the road is made by walking

The combination of a physical and mental journey and the interplay between both has attracted humans throughout the ages. The idea of pilgrimage is often associated with the fulfillment of a religious duty but first and foremost it fulfills a human need.

I have often found my reading has a meandering nature leading places I did not know existed or could not have planned visiting. Recently whilst reading Pilgrimage - Adventures of the Spirit, I came across the following lines from the Spanish poet Machado.

I thought the fire was out
I stirred the ashes
And I burnt my fingers.
- Antonio Machado

(photo: ravi bhavnani)

Great, simple lines that capture a moment, a Spanish haiku. My wife was somewhat familiar with Machado so I wikipedia'd him and came across this famous verse by him. What a great way to describe one's pilgrimage or journey through life.

Wanderer, your footsteps are
the road, and nothing more;
wanderer, there is no road,
the road is made by walking.
By walking one makes the road,
and upon glancing behind
one sees the path
that never will be trod again.
Wanderer, there is no road--
Only wakes upon the sea.

Caminante, son tus huellas
el camino, y nada más;
caminante, no hay camino,
se hace camino al andar.
Al andar se hace camino,
y al volver la vista atrás
se ve la senda que nunca
se ha de volver a pisar.
Caminante, no hay camino,
sino estelas en la mar.
- Antonio Machado, Proverbios y cantares XXIX" in Campos de Castilla.

(photo: boblycat)

I probably would hesitate to recommend Pilgrimage - Adventures of the Spirit, unless someone was particularly interested in journeys of a spiritual nature. It does contain some good essays by Jack Hitt on the Camino, Nicholas Shrady on Buddha's journey and Kent E. St.John on visiting the only German concentration camp based on French soil.

Although I am not Christian I would, one day, like to walk the Camino, to climb Croagh Patrick again, to visit Jerusalem and walk the stations of the cross. I would not expect to meet God along the way but I suspect I would learn more about my fellow man.

Meandering though it was, this post is done. Now let's go on.


For more information ...
antonio machado
pilgrimage - adventures of the spirit

phone

After a level of marketing hype only Apple can create, the iPhone launched today. From a product marketing and management perspective there are a number of interesting aspects to this product launch which will be good to bear in mind as we watch how the iPhone fares over the next 12 months.

Convergence
Over the years there have been numerous attempts to converge different products but with mixed success. The combination DVD and VCR never really took off, people still decided to buy these separately. Even though you can easily get tuners for PC's most of us still look at a TV not a monitor when watching our favorite soap. TV's and computers have not successfully converged.
Divergence rather than convergence seems to dominate for a number of reasons. Selling us two products rather than one allows a company to broaden its product line and maximize revenue. From a technical point of view technologies mature and evolve at different rates, combining two technologies will mean that one will be held back by the other.
The iPhone combines a phone, a music device and web browser. This is a definite convergence strategy, will it work where other convergence strategies have failed?

Usability
The mechanical features of the Walkman dominated the design of the early MP3 players. It took the classic design of the iPod to go beyond the buttons and to develop a device that was very usable. However, there is more to the usability of the iPod than the nice touch pad. The iPod only includes features which satisfy the goal of playing music on the go, (e.g. you can't delete a song on the iPod, you do that in iTunes). This goal directed design leads to a simple, powerful interface that satisfies people expectations of the device.
Mobile phones have horrendous interfaces and predictive text is a solution to a problem created by the design of the hardware. The interactive behavior a user has with a mobile phone and a mobile music device is quite different. The interactions on a phone are more sophisticated (typing text messages is more complicated than choosing a song to play). Will the usability principles used to such great effect on the iPod extend successfully to use on the iPhone?

Time to market
People often over emphasize the need to get to market early. The reason for this is simple, greed, the sooner you can sell something, the sooner you will get a return on investment. Apple were definitely not the first to market with an a MP3 organizer or a MP3 player. If memory serves me correctly, I believe they may have been the 7th or 8th player in the market. Napster and others had got into the MP3 organizer space before them and and iRiver and mpio were in the MP3 player space before them.
So, first to market was not the dominant variable in defining ultimate success. Obviously, Apple or not first to market for a mobile that plays music but the situation is a little different from the MP3 situation. Mobiles have been around for a lot longer than MP3 players were when Apple launched the iPod in 2001. Names like Motorola and Nokia are big players in a way mpio and iRiver never were. Will time to market be more of a defining factor for the iPhone than it was for the iPod?

