Silence
silver rivers flow
unbeknown to humanity
till the end of time
at the end of the world
turbines stand still.
silence covers it all
the light punctures
the solid darkness.
minutes to sunset
33 words, Poem and Photography: Adela Galasiu, 2016
BBC. Soul. Music. Peace.
Yesterday lovely Nicola Humphries, BBC producer and wonderful woman with a big heart, has given me the opportunity to tell a story.
It has all started with my beloved Rhapsody in Blue and Gershwin, but for me this represents the tip of my soul iceberg. I have dived very deep in my past to the times when I was a happy child. I have spoken about life in the Communism, oppression, the tragic death of my father which has coincided with the beginning of the Romanian Revolution on the 22 of December 1989. I have tried to describe life as it was, but time was short and words don’t come always easy. I have had moments when my mind has frozen and when I could not find my words as in the back of my eyes I have kept my tears, because I cannot get back in some moments in time without feeling again all that intense pain.
I am in love with music because it has always been for me a gate to freedom and a window of hope in the darkest moments. I have remembered the most intense moments that I have lived and witnessed, the blood on the streets of Sibiu, the fear when people were shot, the agony of not knowing what was happening with my father when he did not come back home, the death striking my family when we have least expected, the love and the absolute loss.
I may be different than other people given the intensity of situations that I have lived, things that could have made other people get insane. I have been through things that normally do not happen to other people. Those have been moments that have not destroyed me, but made me stronger. This is one of the reasons why I write and I have started my blog. I believe that despite all pain, beyond all loss, life is both a path and a fight. We can all create a better path and win our battle. I truly believe that none of us should give up, that we should all have peace of mind and hope in our heart for the day to come. I believe it because I have been myself on the edge of despair and I have looked into the abyss of depression many times in my life.
As I came out of the BBC I have entered the Church of All Souls. I believe nothing is accidental. I have been not given the chance to speak about me alone, but the chance to recall and mention my mother, my father, my love, my loss, my hope. Maybe it was a way of setting myself free and closing a deep pain of the past, a bleeding succession of losses that I have lived with for a long time.
I believe in God. We have all a lesson to learn. And I believe that at the end of the road we shall all find love and peace.
500 words, memyselfandela, February 2014
Photos: Adela Galasiu, February 2014
Many thanks to wonderful Nicola Humphries and BBC 4, Soul Music.
Royal Horticultural Society Garden Wisley (1)
Yesterday I received a wonderful gift. It was a thank you gift from a friend of mine, and what touched me the most is that he didn’t just say thank you, but he also actually did something that knew would fill up my soul. In other words this friend knows that words are nice, but actions mean so much more. I was impressed that despite being still sick and in pain he did not find reasons to not do this trip. He wanted to take me there and he made it happen, regardless of any problems he might have.
My friend took me to see the marvelous Royal Horticultural Society Garden Wisley. I have spent 5 hours in the middle of this quiet beauty that left me humble. I love plants as source of healing and I love flowers as source of life, light and positive energy. Stepping inside this blessed place has filled me up with light and for this I am grateful. Here’s a part of the photographs, I will post more in 3 other posts in the next days.
Enjoy this quiet beauty and let the light fill you up.
Ela.
Photos: memyselfandela, July 2013
Prayer
I can hear You in every whisper of the wind
And every little grass sings Your name.
And every little flower rejoices in You
Like I can’t anymore.
I don’t need to put my finger in Your Holy rib to believe
For I simply know that You are here.
But I need You to put Your Holy finger in my heart
So I can live again.
Show me how to take a step after another
The way you teach a child how to walk
And in this humble existence,
On my lone path and from this pained soul,
Show me how I can find the shelter of Your peace
So I can return Your smile.
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memyselfandela, July 2013
Today
Lazy morning, no big worries, just a plan to go to the city. A day that might start like any other, that could be dull or beautiful. Is it the destiny to decide? Or is it my choice?
