This is borderline sacrilege, this is my favourite Greek poet. I am not particularly literary , my parents are, although I have read some poetry in my time. Apparently poetry should talk to anyone, regardless of the intent of the poet. This poem always came to me whenever something good was going away.
When suddenly, at midnight, you hear
an invisible procession going by
with exquisite music, voices,
don’t mourn your luck that’s failing now,
work gone wrong, your plans
all proving deceptive—don’t mourn them uselessly.
As one long prepared, and graced with courage,
say goodbye to her, the Alexandria that is leaving.
Above all, don’t fool yourself, don’t say
it was a dream, your ears deceived you:
don’t degrade yourself with empty hopes like these.
As one long prepared, and graced with courage,
as is right for you who proved worthy of this kind of city,
go firmly to the window
and listen with deep emotion, but not
with the whining, the pleas of a coward;
listen—your final delectation—to the voices,
to the exquisite music of that strange procession,
and say goodbye to her, to the Alexandria you are losing.
But what does poetry have to do with the car below? This car is being discontinued in December 2023, and it's pretty certain that there won't ever be another like it. Nobody will make this again going forward. It's a last hurrah for true petrolheads, my kids won't ever get why this thing talks to me. My wife calls it "ridiculous and ugly".
This ludicrous monstrosity talks to anyone who's got motor oil in their veins instead of blood like me. It's brilliantly ridiculous, it probably needs new back tires every few months, and likely starts by burning baby panda fat. It probably doesn't go forward, it just turns the Earth backwards. All good. All good! I love American engineering, isn't always as sophisticated as European/Japanese, but it kicks ass like nobody else. For some reason American cars, old and new, are extremely popular in Switzerland so I see and hear these all the time. If I had money to burn I'd just get one.
When suddenly, at midnight, you hear
an invisible procession going by
with exquisite music, voices,
don’t mourn your luck that’s failing now,
work gone wrong, your plans
all proving deceptive—don’t mourn them uselessly.
As one long prepared, and graced with courage,
say goodbye to her, the Alexandria that is leaving.
Above all, don’t fool yourself, don’t say
it was a dream, your ears deceived you:
don’t degrade yourself with empty hopes like these.
As one long prepared, and graced with courage,
as is right for you who proved worthy of this kind of city,
go firmly to the window
and listen with deep emotion, but not
with the whining, the pleas of a coward;
listen—your final delectation—to the voices,
to the exquisite music of that strange procession,
and say goodbye to her, to the Alexandria you are losing.
But what does poetry have to do with the car below? This car is being discontinued in December 2023, and it's pretty certain that there won't ever be another like it. Nobody will make this again going forward. It's a last hurrah for true petrolheads, my kids won't ever get why this thing talks to me. My wife calls it "ridiculous and ugly".
This ludicrous monstrosity talks to anyone who's got motor oil in their veins instead of blood like me. It's brilliantly ridiculous, it probably needs new back tires every few months, and likely starts by burning baby panda fat. It probably doesn't go forward, it just turns the Earth backwards. All good. All good! I love American engineering, isn't always as sophisticated as European/Japanese, but it kicks ass like nobody else. For some reason American cars, old and new, are extremely popular in Switzerland so I see and hear these all the time. If I had money to burn I'd just get one.
![IMG_1321[1].JPG](https://pipesmagazine.com/forums/data/attachments/235/235979-66f48eeaec28d8a3c79e66643703bd25.jpg "IMG_1321[1].JPG")