Crystal Ball
I hesitate to predict but let's have some fun and give it a try, we can check in 12 months time.
I think the iPhone will be successful in converging the mobile phone and mobile music experiences. I think Safari maybe an Achilles heel, so maybe people won't use it to browse the web too much.
I think the usability approach will extend well to the mobile phone worlds and this is perhaps an area of great advancement. I have looked at demos of the iPhone and it is so much easier to use than a regular mobile.
I think that Apple won't have it as easy in the mobile phone space as they did in the mobile music space. The companies who are in that space are quite sophisticated with product design, although I think they have under served the consumer.
Final verdict, before the introduction of the iPod/iTunes Apple were not in the music distribution business, today they are the 5th largest supplier of music worldwide. The iPhone is over priced and over hyped but a key benefit of the iPhone is ego gratification. I think we will see Apple move into the mobile phone space but perhaps not have the 70% market share it does in the MP3 space.

Then again it could be Steve Jobs' Apple Newton?

For more information ...
iPhone
Apple Newton

where go the boats

(source: Henry W Taunt)

Dark brown is the river.
Golden is the sand.
It flows along for ever,
With trees on either hand.

Green leaves a-floating,
Castles of the foam,
Boats of mine a-boating—
Where will all come home?

On goes the river
And out past the mill,
Away down the valley,
Away down the hill.

Away down the river,
A hundred miles or more,
Other little children
Shall bring my boats ashore

Robert Louis Stevenson, from A Child's Garden of Verses, 1885.

I have made my own tune for this poem and have sung this to Tomas at night since he was born. We talk about this as been one of the 'old songs' and when I ask does he want one of the 'old songs', he says yes.

For more information ...
robert louis stevenson

an attempt at writing something positive

(photo: trace project, nasa)

light not heavy
now not then
air not earth
less not more
music not song
pictures not words
feeling not thinking
giving not taking
here not there
quiet not loud
we not I

sleep walking

all your life you have been sleep walking wandering in a dream all your days faking it for real now through the fog you stumble and wake upon an unknown shore feet unsteady and uncomfortable feeling it for real looking around the unfamiliar landscape no landmarks to guide you and then you look down at your feet and wonder

?where have you been?where are you?where will you go?

expanding

warrior of light

Repeated experiences have but one aim, to teach us what it is we do not want to learn.
- adapted from Paulo Coelho.



For more information ...
Paulo Coelho

leaving ithaca

Rain fall tropple,
Dipple, dopple,
Drupple, drapple.
Fall down, down, down.

Water fall down,
Over earth rising,
Boulder bank breaking,
Bedded earth rising.
Flow down, down, down.

To switching sands of shores uncertain,
To seas of strange and untrusting
Waters deep; deepened by our tears of woe
But then to go
Toward on high
Where clouds will fly onward home
From whence to roam and roam again
To wherever where, whenever when
Sometime soon we’ll meet again,
Somewhere where, some when, when.


A recent posting on still life ...with life reminded me of this effort from 12 years ago, so I decided to post it here.

I wrote this after visiting a friend who was attending Cornell in Ithaca, upstate New York. Ithaca's surroundings are dramatically cut by beautiful gorges and this probably prompted the water theme which I combined with an old favourite of mine, the theme of return. Although there are no direct references to Odysseus I was thinking of his return home to that other Ithaca in Greece after his travels.

Inventing words can come across as a naive pursuit and I'm not sure they fully work here but I have decided to leave the poem in the original November 1995 form. I also probably should apologize to Gerard Manley Hopkins as this is one of a few poems that has been influenced by his writings.


For more information ..
ithaca, usa
ithaca, greece
still life ...with life
gerard manley hopkins
inversnaid

be

Be friendly
Be polite
Be vocal
Be quite
Be the change you want to see in the world

Be real
Be authentic

Be thoughtful

Be passionate

Be excited

Be calm

Be willing to change

Be yourself

great expectations, great fears

Moving back to Europe, here are some of my expectations ...

We will see family more frequently
We will get family to do some baby sitting
There will be more time for Louise and I
There will be more time for Tomas
There will be a better work-life balance
We will experience the seasons
We will travel to Greece, France and Spain again
We will see our friends again
I will get to do some good work
I will volunteer more
Simplicity will take over from complexity


Moving back to Europe, here are some of my fears ...

