birdandvine - Tumblr blog

[birdandvine]

Let your heart be broken. Allow, expect, look forward to. The life that you have so carefully protected and cared for. Broken, cracked, rent in two. Heartbreakingly, your heart breaks, and in the two halves, rocking on the table, is revealed rich earth. Moist, dark soil, ready for new life to begin.

— Tina Davidson

[birdandvine]

Jeff Buckley and Elizabeth Fraser (from the Cocteau Twins), All Flowers In Time Bend Towards The Sun

[birdandvine]

FUTURA VECCHIA, NEW YEAR’S EVE

Returning, like the Earth To the same point in space, We go softly to the comfort of destruction,

And consume in flames A school of fish, A pair of hens, A mountain poplar with its moss.

A shiver of sparks sweeps round The dark shoulder of the Earth, Frisson of recognition, Preparation for another voyage,

And our own gentle bubbles Float curious and mute Towards the black lake Boiling with light, Towards the sharp night Whistling with sound.

- Rebecca Elson

[birdandvine]

Benjamin Défossez

[birdandvine]

Yanadhyana

[birdandvine]

Honey, understand that I’ve been left here in the reeds

And all I'm trying to do is get my feet out from the crease

[birdandvine]

Charles Ricketts (British, 1866-1931) 

Frontispiece to ‘The Dial’ ,1886

[birdandvine]

Stewart Black, Pink Sphinx, n.d.

[birdandvine]

Sunlight entering the inner sanctuary of Amon-Ra in the Temple of King Ramses III (r. 1186-1155 BCE) in Karnak, Egypt

[birdandvine]

welcome back, spammers and scammers. you’re all blocked 💜

[birdandvine]

Let life humble you. Leonard Cohen said his teacher once told him that, the older you get, the lonelier you become, and the deeper the love you need. This is because, as we go through life, we tend to over-identify with being the hero of our stories. This hero isn’t exactly having fun: he’s getting kicked around, humiliated, and disgraced. But if we can let go of identifying with him, we can find our rightful place in the universe, and a love more satisfying than any we’ve ever known. People constantly throw around the term “Hero’s Journey” without having any idea what it really means. Everyone from CEOs to wellness-influencers thinks the Hero’s Journey means facing your fears, slaying a dragon, and gaining 25k followers on Instagram. But that’s not the real hero’s journey. In the real hero’s journey, the dragon slays YOU. Much to your surprise, you couldn’t make that marriage work. Much to your surprise, you turned forty with no kids, no house, and no prospects. Much to your surprise, the world didn’t want the gifts you proudly offered it. If you are foolish, this is where you will abort the journey and start another, and another, abusing your heart over and over for the brief illusion of winning. But if you are wise, you will let yourself be shattered, and return to the village, humbled, but with a newfound sense that you don’t have to identify with the part of you that needs to win, needs to be recognized, needs to know. This is where your transcendent life begins. So embrace humility in everything. Life isn’t out to get you, nor are your struggles your fault. Every defeat is just an angel, tugging at your sleeve, telling you that you don’t have to keep banging your head against the wall. Leave that striver there, trapped in his lonely ambitions. Just walk away, and life in its vastness will embrace you.

Paul Weinfield

[birdandvine]

“Leopard and Deer”, 1912 by Robert W. Chandler

[birdandvine]

Signs

[birdandvine]

Arthur Frank Mathews  

[birdandvine]

Li-Young Lee, One Heart

[birdandvine]

Caspar David Friedrich, Moonrise Over the Sea

[birdandvine]

I don’t want to go on being a limp sail, raised or lowered at whim, battered and drenched, filled with what’s invisible. I don’t want to go on as a sail and a sieve.

Ama Codjoe, Of Being Sick and Tired