• Noteworthy News
  • KhmerPAC
  • What is KhmerPAC?
  • What does KhmerPAC do?
  • Value
    • Philosophy
    • Basic Value
    • Propriety
  • Letters to Kacvey
    • Welcome to the new way of corresponding!
  • Who is Kacvey?
  • Other Opinionators
    • Friends
    • Contributors
  • Futurism

Khmer Politics Alternatives Circle

~ Thinking outside the box about Cambodia

Khmer Politics Alternatives Circle

Monthly Archives: March 2016

Four Branches of Power

29 Tuesday Mar 2016

Posted by KhmerPAC in Culture, Governance, Institution, Issue, Justice, Politics, Social

≈ 2 Comments

My dear Kacvey,

Do you hear the sound that has been lately thundering in Srè Khmoq?
Novelty, Novelty, Novelty!!!
Down with trias politica principle!
The Universe, the World, please take note of the novelty in the land of the City of Tonlé Buon Mouk: Four branches of power!

To the traditional separation of powers into three branches: legislature, executive and judiciary, Srè Khmoq has now created and added a fourth one. Its name is “fessebouc!”

Kacvey, please amend your text books and remind your students accordingly.

Will the Constitution be then amended correspondingly? There is no need to do so, as all 3 powers + the new one are all concentrated in the hand of one person, and one person only. And that would be the unwritten “Amended Constitution.”

In its nascent state, the “fessebouc” branch seems to have an authority above the 3 existing ones, either individually or all combined together as it overrules and overrides everything that comes from them; it is moody and selective; it is the power of the modern portable device and the techies that operate it; it is not recognized by the constituency but it is imposed upon the constituency; it has no parliamentarian, no minister, no judge, no oknha, but only one photo; it pretends to have millions of virtual “likers” even from Mars and Uranus; and it also wants to control and censure all other “fesseboucs” that dare challenging its foolish idea and action.

It has never been enough for an autocrat to assemble so much power under his armpits; he has to invent a mechanism to double up his autocracy not only over the people but also over his own parliamentarians, ministers, judges, military and police. The bubble of irrational power is getting bigger and bigger, and its shell, no matter how iridescent it is, is getting thinner and thinner.

Jeremy Grantham, a British investor and investment strategist, said: “Remember that history always repeats itself. Every great bubble in history has broken. There are no exceptions.”

When the chefs cook only for themselves

20 Sunday Mar 2016

Posted by KhmerPAC in Event, History, Institution, Politics, Social

≈ 1 Comment

My dear Kacvey,

So, what did the citizens get out of the week ending Friday 18, 2016 with all the raucous and inharmonious brouhaha in the City of Tonlé Buon Mouk?

A quick recap of the news: The week started with the story of the tape of the ex-1st-vice-of-the-NA, the Manila summit of the opposition and then the re-shuffling of the deck of cards of cabinet members by the dealer who shuffles others but never himself.

What did the tape reveal? State secrets, nuclear bomb plant maps, plans of military invasions …? Do the contents of the tape serve the real people who are supposed to be served by the person involved in the tape, or they only serve to feed the gossip columns of the social media or otherwise? Why don’t people just let what is in the social media be in the social media? Why other people have to echo what is in the social media and why not the social media be news maker by itself and through its own merits? Then, one cannot ignore the assumption that there has to be other organized motives by the leakers? If the people who demonstrated in the public place and in front of the residence cannot break him, the dirty spying method must be put to use to test that resistance. The old cliché “walls have ears” has now been complemented by the new one: “cell phones have eyes”! The bottom line is if a personal character is not up to the standard of a representative of the people in the assembly, it is up to the people to exercise their freedom not to vote for her/him again if his/her name is on future ballots. Politics is dirty, but for the sake of the moral welfare of the society, constituency must reject dirty politicians.