I feel England is more edgy and threatenting and I fear for its effect on us
I fear I will fail at my job
I fear that my job is not what I should do
I fear that England will not be enough
I fear that been close to family is not what will lead to happiness
I fear that family will be too close
I fear for Tomas' safety
I fear for a negative effect on Tomas


After a few months I should check this list and see what has come to pass.

cynics and sentimentalists

Cynics have lost faith in human sincerity and believe that the sole motivation is self-interest. Sentimentalists have an emotional idealism and are believers in the sincerity of all. Although the cynic and sentimentalist have opposing perspectives they share a common denial of what is possible, both the good and bad.

The reality, of course, is that none of us is wholly cynical or sentimental and there is a place for both at certain times and in certain places. However, I have observed in my travels that cultures and countries can have a predisposition towards one or the other. In my experience, the United Kingdom and Ireland tend towards cynicism, the United States and Canada on the other hand tends towards sentimentalism. Both approaches infuses peoples aspirations, their relationship to fame, their critical sense, their humour and also the mood of a country.

(photo from despair website)

Personally I have found that my 8 years in North America has softened my cynical edge and I am more open because of this. Whilst self-help literature is mostly driven by greed not need (cynical side), I have come across books that people have written with a view to helping others (sentimental side). I do find I am more positive about what individuals can do with their life (sentimental side) but I still retain a degree of healthy skepticism because I understand not everything can be done just because we say so, e.g. winning the war in Iraq (cynical side). I find a lot of British humour, e.g. Little Britain, to be very misanthropic and as time passes I am less amused by it. American humour on the other hand is often just not funny.

As we return to the UK I hope to bring with me a degree of positivism I have learned. Creating a better life is at the heart of every immigrants journey and in the UK that will still be my status. Next post will be from Blighty!

For more information ...
despair
little britain
blighty

turn, turn, turn

Got a brilliant children's book of illustrations from the library based on the text of Pete Seeger's classic "turn, turn, turn". It includes a CD with his version and the more popular version by the Roger McGuinn and The Byrds. The book is beautifully illustrated and Pete Seeger's live folk version has a raw and rough quality that for me is more attractive than the Byrds pop version.

I think the music seems timely given the changes we are about to go through.



To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven

A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep

To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven

A time to build up, a time to break down
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones
A time to gather stones together

To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven

A time of war, a time of peace
A time of love, a time of hate
A time you may embrace
A time to refrain from embracing

To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven

A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time to love, a time to hate
A time of peace, I swear it's not too late!



For more information ...
turn, turn, turn
Pete Seeger
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

the four seasons

Recently listening to Vivaldi's 'four seasons' I find myself surprised that I like them, as I had developed a distaste for them in the late '80's.

That time in Britain was dominated by the excesses of Thatcherite culture. It was a time of Gordon Gecko and 'greed is good' and the four seasons formed a musical backdrop for the last declining days of Margaret and her yuppies. The music became as common place as Constable's Haywain is on place mats and because of that probably undervalued, at least in my mind.

With a fresh and unprejudiced ear I have begun to listen to them again and found them to be great. My wife bought me Roberto Michelucci's take on them and I am thoroughly enjoying it. It almost makes me want to go out a buy Nigel Kennedy's take on Vivaldi. In particular I like the faster parts from Summer and Autumn, the allegros and presto.

Give them a listen, let me know what you think.

• Concerto No. 1 in E major, Op. 8, RV 269, "La primavera" (Spring)
  1. Allegro
  2. Largo
  3. Allegro
• Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 8, RV 315, "L'estate" (Summer)
  1. Allegro non molto - Allegro
  2. Adagio - Presto - Adagio
  3. Presto
• Concerto No. 3 in F major, Op. 8, RV 293, "L'autunno" (Autumn)
  1. Allegro
  2. Adagio molto
  3. Allegro
• Concerto No. 4 in F minor, Op. 8, RV 297, "L'inverno" (Winter)
  1. Allegro non molto
  2. Largo
  3. Allegro

For more information ...
Antonio Vivaldi
the four seasons
Nigel Kennedy
Margaret Thatcher
wall street
hay wain
the four seasons recording by Roberto Michelucci

haiku challenge

Playing with the haiku form recently, I have begun to appreciate how difficult and yet how expansive it can be.

Here are some properties of a haiku

• a 3 line form consisting of 5, 7 and 5 syllables
• contains a word called (the kigo) which directly makes reference to the season, e.g. snow indicating winter
• incorporates a distinct grammatical break (the kireji) at the end of either the first or second line
• captures a moment or a setting
• haiku usually are reflections upon the natural world, senryu follow the same form but are reflections on human nature and may be humorous
• haiku and senryu usually manifest the Japanese aesthetic referred to as wabi-sabi, a beauty hallmarked by imperfection, impermanence, and incompleteness with a gentle slightly mournful appeal.

