{"id":5270,"date":"2025-07-21T20:08:32","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T20:08:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/afflatuscreations.com\/?page_id=5270"},"modified":"2025-07-21T20:09:34","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T20:09:34","slug":"seahorses-and-other-miracles-from-depths-and-heights-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/afflatuscreations.com\/index.php\/seahorses-and-other-miracles-from-depths-and-heights-2\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cSeahorses and other miracles\u2026\u201d (From \u201cDepths and Heights\u201d)"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Seahorses and other miracles…” (From “Depths and Heights”)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gerrard Chaiken, Cape Town (South Africa)<\/strong><\/p>\n


<\/strong>So often , you felt<\/p>\n

As if there were a stone around your neck,<\/p>\n

A stone in your heart,<\/p>\n

As if your heart itself were stone,<\/p>\n

And your broken-limbed body<\/p>\n

A stone upon stony ground.<\/p>\n

So often, you felt<\/p>\n

Wracked with pain,<\/p>\n

Hopes wrecked<\/p>\n

Upon a heartless uncaring<\/p>\n

World, whirling carelessly,<\/p>\n

Indifferently, remorselessly;<\/p>\n

And that you could not, in any way,<\/p>\n

Stumble on, crawl on- let alone walk<\/p>\n

Upon the unyielding ground.

<\/p>\n

But now: you wear<\/p>\n

A tiny silver sea-horse<\/p>\n

Crafted by some other hands<\/p>\n

Of one, who, too, had suffered<\/p>\n

The pain of re-birth,<\/p>\n

The pain of feeling<\/p>\n

Too much -or too little,<\/p>\n

The day-to day doubts,<\/p>\n

Unseen by an unseeing<\/p>\n

And seemingly<\/p>\n

Heartless world;

<\/p>\n

And once again, you wear a smile,<\/p>\n

Tentative as a newborn infant hope,<\/p>\n

Brazen as an all-knowing<\/p>\n

And victorious goddess;<\/p>\n

And fingering your filigree<\/p>\n

Dancing sea-horse, you say:<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a miracle!\u201d<\/p>\n

And, beloved, there are so many more!



<\/p>\n

“Courting the Muse, 1.” from “BeMuSingings”

<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Muse of Inspiration<\/p>\n

Is close at hand, ready to visit,<\/p>\n

Ready to energise us;<\/p>\n

But she wants to be welcomed:<\/p>\n

Her infinite energy wants<\/p>\n

Our definite intention:<\/p>\n

Her seeming flightiness<\/p>\n

And teasing flirtation<\/p>\n

Demands deliberation,<\/p>\n

Her artistry our articulation!<\/p>\n

Intent upon our intention,<\/p>\n

The Muse awaits faithful<\/p>\n

Promises, not promiscuous\u00a0<\/p>\n

Or prodigal words, but<\/p>\n

A vow of Purpose…



Sonnet of singing striving and strife…(From “BeMuSinging…”)
<\/strong>

<\/p>\n

There is a war of worlds within the worlds within,<\/p>\n

Whilst the sun shepherds the clouds to their fold of infinite space;<\/p>\n

The Muses clamour for my will to show its retiring face<\/p>\n

And behold dimensions I have not yet begun to imagine.<\/p>\n

Here, down below, sloth in subtle fugue finds subterfuge in \u2018 sin\u2019;<\/p>\n

As in overbearing battles each distraction desires to win-<\/p>\n

Then in furtive but furious frenzied fight<\/p>\n

The warring factions put my fictions to frantic flight-<\/p>\n

But in the brazen silence, words spill and surge<\/p>\n

And whirl pooling re awaken that ancient urge<\/p>\n

And ditties dervish-dance from dead dirge<\/p>\n

Then do faculties\u2019 facilities in fantasia merge-<\/p>\n

Now, in fecund fountain flow of forms unfrozen-<\/p>\n

Reminding me of inspiration\u2019s freedom chosen\u2026.

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Holy face” (From “Depths and Heights”)

<\/strong><\/p>\n

There be no scars nor flaws upon the Holy Face;<\/p>\n

For subtle ironies, and paradoxes, no place-<\/p>\n

For inconsistencies, no room in Infinite Space;<\/p>\n

And yet, as my relative life does crawl and race<\/p>\n

At its intemperate, and erratic pace,<\/p>\n

As after dreams and schemes I blindly chase,<\/p>\n

Stumbling and lurching, clumsy, and grace-<\/p>\n

Less, striving towards a hidden apex, from a base<\/p>\n

Perilously unsteady, frantically trying to brace<\/p>\n

Myself against the storms of suchness that interlace<\/p>\n

Reason\u2019s resolutions; yet, then, as I track and trace<\/p>\n

Truth, and see how before despairing doubt I debase<\/p>\n

Self, the greatest irony of all, raises its teasing face:<\/p>\n

Tis that so heedlessly I struggle, against Love\u2019s embrace.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gerrard\u00a0Chaiken was born in 1946 in Zimbabwe, from where he moved to Cape Town, the Mother city of South Africa. Studied languages art and philosophy at the University of Cape Town,\u00a0 Honours in English Literature, began his Masters on Virginia Woolf, but later abandoned it.\u00a0 Worked as a lecturer and teacher of English Literature, English as the second language, qualified as a professional librarian for he believes in the\u00a0 Ancient Egyptian\u00a0phrase that\u00a0a library\u00a0is “the healing place of the soul”.\u00a0 Poetry for him, is a realm of the True, Good, and beautiful, and is a reflection of these, as well as aspirational and inspirational, and is a force of great potency for aspects of our education and evolution.<\/em><\/p>\n

Email: gerrard@upwardspiral.co.za<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 “Seahorses and other miracles…” (From “Depths and Heights”) \u00a0 Gerrard Chaiken, Cape Town (South Africa) So often , you felt As if there were a stone around your neck, A stone in your heart, As if your heart itself were stone, And your broken-limbed body A stone upon stony ground. So often, you felt […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"elementor_header_footer","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5270","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cSeahorses and other miracles\u2026\u201d (From \u201cDepths and Heights\u201d) - Afflatus Creations<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"So often , you felt As if there were a stone around your neck, A stone in your heart, As if your heart itself were stone\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/afflatuscreations.com\/index.php\/seahorses-and-other-miracles-from-depths-and-heights-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u201cSeahorses and other miracles\u2026\u201d (From \u201cDepths and Heights\u201d) - 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