From Manila, it was not the embargo of the information, but it seemed that, because “walls have ears”, the best approach would be just to keep “quiet”: quiet about the tape, quiet about politics, quiet about governing and government (reshuffling or not!), even quite quiet about various draft laws to be soon adopted, quiet about everything, as if being quiet would solve every question or issue that has unquietly arisen or hung on or over as a sword of Damocles. Kacvey, you have then to wait until 26 March 2016 to be able to detect some whispers or sounds when the party “delegates” (physically minus at least one from France!) commence the convention. But, Kacvey, what does an opposition party in the NA serve, if it is there just to be “quiet?” Did the electorate send them to the NA just to keep their idea frozen and their mouth shut? The price paid by the electorate is extremely high, or is silence really worth a ton of gold? Remember the old saying “silence is golden” or the song written by Bob Gaudio of “The Four Seasons!”

Then in the City of Tonlé Buon Mouk, there was the news of the musical chairs in the cacophony orchestra of the ruling party. They built the hype and the spinners spun to such a level as if the reshuffling of the cabinet was going to be an earth-shaking event that would stunt the world. Well, it turned out that the planet earth is still round and the autocracy the order of the day(s)! It was the same old deck of dirty cards that they shuffled and re-shuffled; the shuffler is the same one during the last 35 years; the rated-F ministers moved to the not-rated-F-ministries; others changed from one portfolio to another to give an appearance of change. One big question could be openly asked: who then shuffles the shuffler? Are the shuffled born to be eternal indentured servants of the shuffler?

So, Kacvey, what all the above have to do with the real people whose political concern and interest is only their right to vote and to cast the ballot when elections time comes, either 2017 or 2018 or any other year? What do the real people learn from the above? Well, let make simple answers to difficult questions: The real people already know that what the above politicians think and do are only for their own personal benefit and glory; they plan and organize everything for themselves and for their own future; the chefs cook only for themselves; they take the real people for granted and they think that they can fool the real people again and again.

If this is what they think and concoct, honest and hard-working citizenry, let fire the 1st salvo of warnings to corrupted, self-serving and incompetent politicians: at the next elections, and whatever elections it will be, DO NOT BEG THEM TO REPRESENT YOU, but rather:
– let them be beggars for your political conscientiousness;
– let them panhandle you for your genuinely honest and sincere vote;
– let them beg for your free and constitutional right to vote;
– let them be beggars of your right to choose according to your conscience and knowledge;
– let them be beggars of your demand that they be elected to serve the real people, and not themselves.

Tu me paies. Je te “like”

16 Wednesday Mar 2016

Posted by KhmerPAC in Event, Social

≈ 1 Comment

Mon cher Kacvey,

Dans le stratosphère de la toile digitale, se promène un badaud se nommant Sach Dam à la recherche de la main d’oeuvre bon marché pour un travail de nature à peine indécente et loin des regards indiscrets des mangeurs de riz de la Cité Tonlé Buon Mouk. Sur la suggestion d’un Sass Sâr qui lui a filé secrètement une adresse, Sach Dam ouvre son téléphone portable, compose l’adresse et envoie un message au type en question qui, sur la toile, se nomme Endir.

Et le chat commence:
Sach Dam: J’ai un marché pour toi.
Endir: Du pognon?
Sach Dam: Oui. Autant que tu veux si tu exécutes bien.
Endir: Dis-le.
Sach Dam: Peux-tu faire augmenter le “like” dans mon fessebouq?
Endir: Rien de plus facile. Ici, one ne fait que ça; c’est notre gagne-pain.
Sach Dam: Je veux qu’il monte jusqu’à millions.
Endir: Même dépasser Zukerberg ou Marion Rivera?
Sach Dam: Pas jusque-là quand même. Mais certainement dépasser le Srok Barang, et de loin.
Endir: 3, 4, 5 millions jusqu’à ce qu’il dépassse toute la population de ton pays, alors?
Sach Dam: Pourquoi pas? Chiffre c’est chiffre. Personne ne vérifie.
Endir: Pas de problème. J’ai des mecs qui n’ont pas de travail mais ont faim. Quand est-ce que tu le veux?
Sach Dam: Avant la fin du weekend.
Endir: Oh, la, la! c’est costaud ça! Si tu veux si vite, je dois aussi faire appel à mon pote Alinam! A 2 on ira en vitesse TGV!
Sach Dam: Démerdes-toi. Tout ce que je veux c’est des millions avant la fin du weekend.
Endir: Mais ça va te coûter cher, car Alinam sera en sous-traitance.
Sach Dam: Qui te dit de me parler d’argent?
Endir: Le Sass Sâr. Mais comme je ne te connais pas encore, je prends mes propres précautions.
Sach Dam: Alors, tu le fais ou pas?
Endir: Deal! Mais je veux “cash”, billet vert, tu comprends? Pas de trace que ce soit!
Sach Dam: 50% maintenant, le reste l’heure qui suit la fin du weekend.
Endir: Comment “50% maintenant”? On est sur la toile, non?
Sach Dam: Je sais. Dans 2 heures quelqu’un frappera à ta porte avec une enveloppe.
Endir: T’es efficace, toi! Je commencerai dès que j’aurai l’eneveloppe.
Sach Dam: C’est cool!
Endir: OK! Laisse ton fessebouq ouvert, et tu verras les “like” qui montent en flèche! Et si une heure après la fin du weekend, pas de 2ème enveloppe dans ma main, ton fessebouq aura la grande fessée de la toile. Capisce?
Sach Dam: Endir, je t’aime!
Endir: Moi, non plus.