Here are some haiku and senryu.

The first soft snow!
Enough to bend the leaves
Of the jonquil low.
- Basho

the morning paper
harbinger of good and ill
- - I step over it
- McCroskey

grab and go coffee ...
breathe to let stories unfold
tea leaves brew slowly
- alan mee

My Online Girlfriend
Might be a supermodel
Or a big fat man.
- mr. big

summer is coming
break out the barbecue set
enjoy undercooked meat
- five spice


The challenge, compose a haiku or senryu and post here. The people who reply can decide the winner. The prize, a smug inner glow.

For more information ...
haiku
wabi-sabi
apple flower

recommended reading

Here, in descending order, are my top five recommendations from my 2006 reading.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. The Death of Ivan Ilych by Leo Tolstoy.
find more out here
"both sobering and frightening in confronting the reader with the meaning of life, or lack thereof and yet at the end of its darkness is light"

2. Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis.
find more out here
"the books narrator might suggest that the unexamined life is not worth living, Zorba would counter that the unlived life is not worth examining"

3. Winning at New Products by Robert Cooper.
find out more here
"the best research driven and yet practical guide to accelerating products from idea to successful launch"

4. Me to We by Marc and Craig Kielburger.
find out more here
"suspend your cynical gene and let these two brothers show you how meaning and purpose can be created in our lives through focusing on others and not ourselves"

5. Royal Flash by George McDonald Frasier.
find out more here
"offensive, dastardly, derivative but a very funny page turner"
------------------------------------------------------------------------


Last year a single fiction work made it into my top 5 but this year 3 made it. This reflects success at reading more fiction. In 2005 I read 35 books (5 fiction, 30 non-fiction), in 2006 I also read 35 books (19 fiction, 16 non-fiction). Those figures also reflect success at reducing the amount I read as of the 35 this year, 7 were graphic novels which are quick reads.

In my non-fiction reading I have seen a move from philosophical/religious works to reading more biographical/interview. Examples of these include, Po Bronson's 'What should I do with my life?' and 'Deep Survival' by Laurence Gonzales. This shift marks a move from abstract existential thinking to a more pragmatic enquiry on life and its challenges.

3 Of the 4 philosophical/religious works were about Zen but reading about Zen is a little foolish. As Yoda would say 'Zen, not read, Zen, do!'.

Of the 19 fiction works, 7 were graphic novels, 4 were from the Flashman series, 2 were by Tolstoy, 2 by Sean Russell (a fantasy writer), and the remaining works were by Beckett, Kertesz, De Maupassant and Kazantsakis. The 'high literature' books I read were very accessible and generally short books. The Flashman and fantasy books were recommended by friends and worth reading although I would not have picked them off the bookshelf myself

So what will be the reading focus for 2007?

As with 2006, I would like to write more and read a little less. I did increase the amount of fun stuff I read and should increase it further. In particular I enjoyed the graphic novels which is a very different experience. I could also read more poetry as that is part of what I write and I increasing my appreciation of the form may lead to a better quality of work. Milton's Paradise Lost beckons daunting thought it may be.

So now onto 2007 and some more page turning.



For more information ...
recommended reading (2005)
Po Bronson - What should I do with my life?
Laurence Gonzales - Deep Survival

Complete 2006 reading list ...
Listed below are the books I read in 2006, I have placed an asterisk * beside books other than the top five which may also be worth a look. Beckett's Endgame is does not make it to my top 5 for 2006 as it was a re-read, it most definitely makes it into my all time list.

Flashman - George McDonald Fraser
The joy of not working - Ernie Zelinsky
What should I do with my life - Po bronson*
Royal Flash - George McDonald Fraser
Flash for Freedom - George McDonald Fraser
Flashman at the Charge - George McDonald Fraser
The Necklace and other short stories - Guy De Maupassant
Winning at new products - Robert Cooper
How we choose to be happy - Rick Foster & Greg Hicks*
Death of Ivan Illych - Tolstoy
Leadershock - Greg Hicks
The Devil - Tolstoy*
The art of reading poetry - Harold Bloom
Deep Survival - Laurence Gonzales*
Zorba the Greek - Nikos Kazantsakis
Crossing the Unknown Sea - David Whyte*
Gandhi: An autobiography - Gandhi
The artist's way at work - Mark Bryan & Julia Cameron
Waking up to what you do - Diane Eshin Rezzetto
Zen Principals - Martine Batchelor
Essential Zen - Tanahashi & Schnieder
Endgame - Beckett*
Buddha: Vol 1 - 6 - Osamu Tezuka*
Louis Riel - Chester Brown*
Me to We - Craig and Mark Kielburger
The Brand you 50 - Tom Peters
The Initiate Brother - Sean Russell
The Gatherer of Clouds - Sean Russell
Liquidation - Irme Kertesz

