Of Love, Of Boys, Of Babies

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bukka

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Of Love, Of Boys, Of Babies

Tanned, lean-legged girls in the moonlight,
passing through the warm night air,
coming into the lobby to greet me,
and greeting the other old men.

Blossoms closed at night but
at night-time, love is grasping:
of love, of blossoms, the swirl
of color, in moonlight, the
passionate movement.

The girls pass by, thinking thoughts of love,
of boys, of babies, of moonlight and movement:
of boys and ideals, moving and grasping at
the ideal, and beyond it, when ideals fade,
the divine.

The girls in their rooms, nightshirts against sheets
dreaming of love, of boys, of babies:
dreaming of blossoms closing, of movement in moonlight,
the swirl of color and ecstasy--of movement
to the stars.

Morning dawns, blossoms open,
tanned lean-legged girls pass through
the lobby thinking of love, of boys.
The summer heat swirls around them,
the sunlight of blinding brightness,
beyond it the divine.
 
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bukka

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It's a poem, farouk, that mixes sensuality with awakening spiritual experience. When girls, reaching out to the human love of boys, are first beginning to experience their disappointments in human love, there is, behind it all, the possibility of an awakening to the experience of God. I find the most intriguing women to have awakened to God's love when they were teenagers.
 

farouk

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It's a poem, farouk, that mixes sensuality with awakening spiritual experience. When girls, reaching out to the human love of boys, are first beginning to experience their disappointments in human love, there is, behind it all, the possibility of an awakening to the experience of God. I find the most intriguing women to have awakened to God's love when they were teenagers.
@bukka Interesting point. I do see what you mean, I think. I don't think, however, that participation in the so called condom culture is somehow essential to a later spiritual experience of the Lord through the Scriptures, although maybe you're not exactly saying that.
 

farouk

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@bukka You have evidently a well developed way with words.

I think from your repeated observation in the poem also that it's clear that the ear of universally long, floppy skirts is gone, right?
 

bukka

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@bukka You have evidently a well developed way with words.

I think from your repeated observation in the poem also that it's clear that the ear of universally long, floppy skirts is gone, right?

Yes, farouk. The girls were dressed in denim miniskirts or short cutoff shorts. They were at that awkward stage where they're still learning about themselves and the boys, and were suffering the heartbreaks that come along with being young.
 

farouk

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Yes, farouk. The girls were dressed in denim miniskirts or short cutoff shorts. They were at that awkward stage where they're still learning about themselves and the boys, and were suffering the heartbreaks that come along with being young.
@bukka Anyway, I think that even the definition of miniskirts has changed over several decades; what might have been referred to as a miniskirt in 1964 would perhaps have been worn by those who are now venerable great-grandmothers; whereas today any skirt that might be vaguely above the knee is not what might be called a microskirt today. I don't think that trying to keep Christian young women in a fashion timewarp from 70 -80 years ago would achieve anything, in my humble opinion.

(But I guess I digress from the wording of your intriguing poem...)
 

bukka

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@bukka Interesting point. I do see what you mean, I think. I don't think, however, that participation in the so called condom culture is somehow essential to a later spiritual experience of the Lord through the Scriptures, although maybe you're not exactly saying that.

This, farouk, has more to do with the emotional experiences of girls who have not entered into sexual experimentation and are still open to spiritual experience in the emotional moment when idealism still haunts and, many times, leads them. This poem refers back to the early 1980s when the sexual revolution was slowing down because of the scares involving STDs. It was when girls still had an experience of innocence with a growing worldliness. Back then, for many girls, it was an emotionally conflicted time.
 

Prayer Warrior

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Yes, farouk. The girls were dressed in denim miniskirts or short cutoff shorts. They were at that awkward stage where they're still learning about themselves and the boys, and were suffering the heartbreaks that come along with being young.
As a teacher who has worked with teens for years, I would have to say that it would be better for the girls to keep their minds on school rather than love and boys and babies. Sorry bukka, but I've seen how premarital sex can adversely affect a girl's life. It really is better for girls to save themselves for a committed marital relationship. It's better for them, and it's better for the babies they can conceive.
 
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bukka

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@bukka Anyway, I think that even the definition of miniskirts has changed over several decades; what might have been referred to as a miniskirt in 1964 would perhaps have been worn by those who are now venerable great-grandmothers; whereas today any skirt that might be vaguely above the knee is not what might be called a microskirt today. I don't think that trying to keep Christian young women in a fashion timewarp from 70 -80 years ago would achieve anything, in my humble opinion.

(But I guess I digress from the wording of your intriguing poem...)

The miniskirt and microskirt came out during the same year, as I recall, which was in 1964, if I remember correctly. I was at the ripe old age of 12 years old and didn't understand the excitement that it was causing the older boys until later on. The miniskirt and knee socks look, "the little girl look" for teenage and twenty-something girls was all the rage. I thought the fashions back then were quite exciting and I've always loved the skirts and look of the girls and women of that time.