=====

Mise à jour: 2 août 2016
Eh bien, le mec revient encore avec encore plus d’absurdité et de couillonnade que rapporte The Cambodia Daily:

After Murder, Hun Sen’s Foreign Facebook ‘Likes’ Surge

Periander, one of the Seven Sages

14 Monday Mar 2016

Posted by KhmerPAC in Culture, History, Social, Stories

≈ Comments Off on Periander, one of the Seven Sages

My dear Kacvey,

Diogenes Laertius wrote that Periander was born in Corinth and ruled Corinth for 40 years (625-585 B.C.) He died at the age of eighty.

Aristotle and Plato disagreed on Periander being a sage: Aristotle maintained that he was a sage; Plato, however, denied this.

According to Ephorus, Periander wowed that, if he won the victory at Olympia in the chariot-race, he would set up a golden statue. When the victory was won, being in sore straits for gold, he despoiled the women of all the ornaments which he had seen them wearing at some local festival. He was thus enabled to send the votive offering.

When some one asked him why he was a tyrant, he replied: Because it is as dangerous to retire voluntarily as to be dispossessed.

To him belong the maxim: Never do anything for money; leave gain to trades pursued for gain.

Here are other sayings of his:

  • Rest is beautiful.
  • Rashness has its perils.
  • Gain is ignoble.
  • Democracy is better than tyranny.
  • Pleasures are transient; honours are immortal.
  • Be moderate in prosperity, prudent in adversity.
  • Be the same to your friends whether they are in prosperity or in adversity.
  • Whatever agreement you make, stick to it.
  • Betray no secret.
  • Correct not only the offenders but also those who are on the point of offending.

There is a story he did not wish the place where he was buried to be known, and to that end contrived the following device. He ordered two young men to go out at night by a certain road which he pointed out to them; they were to kill the man they met and bury him. He afterwards ordered four more to go in pursuit of the two, kill them and bury them; again, he dispatched a larger number in pursuit of the four. Having taken these measures, he himself encountered the first pair and was slain.

His apothegm is: “Practice makes perfect.”

Kacvey, thus ends the series of the Seven Sages.

Cleobulus, one of the Seven Sages

12 Saturday Mar 2016

Posted by KhmerPAC in Culture, History, Social, Stories

≈ Comments Off on Cleobulus, one of the Seven Sages

My dear Kacvey,

Diogenes Laertius told that Cleobulus was born at Lindus circa 600 B.C.

He was the author of songs and riddles, one of which is preserved up to today:
“One sire there is, he has twelve sons, and each of these twice thirty daughters different in feature; some of the daughters are white, the others again are black; they immortal, yet they all die.” Kacvey, the answer to this riddle is at the bottom of the page. (*)

Of his songs and advice, the most popular are:

  • It is want of taste that reigns most widely among mortals and multitude of words; but due season will serve.
  • Set your mind on something good.
  • Do not become thoughtless or rude.
  • Girls need to be educated as well as boys.
  • We should render a service to a friend to bind him closer to us, and to an enemy in order to make a friend of him. For we have to guard against the censure of friends and the intrigues of enemies.
  • When anyone leaves his house, let him first inquire what he means to do; and on his return let him ask himself what he has effected.
  • Be a listener rather than a talker.
  • Choose instruction rather than ignorance.
  • Refrain from ill-omened words.
  • Be friendly to virtue, hostile to vice.
  • Shun injustice.
  • Counsel the state for the best.
  • Do not be overcome by pleasure.
  • Do nothing by violence.
  • Put an end to enmity.
  • Avoid being affectionate to your wife , or quarreling with her, in the presence of strangers; for the one savours of folly, the other of madness.
  • Mate with one of your own rank; for if you take a wife who is superior to you, her kinsfolk will become your masters.
  • When men are being bantered, do not laugh at their expense, or your will incur their hated.
  • Do not be arrogant in prosperity; if you fall into poverty, do not humble yourself.
  • Know how to bear the changes of fortune with nobility.

His apothegm is: “Moderation is best.”

(*) And the answer is, “The year.”

Bias, one of the Seven Sages

09 Wednesday Mar 2016

Posted by KhmerPAC in Culture, History, Social, Stories

≈ Comments Off on Bias, one of the Seven Sages

My dear Kacvey,

Diogenes Laertius wrote that Bias was born in Priene, circa 570 B.C. Satyrus placed him at the head of the Seven Sages.

Bias was a very effective pleader that Demodicus of Leros made reference in this line: “If you happen to be prosecuting a suit, plead as they do at Priene.”

Being asked “What is sweet to men,” Bias answered: “Hope.” He also said he would rather decide a dispute between two of his enemies than between two of his friends; for in the latter case he would be certain to make one of his friends his enemy, but in the former case he would make one of his enemies his friend.

Asked what occupation gives a man most pleasure, he replied “Making money.”

He advised men to measure life as if they had both a short and a long time to live; to love their friends as if they would some day hate them, the majority of mankind being bad.

Bias gave this advice:
– Be slow to set about an enterprise, but persevere in it steadfastly when once it is undertaken.
– Do not be hasty of speech, for that is a sign of madness.
– Cherish wisdom.
– If a man is unworthy, do not praise him because of his wealth.
– Gain your point by persuasion, not by force.
– Make wisdom your provision for the journey from youth to old age; for it is a more certain support than other possessions.

Bias died in the court-house in the arms of his grandson after pleading in the defense of a client. Diogenes Laertius left this epitaph in his honor:
“Here Bias rests. A quiet death laid low
The aged head which years had strewn with snow.
His pleading done, his friend preserved from harms,
A long sleep took him in his grandson’s arms.”

Bias famous apothegm is: “Most men are bad.”

The “generals” retirement

05 Saturday Mar 2016

Posted by KhmerPAC in Governance, Institution, Issue

≈ Comments Off on The “generals” retirement

My dear Kacvey,

What a relief not to have seen your name or your sosie among the 49 “stars” slated for early retirement!

Many thanks are herewith expressed to Thmey Thmey for its reporting of the news to the public which has always been wondering about the high number of generals in the police force and whether or not the quality of the “stars” is lower than the general commoner. Here is the link:
http://www.thmeythmey.com/?page=detail&ctype=article&id=37114&lg=kh

Kacvey, could you please open your eyes and ears when you pass through the corridor of power in the City of Tonlé Buon Mouk in order to learn:

  • The reason behind this massive push into retirement;
  • Which and how many policemen would be promoted to the position and rank left vacant by the prospective retirees, or to be created to accommodate new “cousins, nephews and friends”?
  • What is the criteria for promotion to the “star” level? Would it be based on whoever could best fill up the coffer of the party or the pockets of the “lok chau waii” or “mé”?
  • What is the level of education, both in general studies and in law enforcement sciences, required of those future “stars”?
  • If so many generals are going to be put into retirement, how this would reflect on the performance of the ministry that oversees the police?
  • Since the ministries of public works and agriculture got an “F”, how would the super-general or the generalissimo grade this ministry? Would he dare go for a lower grade than “F”? Man it up, generalissimo!

When the “generals” have become such a trivial generality that the general public would in general equate it with the generalization here called “big binc”: big banality, incompetence, nepotism and corruption, no “general” would ever command respect from the non-general, let alone the general commoner.