liquidation

After reading liquidation I find myself reaching for that big book all of us have in our libraries, diminished though they be. The book which tells us what we should know or that which we already know but of which we unsure. Fumbling between 'post-coital' and 'Potenza' I find that expletive post-modern. The definition alludes to a 'late 20th century style, a distrust of ideologies, a deliberate mixing of styles and conventions'.

I don't understand the term because for me it always referred to an art that contained within itself a criticism of the form itself. It contained an allusion to its creation and a criticism of it. I never found it to be modern, let alone post-modern. Hamlet, for instance, I find to be post-modern as evidenced by the play within a play. Ulysses by Joyce must surely be post-modern and yet this term persists, and yet too, there must be some relevance for it as a descriptor. Or is there any relevance to it beyond the stylistic concerns of the Sunday supplements?

Liquidation suffers the fate of many books from late 20th and early 21st century writers who try to leave something of significance and yet the paradox is that they are generally nihilistic or cynical in their approach. The act of writing a book is essentially positivistic in nature and yet the doctrine they preach is pessimistic. Can a trumpet be blown that rallies people to their own demise? Perhaps, is what Beckett would say, and yet be assured I would not make this argument at the vanguard of conservative ignorance but rather in the shadow of such bold intellects.

'work makes one free'

I wanted to like this book and yet feel let down by the author, Nobel prize winner though he may be. Liquidation it is a good book that goes beyond the story telling narrative of a beginning, middle and end. It does seem to capture the succession of events that make up a life and the sense that their is very little of a story to relate. There is a sense that the story is lost, is abandoned, is discarded and maybe in some sense we all discard our own story. It is a 'degenerate art' that surely Hitler would have burned but yet it survives. Unfortunately, I believe it ultimately fails to make a connection with the Holocaust in spite of the words, in spite of the author's own life story.

But perhaps, in asking the questions, in presenting what is at times a contrived story it does achieve some awareness of an event. As you can see I am conflicted in my response to this book, a definite re-read is in order. However, I was left, thinking that I should go to Auschwitz.

Perhaps, he succeeded. Perhaps.

For more information ...
liquidation
Imre Kertész
post modernism
Auschwitz

more monkey than monk

I am far from been an ascetic monk and quietness is not one of my virtues. However, I do often feel drawn to the quite life and the clarity that a silent space would provide.

Buddhists refer to the concept of 'monkey mind' when describing the tendency for our minds to leap from one thought to another. Silence does not stop the 'monkey mind' and the first step is just an awareness of the frenetic pace of our thoughts. A good exercise is to stop thinking for ten seconds and to observe how difficult an exercise this is.

Monk Tame Monkey Mind Tame Monk by Sandra Rose

Maybe we need to just stop, to stop moving, stop talking and then stop thinking. Only then we can dwell in a silence we create and from there, who knows?


For more information ...
thinking too much
a different view
art of sandra rose

nothing

Nothing to say at the moment.
Tired.
Uninspired.
Uninspiring.
Tiresome.
Tiring.
Trying and yet not trying.

Vacant but without the flashing sign.
Less busy than a vagrant.
Avoiding toil.
Shuffling off the mortal coil.
Not industrious enough to achieve such monuments.

Pause.
Slow.
Stop.

Inventiveness diminished by lack of imagination.
Foolish to attempt such writing now.
Driven by ego, a seeking of approval.
No identity can be derived from such nonsense.

Pause.
Stop.
Slow.

Thinking, now, of something important to say.


Pause.
Pause.
Pause.

Checking spelling.
In the absence of content.
This activity, the only one with meaning.

Pause.
Stop.
Pause.

Waiting for some meaning to come.
Like shit hitting a fan.
or even something less impressive.

Pause.
Absence.
Waiting.
Waiting.
No shit.
No meaning.
Waiting.
Pause.
There is no shit thrower in the universe.
Even thought there is a fan.
Even though there is shit.
No, that was not the important thing.