Before I go out of the door I want to taste something I had in my fridge, but that I was keeping for “better days”. Yet you know, as I sit here I realise that when we only think in terms of “better days”, “tomorrow”, “soon” or “later”, nothing happens, and often that postponed happiness never comes. It’s like never having the guts to just LIVE and BE HAPPY.
So TODAY I decide that there’s no tomorrow. TODAY is the only day that I have, maybe the last day of my life, maybe the first of the rest of it. So TODAY is the creme brulee day.
When I crack the crust of my creme brulee millions of memories invade my brain and soul. This treat used to be a Sunday treat in the family of my mother, in times when we, children, used to gather in my grandmother’s house and get around the table with an unspoken desire to taste the heavenly sweetness of what my aunt or grandmother had prepared. Only the sight of this steaming beauty used to make me smile at that time.
I remember how it used to be prepared, with fresh eggs from our courtyard hens, fresh milk and care and love, but mostly with a patience that me, the child of that time, did not posess, as for my restless soul the only wish was to taste the result.
Now with my adult mind I remember all that. But I also remember things found out much later. Like the unhappy marriage of my aunt, like the way her husband was beating and abusing her and how she decided to suffer and accept it all for the love of her children, children that also did not treat her right when they were always naughty and mean towards her, copying the ugly attitude of their father towards this woman that in my eyes was nothing but love and patience, just like a saint. She did suffer it all till the last day of her sad painful life because her mother, my grandmother, tought her that “it’s such a shame to divorce, and people talk”.
Now she moved to heaven, life has continued without her battered hands and hard working spirit, without her patience. Maybe now her children regret her, now that their life has no more love and guidance. Now the son that was laughing at his mother hates his father, but that is another story.
When I taste creme brulee I remember life itself. But mostly I remember innocence and childhood. I remember the garden and the columbines I used to pick and how amazed I used to be by all that beauty of free summer days, like a child without worries and with little dreams in the heart, small dreams, full of light, light like the fluffs of dandelions flying around… The age of innocence when every feeling felt so intense, as the feelings were bigger than my tiny heart and they were bursting me with sadness or joy…
And as I sit here and remember all these images coming out of my memories, with sounds, tastes, colours, laughter and tears, I realise what a fragile thing life is, how much a moment can mean and how profound it can be to just sit and remember. I remember all the departed, in an absolute love and gratitude. As I know that they watch over me and all the others left in my family. They are our shining stars , not lost, but living in a dimension connected to ours, and waiting for us to get back to them in memories, to hold them and cherish them until oneday we will meet again.
TODAY is a day for creme brulee. TODAY I can dive in my childhood, TODAY I am alive, TODAY I embrace life and through life all around. TODAY, even if the sun might not shine outside, it radiates out of my beating heart.
700 words, memyselfandela, June 2013
Alba
White Bird, shake your wing over me
Snow on my lashes with white snow flakes, graciously, silently, vapour like
Strew on the top of my head your wisdom.
Once I did not know you, I was living my life without your song
I was speaking so many words and did not understand any …
Now I have embaced you, you are me, I am silent.
Oh how beautiful it snows with oblivion in my eyes…
When you will fly away, I don’t want to be left behind,
Cover me with your wing, Solitude.
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Pasăre albă, scutură-ți aripa deasupra mea
Ninge-mi genele cu fulgi albi, grațios, tăcut, vaporos
Presară-mi pe creștet înțelepciunea ta.
Cândva nu te cunoșteam, îmi trăiam viața fără cântecul tău,
Vorbeam atâtea cuvinte și nu înțelegeam nici unul…
Acum te-am îmbrățișat, tu ești eu, eu tac.