With so many “stars” no longer sown to the shoulders of uselessness, they would now be able to return to the galaxy to brighten up a little more the dark night of the Khmer political landscape.

Pittacus, one of the Seven Sages

03 Thursday Mar 2016

Posted by KhmerPAC in Culture, History, Social, Stories

≈ Comments Off on Pittacus, one of the Seven Sages

My dear Kacvey,

Diogenes Laertius told that Pittacus was born circa 600 B.C., and a native of Mytelene.

In the war between Mytelene and Athens for the territory of Achileis he himself had the chief command on the one side, and Phrynon, who had won an Olympic victory in the pancratium, commanded the Athenians. Pittacus agreed to meet him in single combat; with a net which he concealed beneath his shield he entangled Phrynon, killed him, and recovered the territory.

Pittacus ruled Mytelene for 10 years, brought the constitution into order, and then laid down his office. Then he abdicated and retired to his land granted to him by the people of Mytelene.

A smith murdered his son, and when the people sent the murderer to Pittacus, he on learning the story, set the killer at liberty and declared that “It is better to pardon now than to repent later.” He also said that ” Mercy is better than vengeance.”

Some of Pittacus sayings are:

  • “It is hard to be good.”
  • “Truly to become a virtuous man is hard.”
  • “Even the gods do not fight against necessity.”
  • “Office shows the man.”

Once, when asked what is the best thing, he replied, “To do well the work in hand.”

When Croesus inquired what is the best rule, he answered , “The rule of the shifting wood” by which he meant the law.

When the Phoenician said that they must search for a good man, Pittacus rejoined, “If you seek too carefully, you will never find him.”

He answered various inquiries thus:

  • “What is agreeable?” “Time.”
  • “Obscure?” “The future.”
  • “Trustworthy?” “The earth.”
  • “Untrustworthy?” “The sea.”
  • “It is part of prudent men before difficulties arise, to provide against their arising; and of courageous men to deal with them when they have arisen.”
  • “Do not announce your plans beforehand; for, if they fail, you will be laughed at.”
  • “Never reproach anyone with a misfortune, for fear of Nemesis.”
  • “Duly restore what has been entrusted to you.”
  • “Speak no ill of a friend, nor even of an enemy.”
  • “Practise piety.”
  • “Love temperance.”
  • “Cherish truth, fidelity, skill, cleverness, sociability, carefulness.”

To Pittacus belongs this apothegm: “Know thine opportunity.”

When Narcissus “selfies”

01 Tuesday Mar 2016

Posted by KhmerPAC in Culture, History, Social, Stories

≈ Comments Off on When Narcissus “selfies”

My dear Kacvey,

Lately, Cambodian politicians seem to behave like young persons of 18, 19, 20, or people in show business who like to record themselves and put that on the Internet, hoping that people will watch. They are, now more than ever before, infused with selfishness, self-centeredness and narcissism to such a ridiculous point that they compete between each other to reach millions of “like” …  and, by the way, why not “dislike” also?

Narcissism, like many other anti-social passions, has existed for a long time and thinkers and psychologists spent great deal of times studying it, and in today’s time, social media is the outlet to express it.

Kacvey, to paraphrase the American Actor James Woods, the silent killer of all great men of achievement is narcissism, even more than hubris. Why so?

It all started circa 8 A.D. in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Book III: “The Story of Echo and Narcissus” as follows:

Famous through all Aonian towns and cities,
Gave irreproachable answers to all comers
Who sought his guidance. Once of the first who tested
The truth he told was a naiad of the river,
Liriope, whom the river-god, Cephisus
Embraced and ravished in his watery dwelling.
In time she bore a child, most beautiful
Even as child, gave him the name Narcissus,
And asked Tiresias if the boy would ever
Live a ripe old age. Tiresias answered:
“Yes, if he never knows himself.” How silly
Those words seem, for how long! But as it happened,
Time proved them true – the way he died, the strangeness
Of his infatuation.

