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Villanelle: If You Haven'T Had That, What Have You Had

Villanelle : If you haven't had that, what have you had* If you haven't had your life, what have you had In fear of what lies beyond the locked safe-door Live you now the moment, not for what's ahead Fear of what others may think, nothing's more sad Yet if you abandoned all care, who'll forbear If you haven't had your life, what have you had Since James*, Mottram*, Barrau* live not a day dead Yet don't they live safe as Confucian State's heir Live you now the moment, not for what's ahead Or do they live safe to be thought Reason-bred The best of all the Worlds where Time's a mere snare If you haven't had your life, what have you had Walk Eternity back to Big-Bang zero-bed What has no Beginning cannot End-fruit bear Live you now the moment, not for what's ahead No Future's secret the Yi Jing* has not read Don't ephemeral hordes breed the Jün Tzu* to bear If you haven't had your life, what have you had Live you now the moment, not for what's ahead Resources/Notes " Quotation from Henry James' Ambassadors : " If you haven't had that (your life), what have you had " " Henry James (American novelist), Eric Mottram (British poet, professor, critic), Aurélien Barrau (French astro-physicist, philosopher, poet) " Yi Jing : the ancient Chinese Classic of Change " Jün Tzu : the Noble or Superior Man, the advice given in the Yi Jing is meant primarily to distinguish the Superior Being, all the rest are mutatis mutandi " ephemeral beings " which makes one wonder if Life on Earth is not a mere breeding-ground experiment to produce the " Superior Being ", the rest - if you believe in " samsara " or reincarnation - condemned to be born again and again until they make the grade. © T. Wignesan - Paris, May 14, 2019

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Quoth Theraven

Date: 8/23/2020 11:42:00 AM

T, Luck came in a Carpe Diem moment. This, a fine Villanelle caught in phrase 'Time's a mere snare'. -Richard

T Wignesan
Date: 8/24/2020 4:38:00 AM

Hello, Richard ! Thanks for dropping in to share your feelings and compliment me over the villanelle. The truth of the phrase is best understood in Barrau's findings: that neither space nor time are constants or given assumptions as integrated entities in the multi-verse; instead they merely constitute the "contents" in the "container" that's our universe or multi-verse. Odd, is it not?