Begin now to focus,
like when you're drunk
and someone asks you a question, you really want to answer in a clever way.
Foolish thoughts.
But like Dylan, Thomas not Bob, a lucid moment that might in daylight be worth keeping.
Towards the end, a good place.
Here goes.
A blank line or two to set the tone.


Who among you are honest enough to be foolish?
And through your foolishness grow into a wisdom.

Didn't really hit the mark, did it?

------
Over the years I have played around with the stream of consciousness idea and have a kind of 'love hate thing' with it. There is an immediacy and movement to it that I like but the confessional and self absorbing nature of it can at times appear a little 'teenage' which is fine when you are a teenager but loses its appeal as you begin to push forty.

Nonetheless I thought I would share this as it addresses my recent dearth of postings but also a more general angst I have regarding if I have anything of importance to offer. The answer it would seem is nothing.

mulberry bush

'Here we go round the mulberry bush,
The mulberry bush, the mulberry bush,
Here we go round the mulberry bush,
On a cold and frosty morning.'


This children's rhyme most likely began as a chant prisoners sung as they exercised around a mulberry tree in Wakefield prison. The tree (picture above) still stands in the grounds of the prison in the north of England.

maria callas

Listening to Maria Callas recently, I continue to be challenged by the operatic form which seems contrived at times. However, it is hard not to admire the accomplished nature of the performances. In particular I have been struck by Callas' version of Ebben! Ne andrò lontana. It has a slight manic quality at the end which you just don't seem to get in much popular music.

I think above all the classic and operatic has a broader range of both musicality and emotion which is hard to find in the 3 minute pop song. Don't get me wrong, The Beatles prove pop can be great but even they needed to stretch into other forms to get what they wanted to say said as Sgt. Pepper's testifies. Pop is at its best when it breaks its own form, think Nirvana, think Pink Floyd, think Radiohead.

Ebben! Ne andrò lontana (Ah well then! I shall go far away)
Come va l'eco pia campana, (Like the echo of the pious church-bell goes away,)
Là fra la neve bianca; (There somewhere in the white snow;)
Là fra le nubi d'ôr; (There amongst the clouds of gold,)
Laddóve la speranza, la speranza (There where hope, hope)
È rimpianto, è rimpianto, è dolor! (Is regret, is regret, is sorrow!)

O della madre mia casa gioconda(O from my mother's cheerful house)
La Wally ne andrà da te, da te! (La Wally is about to go away from you, from you!)
Lontana assai, e forse a te, (Quite far away, and perhaps to you,)
E forse a te, non farà mai più ritorno, (And perhaps to you, will never more return,)
Nè più la rivedrai! (Nor ever more see you again!)
Mai più, mai più! (Never again, never again!)

Ne andrò sola e lontana, (I will go away alone and far,)
Là, fra la neve bianca, n'andrò, (There, somewhere in the white snow, I shall go,)
N'andrò sola e lontana (I will go away alone and far)
E fra le nubi d'ôr! (And amongst the clouds of gold!)

Ebben! Ne andrò lontana (Ah well then! I shall go far away)
Come va l'eco pia campana, (Just like the echo of the pious church-bell goes away,)
Là fra la neve bianca; (There somewhere in the white snow;)
Là fra le nubi d'ôr; (There amongst the clouds of gold,)
Laddóve la speranza, la speranza (There where hope, hope)
È rimpianto, è rimpianto, è dolor! ( Is regret, is regret, is sorrow!)
O della madre mia casa gioconda (O from my mother's cheerful house)
La Wally ne andrà da te, da te! (La Wally is about to go away from you, from you!)
Lontana assai, e forse a te, (Quite far away, and perhaps to you,)
E forse a te, non farà mai più ritorno, (And perhaps to you, will never more return,)
Nè più la rivedrai! (Nor ever more see you again!)
Mai più, mai più! (Never again, never again!)

Ne andrò sola e lontana, (I shall go away alone and far,)
Come l'eco della pia campana, (Like the echo of the pious church-bell goes away,)
Là, fra la neve bianca, n'andrò, (There, somewhere in the white snow, I shall go,)
N'andrò sola e lontana (I'll go away alone and far)
E fra le nubi d'ôr! (And amongst the clouds of gold!)



Listening to this record, I wonder why the old fool Onassis ever left Callas for Jacqueline Kennedy. Such a force, what a woman, what a voice.

For more information ...
maria callas