Now Narcissus
Was sixteen years of age, and could be taken
Either for boy or man; and boys and girls
Both sought his love, but in that slender striping
Was pride so fierce no boy, no girl, could touch him.
He was out hunting one day, driving deer
Into the nets, when a nymph named Echo saw him,
A nymph whose way of talking was peculiar
In that she could not start a conversation
Nor fail to answer other people talking.
Up to this time Echo still had a body,
She was not merely voice. She liked to chatter,
But had no power of speech except the power
To answer in the words she last had heard.
Juno had done this: when she went out looking
For Jove on top of some nymph among the mountains,
Echo would stall the goddess off by talking
Until the nymph had fled. Sooner or later
Juno discovered this and said to Echo:
“The tongue that made a fool of me will shortly
have shorter use, the voice be brief hereafter.”
Those were not idle words; now Echo always
Says the last thing she hears, and nothing further.
She saw Narcissus roaming through the country,
Saw him, and burned, and followed him in secret,
Burning the more she followed, as when sulphur
Smeared on the rim of torches, catches fire
When other fire comes near it. Oh, how often
She wanted to come near with coaxing speeches,
Makes soft entreaties to him! But her nature
Sternly forbids; the one thing not forbidden
Is to make answers. She is more than ready
For words she can give back. By chance Narcissus
Lost track of his companions, started calling
“Is anybody here?” and “Here” said Echo.
He looked around in wonderment, called louder
“Come to me!” “Come to me!” came back the answer.
He looked behind him, and saw no one coming;
“Why do you run from me?” and heard his question
Repeated in the words. “Let us get together!”
There was nothing Echo would ever say more gladly,
“Let us get together!” And, to help her words,
Out of the woods she came, with arms already
To fling around his neck. But he retreated:
“Keep your hands off,” he cried, “and do not touch me!
I would die before I give you a chance at me.”
“I give you a chance at me,” and that was all
She ever said thereafter, spurned and hiding,
Ashamed, in the leafy forests, in lonely caverns.
But still her love clings to her and increases
And grows on suffering; she cannot sleep,
She frets and pines, becomes all gaunt and haggard,
Her body dries and shrivels till voice only
And bones remain, and then she is voice only
For the bones are turned to stone. She hides in woods
And no one sees her now along the mountains,
But all may hear her, fo her voice is living.