The poem centers on a time twenty years later when the idealism present in young girls and women were beginning to die out. I've always been fascinated by the innocence and furtive worldliness of the girls at that time and tried to put it into the poem.
 

icxn

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Of Love, Of Boys, Of Babies
Let's see if a spiritual interpretation is possible... :)

Wisdom’s handmaidens* (Proverbs 31:15) in the mind’s understanding
passing through the mind’s night air, our darkened thoughts, warmed by our meditations,
coming into the heart, the heaven’s lobby, to greet us,
and the other old men, the recollections of past failures, with greetings of hope and forgiveness.

Blossoms of virtue and knowledge closed at the night of our ignorance but
at night-time God’s love is grasping:
of our love, of the blossoming of His image in us, the swirling of His nature with ours,
coloring the moonlight of our spirit and the passionate movement of our body with the seven colors of His Spirit (Isaiah 11:1-3).

The girls pass by, filling the mind with thoughts of love for God,
of spiritual maturity (boyhood), of innocence (babies), of understanding (moonlight) and spiritual ascend (movement):
of virtuous works (boys) and the things concerning God (ideals), moving and grasping at what can be known about God (ideal) and beyond it, when conceptions about God fade, the ineffable experience of the Divine.

Virtues established in the recesses (rooms) of our soul, veiling with their nightshirts (spiritual contemplations) the lusts (sheets) of our body (bed), dreaming of love for God… (And the rest as above. A fitting repetition: perseverance in good works and constant reminding is required).

Morning dawns (Proverbs 4:18, 2 Peter 1:19), blossoms open (Philippians 1:11, Galatians 5:22)
Tanned lean-legged girls pass through the heart thinking of love, of righteousness.
The fervor of the Spirit swirls around them, the blinding brightness of Christ’s illumination, beyond it the Divine.


________
* works of repentance (bodily virtues). They are not as fair, hence tanned, as works motivated by love, but they are lean-legged in exercising God’s commandments.
 
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bukka

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You are the one with the... divine inspiration. I'm just the interpreter. :)

Thank God!

I think that you're work is excelling mine! What you've stated here reminds me of Maximus the Confessor, a very formidable writer! Thanks again very much! :)
 

marks

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Of Love, Of Boys, Of Babies

Tanned, lean-legged girls in the moonlight,
passing through the warm night air,
coming into the lobby to greet me,
and greeting the other old men.

Blossoms closed at night but
at night-time, love is grasping:
of love, of blossoms, the swirl
of color, in moonlight, the
passionate movement.

The girls pass by, thinking thoughts of love,
of boys, of babies, of moonlight and movement:
of boys and ideals, moving and grasping at
the ideal, and beyond it, when ideals fade,
the divine.

The girls in their rooms, nightshirts against sheets
dreaming of love, of boys, of babies:
dreaming of blossoms closing, of movement in moonlight,
the swirl of color and ecstasy--of movement
to the stars.

Morning dawns, blossoms open,
tanned lean-legged girls pass through
the lobby thinking of love, of boys.
The summer heat swirls around them,
the sunlight of blinding brightness,
beyond it the divine.

Nice fleshy thoughts to focus your mind on.
 

icxn

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Nice fleshy thoughts to focus your mind on.
It reminded me of the Song of Solomon, which is equally - if not more - fleshy, if one sticks to the letter.
 

bukka

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It is interesting, icxn, how many are manichean in their view of the body. They either worship it or hate, or, more usually have a love hate relationship to it. I think of humanity as a unity of the body and of the spirit, and that behind it all, there is the divine and that we must reach out to it. It is too bad that hatred destroys so much in life.
 

bukka

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As a teacher who has worked with teens for years, I would have to say that it would be better for the girls to keep their minds on school rather than love and boys and babies. Sorry bukka, but I've seen how premarital sex can adversely affect a girl's life. It really is better for girls to save themselves for a committed marital relationship. It's better for them, and it's better for the babies they can conceive.

I'm sorry, Prayer Warrior, for not noticing this post. I was very busy yesterday. I would agree with you on this.

This is not so much a speaking of girls having sexual relations with boys per se. The girls are awaking to those desires and are discovering that men are not necessarily the ideal that they're looking for. They're discovering more ogres, more Shreks than Prince Charmings. But behind that young girls idealism, there is the divine, and back in the 1980s, it was still possible for girls and young women to think further into the divine. That was the basic meaning of this poem.

Have a good day!
 

marks

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It reminded me of the Song of Solomon, which is equally - if not more - fleshy, if one sticks to the letter.
I never got that the Song of Songs was about teen girls laying in bed dreaming of sex with boys. It's a good way to ruin a life, actually. To dwell on that.