The Wild Places of the Mind

How I discovered Katherine Mansfield and this quote from her Notebook, I have no idea. No matter. It is here and so am I.

"The mind I love must have wild places, a tangled orchard where dark damsons drop in the heavy grass, an overgrown little wood, the chance of a snake or two, a pool that nobody's fathomed the depth of, and paths threaded with flowers planted by the mind."

Prior to reading this, I did not ponder any specifics of  the mind I love. Over time, I have chosen friends and lovers whose minds could match and challenge mine. I did not want to be bored.

My mind is awash in the creative language Mansfield uses ~ the fullness of the Wild Places. Without copying her specific terminology after the wild places, I consider the mind I love ~~~

The mind I love must have wild places. They ring with crimson bells and resound with the voice of the loon and crow. They focus bright white full moon light on darkly rippling water. There must be a lilac wood for the unicorns and high stone ledges which dragon fire cannot harm. Snakes and snake charmers, suns and stardust alike shimmer at the edges. The labyrinthine depths draw me farther in and closer to the heart.

I have met this mind. I have danced to its music and floated on its clouds. Its gypsy wild howls bring me ravenous joy.

What about you? How would you describe the mind that you love? What kind of wild places would you associate with that mind? Is there more than one? Would they have similar wild places? What is a wild place within your own mind?

Leaving Stars

Images of the night sky always rumble deep within my being ~ as though the night time releases me to purr. Top that incredible sensation with Victor Hugo's insight that stars remain within when I open to the night ~ my innards unsure whether to implode or explode.

The brightness of the stars within the dark create imaginative heat when their light touches us. Yet we know that what appears to us in the night sky is an echo of what was and, despite what flickers before our eyes, is now darkness and cold.

And yet.... and yet.... we continue to wish on the stars, to look to them for answers, to place our hope in them. They remind us of both our fleeting presence and our quest for immortality.

I've always loved the night time. Velvet darkness surrounding me. Sounding silence penetrating my soul. Time standing still. Since earliest childhood, I've found myself deep within its solitude.

Hugo's insight hums within me. I've felt, as continue to feel, the pull of the stardust at my core as it brands me a Sister of Night. Tattoos star trails on my soul. Serenades my being with star song.

What do you think of the night? How does it affect you? Do you feel night within you? Can you feel the stars left within you? What time of day speaks most loudly to you? Why?