Words & Incense
13 April, 2009 | 24 comments | Category: for.the.love.of.words!, peace & conflict, prose.tales
via getthebubbles @ flickr
by Sofi, a thinker, word artist, a lover of books, dialogue & people
Words are like incense. Underneath their crude obvious delights of fragrance and effect are hidden… Incense and words, full of mystifying aromas, used in counteracting the unpleasant, assaulting the senses, easing pious souls and amusing the masses. Like incense that has just been put on a burner words too rise slowly threatening to fill up the room. It’s funny how, though one stands at a distance, one always smells the exotic aroma before the smoke spreads. While examining them suspiciously at a distance, words too, always manage to reach me and manifest their effect. I constantly feel their assault on my senses – bitter sweet but powerful all the same. I thought of people before me, this must have been how it felt like: the thick presence of words washing down dry throats and heating up dull blood in exposed veins. Shouted words shaking up beings too afraid to hope, too afraid to think. Whispered words and confessions, breaking insecurities away. Written words, breathing light and feeling up voids within. But unlike incense, words last trapped in space (if enough was said, wouldn’t space have been filled to the brim?) Words are fascinating. It doesn’t stop with mending and breaking, there is travel involved! Haven’t those that belonged to revolutionary leaders, unrelenting lovers, visionary thinkers and skilled writers boiled my very own blood and prickled my senses ages after having been uttered? So words must time-travel, very much unlike anything.
The history of uttered words tells stories so varied yet adorned with the crown of powerfulness. The likes of Churchill won wars through words, the likes of Shakespeare worded life, death and all things in between. Uttered words mobilized masses, founded cities, and awakened decaying minds at the city gates; and at threshing floors and kitchen tables words strengthened feeble hearts, cultivated identities and straightened wrinkled thoughts. Doesn’t the whole of humanity bear witness to the therapeutical outlets of inexpressible groans in poems read and songs heard, in prayers chanted and rallies marched?
As strong as I feel words, I have come to believe their unbearably loud absence. I feel as if too much was unsaid and enough was not meant . Too many words hang uttered but unreceived in space…the “mis-said”, the “too late said” and the ”unsaid”, too weak to wash away tear stains and heal defeated ears, restlessly lie trapped unable to reach their destination. Words uttered are blissfully present in my here and now making me taller and bolder; imparting wisdom, hope, faith, laughter and love… but what of those that lie unheard, ”unwhispered”? If the good Lord sets loose all the unsaid words trapped in rotting crosses or flowing tears (and certainly in moments lost, rules set and caves unexplored), would more dead-men-walking awaken? Would fear and timidity and the thorny fences of pretension burn away? Actions have spoken louder since utterance was born but too little was said of them… if enough was told, wouldn’t legacies outlast lives already lived and influence those yet to be? A wise man once wondered how history would have unfolded had someone befriended young Hitler walking down the streets of Vienna. I too wonder, with the abundance of words, could cruelty have been out-saturated, word-diluted “wordiluted” to its very absence? I wonder, would lukewarmness be “worded” to passion? Would what my people taught me saying “silence is golden” be finally broken giving birth to freer souls and love fed aspirants bold enough to embrace change?
I dream of days when indifference, injustice and the cruel grip of silence would have to make room for uttered words.
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24 comments to “Words & Incense”
E, April 13th, 2009 at 5:05 pm:
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Very deep Sofi,
I always find it hard to find the balance between the direct assertive ways of the west with the mitigated expression of our culture…so most of my thoughts end up being unsaid.
Nani, April 14th, 2009 at 12:06 am:
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Wonderful!!! but I need to let it sink before I can respond …
Sofi, April 14th, 2009 at 8:38 pm:
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E,it’s true…but as a survival skill (one has to be direct and assertive to just survive out here isn’t it?), I see it as something one has to keep on struggling with to the point of finally unlearning to glorify the unsaid like our culture has taught him/her. But you’re right, it’s no easy task. Though some claim the longest distance in the world to be between the brain and the heart, I do believe once I accept in my head/brain the virtue of worded thoughts/actions, with time that belief would travel to the heart and it’ll be manifested in my actions, librating me from silence.
@Nani, thanks for the comment…do word out the response
Mehret (Lela-sew), April 14th, 2009 at 10:51 pm:
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in deed WORDS …are …
W-onderful
O-utlets
R-eaching
D-eepdown Z
S-oul …when said right, enough, timely and in LOVE!
super sOfI …!
poye, April 16th, 2009 at 5:28 am:
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May I ask what inspired u to write this wonderful writing?
