PLEASE BRING STRANGE THINGS
Please bring strange things.
Please come bringing new things.
Let very old things come into your hands.
Let what you do not know come into your eyes.
Let desert sand harden your feet.
Let the arch of your feet be the mountains.
Let the paths of your fingertips be your maps
And the ways you go be the lines of your palms.
Let there be deep snow in your inbreathing
And your outbreath be the shining of ice.
May your mouth contain the shapes of strange words.
May you smell food cooking you have not eaten.
May the spring of a foreign river be your navel.
May your soul be at home where there are no houses.
Walk carefully, well-loved one,
Walk mindfully, well-loved one,
Walk fearlessly, well-loved one.
Return with us, return to us,
Be always coming home.
- Ursula K. Le Guin
(Thanks, B.)
the only thing i’ve read from Ursula K. Le Guin is her first book in the Earthsea chronicles. it’s what one could call the predecessor of Harry Potter. magic school gunk. anyway, i loved the poem. thank you for sharing it.
By: lizlan on May 22, 2007
at 7:54 am
hi ginny, mind trading links? would love to have you on my blogroll.
By: gibbs cadiz on May 22, 2007
at 12:34 pm
sure, gibbs. when i have time to revise my blog lay-out i shall add you to mine as well.
how did you find your way here? 
By: Ginny on May 24, 2007
at 5:21 pm
WOW—what a breathtaking little gem….i just copied it to a green index card & will take it home to my loved one tonight—
i just found your journal and i love it. there’s such music and rhythm in your writing and your thoughts. so i will be reading more of it, i’m not a stalker, i just love your writing. i don’t blog lately, otherwise i’d share my site with you. anyway, what a treat to find such an amazing webjournal! thank you!
By: cindi on June 7, 2007
at 2:17 am
wait wait. i do have a web site i can share. it’s a photo page with a sound file of my bird, Spanky, a wonderful budgie who died 9 days ago. still crying every day, god i miss him. anyway, he knew lots of bad words, and you can listen to them at that web page…it’s good for a laff…;D
By: cindi on June 7, 2007
at 2:22 am
I’ve only read one book of LeGuin’s: The Dispossessed. It’s social science fiction, a little difficult to start, and meditative all throughout. But it was a book that affected me deeply. One of my favorite lines:
You can go home again . . . so long as you understand that home is a place you have never been.
By: Dominique on June 15, 2007
at 4:05 pm