Steinblóm

Happy Halloween, readers! In honor of the day, John J. Miller of National Review provides several great links to some timely ghost stories:

Brian Ruckley on The Edinburgh Dead

Mary Downing Hahn on The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall

Otto Penzler on The Vampire Archives

Joseph Pearce on Frankenstein

You also may want to check out the Ghostly Kirk site, full of Russell Kirk ghost stories!

I don’t want to make too big of a deal of this story, but maybe Ralph Fiennes has a point.  Too much microblogging, texting and whatnot, have ruined language to the point of making a generation of young folks sound so utterly retarded that you can’t have a good, functional conversation with a lot of them.  It makes the generation gap seem far more vast than it actually should be.

The Telegraph has more here.

Major geekfest time!  If you’re into Hammer films, then this box set should send you over the moon!  Mind you, this is available from England, but surely your local retailer can find it.

From October, 2011:

In Georgian:

ფარვანის ფრთების
მონაბერ ნიავს
როცა აყვები;
როცა ალუბლის
თეთრი ყვავილის
ჩურჩულს გაიგებ;
როცა მიფრინავ,
თუ წეროების
გრძელ მწკრივს
გაჰყვები;
როცა წასული
დედის ლოცვა
სინდისის ცრემლად
სულში ჩაგყვება;
როცა სიმშვიდე
ორი ფერია
ლურჯი და თეთრი -
როცა მწვერვალი
ღრუბლებში ცურავს,
როცა იპოვე
ღვთის ნატერფალი;
როცა სამყარო
გულში ეტევა,
თუ სული მღერის -

გამოქცევიხარ
მაშინ ტყვეობას,
მაშინ სიკვდილმა
სხვაგან იარა!
წარსული, აწმყო
და მომავალი -
დრო – მაშინ დაყრის
შენთან იარაღს…
მარადისობა
მაშინ ხარ თვითონ
და შენი სული
ღმერთს ეზიარა!

And in English:

When you follow
Wind blown by the
Wings of moth;
When you hear the
Whisper of a white
Cherry flower;
When you fly,
If you follow
Long queues
of cranes;
When has gone away
a Mother’s prayer
Comes into the soul
As conscience’s tear;
When peace
Comes in two colors:
Blue and white –
When the peak
Swims in the clouds,
When you have found
The Lord’s footstep;
When the universe
Fits into the heart,
If the soul sings –

Then you escaped
Being a hostage,
Then death
Has turned the other way!
The past, the present
And the future –
Then time will surrender
At your feet…
Then you are yourself
Eternity,
And your soul,
Has Communion with God!

Translated by Archil Lursmanashvili, with some grammatical touch-up by Rudy Carrera.

It’s the pushing aside that I do.
To make way for my sins, my thoughts, my actions.
The folding up and the putting away of God – into a corner closet
To take out another day.
To unfold and shake out and wrap myself into
When it suits me
When I can no longer stand the cold.
Will the day come
When I’ve forgotten where I put God?
Which closet? Which shelf? Which corner?
And I’ll be alone, wrapping my arms
Around myself.
Shivering in the chill,
God, waiting for me to unfold Him,
Like a summer blanket
Faded and needing creases ironed out.
“Seek for Me and you will find Me
If you search for Me
With all your heart.”
I will not find God if I have pushed Him
Away in a corner closet
And I never even open that door
To look.

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