Nani, April 16th, 2009 at 7:19 pm:
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Yes what inspired this wonderful work of art??
“I have come to believe their (words) unbearably loud absence. I feel as if too much was unsaid and enough was not meant.” Very True!! even innocent conversations are never truly meant, these days just means to an unending end. I don’t remember the last time someone’s asked me “how are you” and honestly wanted to know my response (same goes to me) we’re hypocrites of our own makingand how do you mean words remain trapped in space? , aren’t words unmeasurable, only their effects can be observed? do you feel that they’ve become meaningless more recently?
E, April 16th, 2009 at 11:39 pm:
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It’s amazing how i was gone comment on the sentence Nani just mentioned.
“I feel as if too much was unsaid and enough was not meant”….its so disturbingly true.
Sofi, April 17th, 2009 at 10:32 am:
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@Mehret, so true…I like your W.O.R.D.S
@Poye & Nani…I’ve always been fascinated with words but this time around I litrally felt their range of effect-spectrum through a certain “wordisan artisan” like tpeaces would put it..ehm…enough said
You’re so right Nani, small conversations, leben yadekemutal ) On the second point you mentioned…I think the effect of words can be observed and individually measured with regards to what it achieved and how real it is, I think. Trapped words: haven’t there been words you brought to existance (through your thoughts, prayers, writings, tears or girl-to-girl talks) but never directed towards the person that ought to hear them? Or how about those too-late-said, uttered but still unheard? And like you said, how about those words we use but never mean – I’m quite sure that when we release those words we don’t mean, the words that are true and should have been said remain formed but unreleased – imprisoned within our beings so to say…I believe those to be trapped, i.e., in existance but unreceived, just lying about in “space” – within ourselves or in those we misdirected it to, perhaps in the winds or diaries we confessed in…
@E disturbingly true indeed.
Me, April 22nd, 2009 at 11:53 pm:
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In the beginning was the Word …
But Ke huwala yemeta ayin aweta honena … our actions started to determine our humanity and shape the world in ways only our brain could imagine.
…
Personally, I like incense. Whenever I think of incense, certain events from the past come to mind: the coffee ceremony, the bercha, the “sendel gela gela” music, Woloyes (most of the Woleyes I knew, they loved Sendel or incense) and their Menzuma. Last but not least it reminds me of my ex-.
Cheers,
Nani, April 23rd, 2009 at 5:01 pm:
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lol Me, bercha? I donno abt Woloyes but almost everyone I know likes incense, could be because I am handicapped when it comes to distinguishing what ethnicity people belong to (partly consciously, partly because I’m just hopeless)
but what are words if they don’t go in congruence with your actions? then you become ‘asmesay’/ coward or is it called ‘wilo adari’ i could be wrong on the last one. At least that’s what I understood by … “too much was said but not enough was meant”
Sofi, April 23rd, 2009 at 8:52 pm:
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I love that part of John’s gospel, Me…”In the beginning was the Word..”. It’s interesting to note that God too revealed all of His will through the Word and through words. Enough was said and all was meant. lol, Me…hmm, u’r drawing pictures in my head..but not of my ex
)
True that Nani…asmesay, gebezetegna (hypocrite), wilo adarinet would be exactly that, and on the other hand enough needs to be said of those good actions aydel? “Actions have spoken louder since utterance was born but too little was said of them… if enough was told, wouldn’t legacies outlast lives already lived and influence those yet to be?”
Semhal, April 24th, 2009 at 2:44 am:
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Sofi…i like your argument about the power of words. I agree with you!
But you can WIN by words only when they are said gentle…just because they are true, beautiful and well phrased doesn’t make them effective (it’s not enough). They may satisfy you and you may overcome the audience or the party you are trying to convince but you can’t win them. I think what people are lacking is not the knowledge of using words, but the wisdom of using them in gentle ways that are filled with love.
Nani, April 24th, 2009 at 8:55 pm:
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and to add to what u just said Semhal – at the right time and in the right place … there’s a season and reason for everything … right
Me, April 25th, 2009 at 4:59 pm:
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“I donno abt Woloyes but almost everyone I know likes incense, could be because I am handicapped when it comes to distinguishing what ethnicity people belong to (partly consciously, partly because I’m just hopeless)”
Eshi, here is the thing … of course almost everyone I know likes incense, too. But what makes Woleyes different from the rest is that … they are so into it, at least those I knew! Some even have it on their ear knob always as they do their daily business. U know … just like you may love all ur friends but you always have this special friend that u love more … I say … just like Kitfo is to Gurages, Sendel to Woloyes.
