This is the second collection of poetry the author has composed and taken from a handwritten original manuscript. The first one was called Lyrics / Flor & Blancheflor (published in 2010 on this "mythic poetry" site, and in 2013 / 2014 through Lulu). The cover of Wor(l)d Lyrics can be seen below. It was b(r)ought from Southern Turkey in May 2012, and the writing process began on Ascension Day the same year. Twelve poems or lyrics for spiritual "music of the spheres", and the last one called Letters Written in ten parts, numbered with unofficial titles. The fourth poem Swedenborg, Yeats & Rilke is divided in three, and if read as one, the collection could almost be named as Ten New Poems. Many themes from the mythological and the esoteric tradition(s) are still shaking the ground, or at least X.X.X.X. The Tree of Life has branches and leaves like the rest of them. It has been said there are ten official places or states of being, and one more to represent unofficially the Crown of the Highest, like inner peace could stand for the Truth that is beyond and above human realms. The author does not wish to speak too much of the Word (Logos).
A traditional book can be purchased through:
The Book of Wor(l)d Lyrics:
I MAY / LETTER & POEMS
(May 2014)
II NO MYSTIC LOVE SONGS
(December 2013)
III MALTA ROMANCE ANNO DOMINI
(September 2014)
IV SWEDENBORG, YEATS & RILKE I
(June 2017)
V SWEDENBORG, YEATS & RILKE II
(November 2016)
VI SWEDENBORG, YEATS & RILKE III
(February 2017)
VII AUTUMN VERSES
(OR, LETTERS OF AUTUMN)
(January 2016)
VIII MORE LEAVES OF...
(July 2016)
IX SATURNIA – VULCANIA
(October 2017)
X THE CRUSADER / THE PILGRIM
(August 2015)
XI SONGS OF LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP
(March 2017)
XII LETTERS WRITTEN (I-X)
I ”With Letters Made of Light and Paper Again”
(April 2015)
&
II ”For the Young Who Slept”
III ”The Palm Tree and a Windmill”
IV ”Note in A Minor….”
V ”English Teacher”
VI ”Minne-song(s)”
VII ”The Swans of Ainola”
VIII”(Un)like the French Inferno”
IX ”Therésienstadt”
X ”Love, No Latin”
(c. 2018-2019)
NOTES / REFERENCES
DEDICATIONS & APOLOGIES
The author was on a boat trip near Mt. Athos in autumn 2009, enjoying the scenery, looking at the view, as the saying and the songs go. Inspired by these moments, after returning home from Northern Greece a book written by René Gothóni was loaned from the library of Helsinki University. Two years later the Finnish musician and priest Jukka Kuoppamäki held a lecture in Helsinki, quoting an unknown writer at the end. The quote found its way to the first page of Wor(l)d Lyrics. But no one seemed to know who was the writer. The collection of poetry was emerging slowly and painfully during the years, and it was almost ready when the cries of help were answered. After a series of heartfelt events the name and the quote came together. It was the book loaned. "Look at the ship from within the bottle..."
Many years ago, when I was having a difficult time in my life, and when the demon of despair had me in its grip, Father Theophilos encouraged me by giving me words of advice of an old Japanese samurai who had taught his pupil to prepare for the coming fight:
If you think that you’re going to win, you’ve lost. If you are afraid of losing, you’ve lost. If you pay attention to the size of your enemy, you’ve lost. If you underestimate your enemy’s talent, you’ve lost. If you doubt your own abilities, you’ve lost. If you’re arrogant, you’ve lost. If you’re afraid, you’ve lost.
What is left? You ask.
The fight! Concentrate on that only!
-René Gothóni / The Unknown Pilgrim
(On the way to / from Limnos, passing by Mount Athos, in September 2009. Photo by Antti Filppu)
So, in early February 2019 after having all the poems written down at last, in some form or the other, I went to Alexandria (the library of Helsinki University), and loaned The Unknown Pilgrim again (it may have even been the same copy I loaned a decade before). There it stood, the quote I wanted to find. I never thought it could be in that book, because I had read it, and didn't have any kind of recollection of the samurai or Father Theophilos, either. As I sat down at the library cafe table, to have my coffee and the Runebergian cake, professor Gothóni walked by. Trembling, I ran to him and mumbled something about the book and the quote. He didn't understand me at first, for I was not really making sense, trying to tell him the whole story in a few lines. There is nothing too special about any of this, but even the boat was called Theophilos. It is worth noting also, that the words in that quote were not Gothóni's own. It was a Greek man, who told him what Father Theophilos had said.