Ce frumos ninge cu uitare în ochii mei…
Când vei zbura nu vreau să râmân în urmă,
Acoperă-mi inima cu aripa ta, Singurătate.
memyselfandela, 2011
Epiphany
As a new day rises over me I find myself breathing and living and smiling. The level of physical pain I feel is not relevant, the number of tears I have cried also not. My heart is full of Love and Peace. And I am grateful for every single thing that I have experienced in my life, because I finally understand that every single thing was a lesson.
Yes, life goes on. Yes, I have let go. Yes, I have set myself free from all the things and people that have harmed me and have lowered the vibration of my soul by making me suffer. For all those people I have closed the doors left ajar. I have canceled all my dreams related to them. I have forgiven them. And I have let them go on their own paths. No more regrets, no more questions, no turning back, no more torture of my soul. I could not have done this without shutting the doors of my past sad experiences. Without ending the past and making room for a new day. Without drying my tears so that I can smile again.
I have been very busy these past days. Busy working and busy with my feelings and thoughts. Busy listening to my Heart. I did not post much but I have learned incredibly much. I did not write for you my friends, but I did write in the book of my Heart and I did turn the page.
As I was in the depths of sorrow and pain some time ago I was wondering why all this pain happened to me. But these days and the light that has filled my soul have showed me that everything is a flowing process. That there’s no state of permanent pain and no condamnation to sorrow. That rather God closes for us some paths and doors just to open for us the right ones. That we don’t lose anything and anyone in life, but we find ourselves and what is good for us.
I am a deeply religious soul, whoever reads my blog knows this. I have my sins and mistakes but I also have a heart full of love. And I accept humbly all the beauty and Love that God has given me. I always say that God is more present in our lives than we even imagine. And He proved this to me so many times…
If there’s a word for this feeling, it is epiphany, it is the revelation of my complete heart and soul: I am Love.
Much love to you all.
Ela
Sunrise
Today like every day I keep my head up
Nobody knows of the fights that I fought,
Of the losses I live with, of the love I feel
Nobody but God understands the extent in which I’ve given myself in pieces.
I keep my head up and I know
That I’ve done my best
That I loved with all my heart
That I’ve been passionate and true
Never lukewarm, never shallow, never just half a measure.
Life is a perpetual change and I know
That if anything was meant to be part of my life
It will come to me, it will be part of me
And that things will fall into place.
I am peace and I’ve given peace
I am strength and I’ve given strength
I am passion and I’ve given passion
I am love and I’ve given so much love
From the moment I held a hand to the moment I embraced a heart
In innocent laughter or in absolute tears.
I am present in every moment
Burning like a candle at both ends
I stand for every word of love and care I have given
I erase every mistake I’ve ever made because I love so very much.
So today, like all days
The sun shines and rises above all
Above sorrow and hope,
Above pain, oblivion and broken heart,
Above smile and love.
May you all be blessed, may your heart be happy, may you be loved.
Ela.
It’s A New Day
‘
Start your day thinking of positive things.
It’s the first day of the rest of your life.
Be grateful for the beauty and the angels watching over you.
Cool Your Engines
Before starting
The quest of a new day
Or the adventure of the first step
Into the rest of your life
Take a deep healing breath
Of soothing energy and hope.
Close your eyes
Find the wise patience
Feel the blessed balance
Think sharp and clear
And don not rush
For the time for speed and action will follow soon.
Cool your mind, cool your heart, cool your engines
Visualise you succeeding in all that you are about to begin
Feel the strenght that lies deep inside you
The love that created you
And the sun shining upon your heart.
100 words, memyselfandela, 2013
Sunrise In Your Heart
The moment you give your hand
To a soul, brother or friend
The moment you capture the beauty around you
And you even create more beauty to give to this world
The moment you breathe in
The life and wisdom
The moment you look deep inside you
And recognize your sadness and fears
And your beauty and talent
And decide to never give up
The sun rises in your heart.
——————————————–
memyselfandela, 2013
Photo stolen from Arjun Bagga.
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Dear friends,
I wish you all a fantastic day, may the sun fill your hearts with joy, energy and love.
