An island of blind, feral, albino donkeys

Within you there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat anytime and be yourself (Hermann Hesse)

Otherwise known as “La Isola della Asinara”, this island is located to the north of Sardegna.  What fortunate donkeys these are to be surrounded by such beauty I photographed above!

Evidently, I am still away on holidays and would like to release some thoughts words pent up within my mind.

While a master of words, William Shakespeare wrote:

Action is eloquence

lately my focus has been on words because my days have been predominantly inactive on this Italian island.

Palestra , the Italian word for “gym”, is my favorite word to say out loud because I like the way it rolls over my tongue.  The funniest word I know so far is frangiflutti, which means “beachbreaks” in Italian.

I also like names:  Belén and Celestina.  I have not heard of any male names that impress me, but I will save this contemplation for when I am expecting a child.

Consilience is a new word I learned recently and I placed the book bearing this word as a title on my “to-read” list.

Grotte di Nettuno (Neptune’s Grotto): 600 steps down and along the cliff.

Here are some words I have read so far during my long holiday:

  1. The Te of Piglet by Benjamin Hoff (thank you for the recommendation Althea):  As a continuation of his book “The Tao of Pooh“, I found Piglet’s dedicatory story to be more complicated and less witty.  Yet, Hoff did mention another master of words, Henry D. Thoreau: “What is a course of history or philosophy, or poetry, no matter how well selected, or the best society, or the most admirable routine of life, compared with the discipline of looking always at what is to be seen?  Will you be a reader, a student merely, or a seer?”
  2. Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut (thank you for the recommendation Thomas):  I picked up this book and did not put it down until I reached the end.  Excellent because of the language (my favorite word in the book is duprass), wit, and suspense.
  3. Cafe Europa – Life After Communism by Slavenka Drakulic: “In using such a name as Europa, there is an assumption that everyone knows what we mean by ‘Europe’.  One thing is sure:  it is no longer the name of an entire continent.  It describes only one part of it, the western part, in a geographical, cultural, historical, and political sense.”
  4. Current read: Slow Food Revolution by Carlo Petrini

Le Bombarde beach:  What is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare.  No time to stand beneath the boughts.  And stare as long as sheep or cows. (W.H. Davies)

Lệ

is my favorite word of all.   While there is a common way to say tears in Vietnamese, Lệ is the poetic way of expressing “tears falling”.    Is it not magnificent to have a word with a meaning, yet have another word represent that same meaning, but in a poetic way?  This simple word made of two letters accented with a “hat” above and a “dot” below can convey either tears of happiness or sadness.  I am reminded of a quote from Washington Irving:

There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition, and of unspeakable love.

I like to get off with people. I like to lie in their arms. I like to be held and tightly kissed. Safe from all alarms. I like to laugh and be happy. With a beautiful beautiful kiss. I tell you, in all the world. There is no bliss like this. (Stevie Smith)

So my fellow lover of words:

Do you have any favorite words?

Do you know of any other words that convey a poetic message?

During long hours in the beach, one can tire of reading news articles from her phone and the constant shifting required when holding a book.  My body idles, but not my mind —

please give me some words to ponder.

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