Menolyrical + Menosophical = Mush

All of a sudden a few nights back, something made me go to the office shelves and search for an item which, till that moment, had dropped from memory. The 'prod' was a need for inspiration. Thursdays are also the day a bit of introspection/retrospection goes down here. These two requirements caused recall.

The item is a little black book. Not that little. Standard A5 artist's sketchbook, actually. There are a few sketches within the pages, but mostly there are poems.

Well. I say poems. Ditties might be more accurate. It is a strange thing, looking back over one's writing efforts. A sense of cringe can creep up on one. Yet also a sense of - 'really? I was thinking that deeply?!' Pretty much all of the work in those pages was done between the ages of 15 and 25. One thing is clear. There was always the philosophical streak when pen was put to paper. Another theme is the 'human condition' - despairing of the folly which can be seen, optimistic of the wisdom to be found. The strong spiritual leaning also rings out. There are even a couple of poems which - and this can only be said in retrospect - herald the personality which would ultimately find the philosophy to answer its questions.

In keeping with the (albeit intermittent) biographical purpose of this bloggy, it has been decided to force-feed share some of these embarrassing little writings with you. Fret not. Only half a dozen were considered even remotely publishable. Then again, two have already been aired from this book; HERE, and last Friday. From laziness For ambiance, the pages have been photographed; (another reason a few of the poems are not getting put here - they are illegible, as calligraphy was not always as important as just getting those words down, it seems!) You'll see a funny wee squiggle at the end. I was signing 'Ali' backwards for all my works - as they are but reflections of me.

The first offering is one I remember penning when teaching Sunday School. There were a couple of children who could not see beyond themselves and took all the teachings to mean the world was supposed to work in their favour, rather than that they would need to favour the world with their work.