, what island, or what sea.

the hum of passing days
@humofpada.bsky.social

I watched Julian Schnabel's At Eternity's Gate, and what stayed with me was the conversation between Vincent van Gogh (Willem Dafoe) and a priest (Mads Mikkelsen). "Sometimes I feel so far away from everything," Van Gogh says when challenged by the priest. "I think of myself as an exile."

the hum of passing days
@humofpada.bsky.social

"There is no bad mark. Painting is a series of marks, next to each other ... If I bring those things to a painting, I may be able to express something in you that really gets to who you are." (Willem Dafoe on learning how to paint like Vincent van Gogh for his role in At Eternity's Gate)

the hum of passing days
@humofpada.bsky.social

Something is calling. It doesn't agree with who you think you are. Day after day, it tears at the towers you are guarding. At night, it haunts the corridors of your being. It will never let you go. If you turn to it and say the word it is waiting for, it will become you.

the hum of passing days
@humofpada.bsky.social

While I was washing my tea bowl, I was suddenly struck by the beauty of the early morning light. The sun, still low, had reappeared from behind the opposite building, and objects I was used to handling with indifference had turned into crystal.

the hum of passing days
@humofpada.bsky.social

I woke up early and couldn't fall asleep again. Thinking about the past, the day ahead seemed like an unformed memory, distant and unreal. I envied the birds as they were singing the sun into existence.

the hum of passing days reposted

kimdorman.bsky.social
@kimdorman.bsky.social

To a sage at Harima: From darkness into the path of darkness I’m bound to enter. Shine on me in the distance, moon at the rim of the hill -Lady Izumi (tr. Hiroaki Sato)

the hum of passing days
@humofpada.bsky.social

Listening to it brought to mind these lines by Philip Larkin: Outside, the wind's incomplete unrest Builds and disperses clouds about the sky, And dark towns heap up on the horizon. None of this cares for us.

the hum of passing days
@humofpada.bsky.social

It was the blue hour when I went to the window. The streets had turned to amber, apartments were beginning to light up. Birdsong was everywhere. For a long time, I couldn't bring myself to close the window.

the hum of passing days reposted

a.
@pocketb7.bsky.social

ruins #photography #photograph #fotografie #fotograaf #photooftheday #blackandwhite #bnw #monochrome #ClassicMono

the hum of passing days reposted

kimdorman.bsky.social
@kimdorman.bsky.social

Whoever you are: in the evening step out of your room, where everything’s familiar; your house lies between you and the distance: whoever you are. -Rainer Maria Rilke (tr. Kristofor Minta)

the hum of passing days reposted

Nicolas Robert
@robertsnickc.bsky.social

“Wisdom is knowing I am nothing, Love is knowing I am everything, and between the two my life moves.” ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj (1897-1981) #Sculpture, the Hindu elephant deity Ganesha, Remover of Obstacles, 9th century.

the hum of passing days
@humofpada.bsky.social

The typhoon arrived at night, and at times I thought the windows might shatter. Outside, dark trees were swaying violently. In between gusts of wind and heavy rain, I suddenly heard birds, and I imagined them in the darkness, clinging to a branch and singing into the storm.

the hum of passing days reposted

Steven Forth
@stevenforth.bsky.social

1st lines Among dark water rocks summer insects flit, with no bonfire, to the break of day Mizu kuraki iwama ni mayou natsumushi no tomoshi kechite mo yo o akasu kana Princess Shikishi translated by Hiroaki Sato #1stlines #poetry #waka #translation