goldenlangur Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 if only you could understand my silence not that I don't think of you but that I have no words Quote goldenlangur Even a single enemy is too many and a thousand friends too few - Bhutanese saying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyv Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 Is the speaker's loss for words due to a phenomenon like writer's block? Or is s/he, figuratively speaking, "speechless," because s/he has nothing to say to the recipient of the expository piece? The reader wants to understand ... Tony Quote Here is a link to an index of my works on this site: tonyv's Member Archive topic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aleksandra Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 if only you could understand my silence not that I don't think of you but that I have no words Goldenlangur, this is one wise tanka. All is said, all understood. Can be related to many things, and in each of situations makes a big sense. As Tony said, can be connected with writer's block, or love connections etc. Wonderful expressed and very good to read this one. Soft, sweet and poetical. Glad to read this beautiful tanka my friend. Aleksandra Quote The poet is a liar who always speaks the truth - Jean Cocteau History of Macedonia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
douglas Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 nice! Quote To receive love, you have to give it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr_con Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 GL, Profound in its simplicity and absolute truth. Well done;-) DC Quote thegateless.org Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dedalus Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 (edited) I speak your language but I choose to say nothing not now, to communicate (I'm not sure if that's what you meant to say, but that's how it came across) I can see that happening, I suppose, if one lives in a monolingual culture where silence could be seen as a bit of relief ... it can be an OVERLOAD when you understand everything coming at you from radios, TVs and people's mouths 24 hours a day. A bit of peace and quiet would be welcome. It's actually quite a terrible thing to understand everything that people around you are saying, come to think of it. Living in a foreign culture where you only half-understand what people are saying ends up being more peaceful than stressful. You tune so much of it out, it's just so much noise, you don't understand it. You smile a bit more than usual. This is not the standard approved view of intercultural communication, I know, now that it has reached the point these days of "Why can't these stupid buggers speak English??" but it has its good points: you become tremendously aware of gestures and expressions and body language, the very things that a constant blather blather of words overwhelms and conceals. Naturally, such nuances can be equally appreciated in a single-language environment if they are given the chance to live and breathe. And this, I think, is what the poem is about. It would be interesting if we had to count the number of words we speak each day ... how many hundreds, how many thousands of words have you used today? How many hundreds of thousands? And to what avail? dedalus Edited October 9, 2009 by dedalus Quote Drown your sorrows in drink, by all means, but the real sorrows can swim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lake Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 Multi-meanings is a good thing. This is my take: It's not that I don't care about you, it's tha I don't know what to say. And this can be applied in many different situations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badger11 Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 hi gl The final line seems to contradict the write? Perhaps there is another reason for the silence. badge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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