And if your heart aches , may you find peace. And if your body aches, may you find soothing energy.
A big THANK YOU to you all, the ones I know and all that don’t know me at all.
You all give your beauty, love and wisdom freely here on WP.
I am proud of you all, I am humbled and honored by your every like and thought.
Blessings and love,
Ela.
Night
Night creeps in our veins
And we can only think of us
Your arms , my breath
Our eyes telling without words stories from other lives
Silence covers all creatures
Like a thick heavy velvet absorbing every sound
Night of stars, night of dreams
Cradle us in your paradise
———————————
memyselfandela, 2013
Reverie
Eyes on this big eyed moon
I bathe in silence
Looking at you
My dreaming love.
Lost in a silver reverie
Only this moon remembers how I missed you
How many times I lost you in past lives
Dying in torments just to be born and get back to you.
Dripping away her blues from the sky
The moon smiles
And my soul shines
For you’re always here with me.
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70 words, memyselfandela, 2013
Claude Debussy : Clair de Lune, for Piano (Suite Bergamasque No. 3), L. 75/3
Happy Spring My Friends
I wish you all a spring full of light, hope and joy.
I wish all ladies lots of love and all the flowers in the world.
I wish all lonely souls peace and harmony.
Much love to all of you,
Ela
Dawn
In the breaking light of dawn
Love flag waving
Over the morning colours
Velvet look in our
Eyes full of love
Your warm
Open arms around me
Under a sky of peace.
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memyselfandela, 2013
Corner of the Loner
Dear friends,
As you know I have been here online for almost a year. I am writing about feelings, love, pain, life, beauty, but maybe what I wrote the most about was solitude.
Being a loner all my life I have great respect for all of you that are loners as well.
Starting from today I will dedicate a new section of my blog to all the solitary souls who would like to find a place where to listen some good music, see some beautiful things, read some calm thoughts about this existance. You are all my guests and you are all invited, no matter of religion, country, thoughts or state of mind. You can find the page on the top right side of the menu. Join the Club!!!!
If I would have been rich I would have opened a bar, a Club of the Loner. But since the only instrument I have is this blog, I invite you here, in this quiet corner. And know that none of you is really alone, there are many lonely people just like you.
I wish you all a great peaceful day.
And the last thing to say for today is:
Don’t feel strange or like an alien because you are different. You might not be as sociable as others, or maybe you did not find any true friends yet. But remember that you are unique and beautiful.
❤
Ela
Within
It’s my loner choice and pride
to keep my fire and death within myself.
I don’t fantasize about life or love
nor about passion
I live straight , I love fully, I burn.
It’s because it is all within me
that I need not look somewhere else.
I’ll hide the blooming heart, the dancing fire
and all my dying veins
deep within this soul.
I will not tell you where I hide my soul.
Maybe under the darkest rock,
maybe at the end of the galaxy
where I’ve been created by
the Allmighty hand.
No need for dons to lead my life, nor for princes to save me,
I can’t stand charming lies, for I’ve heard them all.
No need for fantasies to kidnap my heart and soul,
Nor for anyone’s pity, nor for my own regrets.
I live for truth , feelings and facts.
Nobodies slave, I’ll keep my head high
What am I worth if I’m not even true?
I can look in the mirror without fears,
I am myself, and in this solitude
I feel, therefore I am.
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memyselfandela, 2013
Friedensengel / Angel of Peace
Illuminating presence over the city
guardian while Munich sleeps
with his olive branch bringing the blessings
of the Angel of Peace
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photo: memyselfandela, 2001
memyselfandela, 2013
What is Love?
What describes love the best?
The way it makes you feel?
Or the sacrifice it’s willing to make?
The passion or the comfort?
The peace or the fight?
At the end of the road
You will find out the answer:
Love is All or Nothing.
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memyselfandela, 2013
memyselfandela 