She was not the only one on whom Narcissus
Had visited frustration; there were others,
Naiads or Oreads, and young men also
Till finally one rejected youth, in prayer,
Raised up his hands to Heaven: “May Narcissus
Love one day, so, himself, and not win over
The creature whom he loves!” Nemesis heard him,
Goddess of vengeance, and judged the plea was righteous.
There was a pool, silver with shining water,
To which no shepherds came, no goats, no cattle,
Whose glass no bird, no beast, no falling leaf
Had ever troubled. Grass grew all around it,
Green from the nearby water, and with shadow
No sun burned hotly down on. Here Narcissus,
Worn from the heat of hunting, came to rest
Finding the place delightful, and the spring
Refreshing for the thirsty. As he tried
To quench his thirst, inside him, deep within him,
Another thirst was growing, for he saw
An image in the pool, and fell in love
With that unbodied hope, and found a substance
In what was only shadow. He looks in wonder,
Charmed by himself, spell-bound, and no more moving
than any marble statue. Lying prone
He sees his eyes, twin stars, and locks as comely
As those of Bacchus or the god Apollo,
Smooth cheeks, and ivory neck, and the bright beauty
Of countenance, and a flush color rising
In the fair whiteness. Everything attracts him
That makes him so attractive. Foolish boy,
He wants himself; the loved becomes the lover,
The seeker sought, the kindler burns. How often
He tries to kiss the image in the water,
Dips in his arms to embrace the boy he sees there,
And finds the boy, himself, elusive always,
Not knowing what he sees, but burning for it,
The same delusion mocking his eyes and teasing.
Why try to catch an always fleeing image,
Poor credulous youngster? What you seek is nowhere,
And if you turn away, you will take with you
The boy you love. The vision is only shadow,
Only reflection, lacking any substance.
It comes with you, it stays with you, it goes
Away with you, if you can go away.
No thought of food, no thought of rest, can make him
Forsake the place. Stretched on the grass, in shadow,
He watches, all unsatisfied, that image
Vain and illusive, and he almost drowns
In his own watching eyes. He rises just a little,
Enough to lift his arms in supplication
To the trees around him, crying to the forest:
“What love, whose love, has ever been more cruel?
You woods should know: you have given many lovers
Places to meet and hide in; has there ever,
Through the long centuries, been anyone
Who has pined away as I do? He is charming,
I see him, but the charm and sight escape me.
I love him and I cannot seem to find him!
To make it worse, no sea, no road, no mountain,
No city-wall, no gate, no barrier, parts us
But a thin film of water. He is eager
For me to hold him. When my lips go down
To kiss the pool, his rise, he reaches toward me.
You would think that I could touch him – almost nothing
Keeps us apart. Come out, whoever you are!
Why do you tease me so? Where do you go
When I am reaching for you? I am surely
Neither so old or ugly as to scare you,
And nymphs have been in love with me. You promise,
I think, some hope with a look of more than friendship.
You reach out arms when I do, and your smile
Follows my smiling; I have seen your tears
When I was tearful; you nod and beckon when I do;
Your lips, it seems, answer when I am talking
Though what you say I cannot hear. I know
The truth at last. He is myself. I feel it!
I know my image now. I burn with love
Of my own self; I start the fire I suffer.
What shall I do? Shall I give or take the asking?
What shall I ask for? What I want is with me,
My riches make me poor. If I could only
Escape from my own body! If I could only –
How curious a prayer from any lover –
Be parted from my love! And now my sorrow
Is taking all my strength away; I know
I have not long to live, I shall die early,
And death is not so terrible, since it takes
My trouble from me; I am sorry only
The boy I love must die: we die together.”
He turned again to the image in the water,
Seeing it blur through tears, and the vision fading,
And he saw it vanish, he called after:
“Where are you going? Stay: do not desert me,
I love you so. I cannot touch you; let me
Keep looking at you always, and in looking
Nourish my wretched passion!” In his grief
He tore his garment from the upper margin,
Beat his bare breast with hands as pale as marble,
And the breast took on a glow, a rosy color,
As apples are white and red, sometimes, or grapes
Can be both green and purple. The water clears,
He sees it all once more, and cannot bear it.
As yellow wax dissolves with warmth around it,
As the white frost is gone in morning sunshine,
Narcissus, in the hidden fire of passion,
Wanes slowly, with the ruddy color going,
The strength and hardihood and comeliness,
Fading away, and even the very body
Echo had loved. She was sorry for him now,
Though angry still, remembering; you could hear her
Answer “Alas!” in pity, when Narcissus
Cried out “Alas!” You could hear her own hands beating
Her breast when he beats his. “Farewell, dear boy,
Beloved in vain!” were his last words, and Echo
Called the same words on him. His very head
Sank to the greensward, and death closed the eyes
That once had marveled at their owner’s beauty.
And even in Hell, he found a pool to gaze in,
Watching his image in the Stygian water.
While in the world above, his naiad sisters
Mourned him, and dryads wept for him, and Echo
Mourned as they did, and wept with them, preparing
The funeral pile, the bier, the brandished torches,
But when they sought his body, they found nothing,
Only a flower with a yellow center
Surrounded with white petals.
(Ref: ISBN 978-0-253-20001-3, Indiana University Press)

Famous world painters such as Caravaggio, Poussin, Turner and Dali have immortalized the tale of Narcissus through their paintings and according to their style and perception.

Recent Posts

  • “Delay Is Preferable To Error”
  • There was 9 November 2019. Now, it’s 4 January 2021
  • The Three Kingdoms
  • Chickens Under State of Emergency
  • Summit for Democracy

Recent Comments

KhmerPAC on The Corrupt, The Dirty, The…
Chum Sirath on The Corrupt, The Dirty, The…
KhmerPAC on The Big Mess in the City of To…
Sod Sad (សុទ្ធ សាធ) on The Big Mess in the City of To…
Sod Sad (សុទ្ធ សាធ) on A Horrid and Crooked Vict…

Categories

  • Book
  • Culture
  • Event
  • Governance
  • History
  • Human Rights
  • Institution
  • International
  • Issue
  • Justice
  • Politics
  • Social
  • Stories

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Archives

  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014

Blog at WordPress.com.