"Voici mon secret. Il est très simple: on ne voit bien qu’avec le cœur. L’essentiel est invisible pour les yeux." - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
Islands of solace are scattered amidst the ocean of mundanity. Look outwards and you will see them. Look inwards and you will know.
Quotes:
• “Do not go gentle into that good night, / Old age should burn and rave at close of day; / Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” - Dylan Marlais Thomas.
• "It is time that we labored for the happiness of the people. Legislators who are to bring light and order into the world must pursue their course with inexorable tread, fearless and unswerving as the sun." - Louis Antoine de Saint-Just
• "Give me the strength to make my love fruitful in service. / Give me the strength never to disown the poor or bend my knees before insolent might. / Give me the strength to raise my mind high above daily trifles." - Rabindranath Tagore
Things that made me weep:
• That I cannot learn every language in the world. That I cannot live every lifestyle in every climate, and cannot explore every landscape, and cannot meet every human. That there is poetry, writing, expression, art, that I may never see because it is incomprehensible to me and yet untranslated.
• The fact that my grandmother’s generation may be the last in our family to speak Farsi.
Things that restored my faith in God:
• Going to the forest with my brother. We ran downhill and were so fast that I was almost certain we were flying! We were breathless with laughter by the end of it. Later, I tried to take photos of butterflies in flight, though I always missed them by a second. My hat was flapping wildly in the wind.
• Relating to people from centuries ago. How interesting it is, the way our emotions are universal!
Things that made my breath catch in my throat:
• The film Look Back (2024).
• The words dulcet, mellifluous, halcyon, meadow, sweetness, mildness, clemency.
• Playing Bach on a pipe organ. What a lovely and euphonic instrument!
Things that made me smile:
• Helping a little boy learn how to swim.
• Praying alone in a small, empty room. Finally getting the thing that I’ve been praying for.
• Eating chicken corn soup and fluffy bread. They were so fresh and warm!
• Looking through my notebook and finding a drawing of my friend that I drew a year ago.
• Translating Goethe and struggling with rhyme schemes. Thinking I came up with something remarkable. Realising my work is just mediocre.
• My dear friend “AK” trying to get me to vote on wether I liked some ugly shoes or not. Saying “yes” just to spite her. Making up weird scenarios with “CE.” Laughing at Napoleonic propaganda with “NZ”. “NZ” and “AC” worrying about World War 3. Debating about Mozart with “W” and about Debussy with “EW”. Joking about “NZ” and “EW” getting married. Meeting “MK” for the first time in ages.
• “N” and everyone else I met at my science program.
• All of my friends, really! I love you all so much!
Quotes:
• "Über allen Gipfeln / Ist Ruh’, / In allen Wipfeln / Spürest du / Kaum einen Hauch; / Die Vögelein schweigen im Walde. / Warte nur, balde / Ruhest du auch." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
• "The woods are lovely, dark and deep, / But I have promises to keep, / And miles to go before I sleep, / And miles to go before I sleep." - Robert Frost
• ""Do you understand everything birds say?" said Mary. Dickon's grin spread until he seemed all wide, red, curving mouth, and he rubbed his rough head. "I think I do, and they think I do," he said. "I've lived on th' moor with 'em so long. I've watched 'em break shell an' come out an' fledge an' learn to fly an' begin to sing, till I think I'm one of 'em. Sometimes I think p'raps I'm a bird, or a fox, or a rabbit, or a squirrel, or even a beetle, an' I don't know it."" - Frances Hodgson Burnett
Things that made me weep:
• Working on my translation of Hymn 2 to Demeter.
• Reading A Little Princess and wondering at how Sara Crewe has the strength not to kill herself. Realising afterwards that if I haven’t killed myself then why is it so surprising that she hasn't as well?
• Staying up, reading The Brothers Karamazov. Alyosha was on the ground weeping and so was I.
• Most books I read nowadays make me weep.
Things that restored my faith in God:
• Feeding bread to the pigeons on a marble pathway in Mecca, near the Haram. I fed them an entire bag of bread and they were all surrounding me. If you haven’t been to Mecca, you can’t really understand how many pigeons there are there. The amount of pidgeons is vast. Another girl was feeding pigeons as well, feeding them seeds. We made eye contact. I smiled, but I don’t know if she realised as my face was covered.
• Giving out candies to young children. One shy little girl only took a single candy. I pulled out five more and pressed them into her hands. Her mother laughed. Another lady laughed as well, as her children delighted at seeing the candy. “Shukran,” she said over and over again with earnestness. I felt such fondness towards her. She was so sweet and her children were so lovely! I think I must have given out at least 300 candies that day.
Things that made my breath catch in my throat:
• Van Gogh’s Wheatfield with Crows.
• Street cats. I was standing there with my sun umbrella when a street cat suddenly walked up to me and started rubbing against my legs. I didn’t do anything to attract it, it just came on its own. I crouched down, shading it with my umbrella and petting it. It sat on me, flipped upside down for me and made all sort of adorable noises. I petted it for ages until my brother got bored and said he’ll scare it off if I don’t get up. I left it, though I was on the verge of crying. That must have been the sweetest cat I’ve ever seen!
• The words sonority, dolorous, euphonic and melodious.
• Schafe mögen sicher grasen and Jesus bleibet meine Freude.
Things that made me smile:
• The way all of my friends have such distinct ways of saying "hello" and "goodbye," and how easily I can recognise their voices.