Will this make u hopeless too? … i dont mean to digress from the main topic, though. “but what are words if they don’t go in congruence with your actions? then you become ‘asmesay’/ coward or is it called ‘wilo adari’” … ok
re you saying that most if not all the writers or artists or “lovers of words” are nothing but bunch of hypocrites? … Well, all they do is write …. live in fantasy … create characters that do or don’t even exist … characters that act in ways that don’t even resemble the creator’s lifestyle … and so on, right? And in that case … even God is a hypocrite too, Lord have mercy on me, … coz all he had to do was create and be the WORD … and watch the Word becoming life and deciding his or her own destiny and rewarding or punishing in the end.
Oh Nani, ke Egzaber ga atalashign …
tpeace, April 25th, 2009 at 7:54 pm:
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hahahahaha!! me…i love ur comments! so help me God! too hilarious abo. maybe u were onto something a few blog posts back about small minds and big minds
words are strange things – i have a love affair with words but maybe they can be flimsy and fleeting just like incense…or weighty, depending on how they are recieved
i heard a teaching a few weeks back about the value of actions & words. the way the stories were told, the speaker emphasized that actions speak louder than words in shaping a legacy for the future generation in one’s personal life. For instance, a man’s kids are shaped by the way he IS and his actions have repercussions into several generations -that is his legacy: how he is and what he practices shapes his kids’ lives, in turn shaping his grand-kids’ lives through his kids.
Both actions & words have power because they can impact lives and shape experiences. We need skill and finesse to utilize them effectively…
i always have a problem with my thoughts getting ‘lost in translation’ overt straightforwardness being misinterpreted as rude, particularly in our culture of ‘silence is golden’. there’s a fine line to thread, it seems, ylugnta minamin, that hole drilled in our brains about: chewa lij hun/hugn blah blah…
regarding my love affair with words: now that’s gotta do with their ability to travel time and distance within instants – its just like magic
Nani, April 26th, 2009 at 7:20 pm:
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imilih Me, I can neither save you from hell nor explain to the almighty why you dare speak of him this way, LOL degmo don’t cite me as the reason why you’re in conflict with God, altho I think it seems more in the lines of you being in conflict with yourself ….ummm … perhaps you’d invest more time conversing with yourself
lol ok on a more serious note, are you saying like cigarette smokers put it on their ear knob? degmo it’s not comparable to gurages loving kitfo, (because non gurages love it too) but also because kitfo is edible, and incense is not. And isn’t our sense of smell the weakest of all (it’s been a while since i’ve taken any science resembling class so could be wrong) so the smell doesn’t last as long as tasting …. or perhaps that’s why they need to constantly smell it :/ ooooh that makes sense so that was what u were saying? they need to renew their addiction which is why they keep it on their ear??
degmo i never said artists are cowards! Quite the opposite actually, don’t put words in my mouth. Actually I think they’re the most honest of us all, because they’re more in touch with their feelings and reactions to their environment …very few of us can actually dare be as honest, AND GOD is NOT a hypocrite (May God have mercy on your soul) he lived up all his promises, I’m not religious, but I never doubted His sincerity (I hope He doesn’t read this blog … for ur sake) LOL I don’t even make sens :/
Me, April 27th, 2009 at 1:16 am:
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emitiyign Nani, Ke-ezgaber ga atalahuh aydel? emegnina arfesh tekemech … LOL …
I am just kidding … don’t take my words as they are … And when did I ever put words in your mouth? … I don’t even know you …. LOL
If God has not read this blog, his angles/demons have already, so u and i are in big mess … Neseha bitigebi yawatashal … ene enkwa leyitolignal …
I beg to disagree with you regarding the analogy I made about Gurages and Woleyes … but neger lalemanzazat i will stop it here.
You never said “artists are cowards” directly, but you said this: “but what are words if they don’t go in congruence with your actions? then you become ‘asmesay’/ coward or is it called ‘wilo adari’” … If what someone writes totally contradicts what he or she does privately, what else can be a hypocrisy then?
But we all hypocrites one way or the other, so they can be excused. I believe Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, whoever else am missing, are great examples of those who lead by example. They lived what they preached. Jesus walked the water. Mohammed enjoyed the company of many wives. Buddha did his meditation well and taught it to others. And so on …
But take Shakespeare, for example. God knows what he did in his private life apart from writing those beautiful plays that reflect human drama. Which one of those great characters does he resemble? Did he live a humble life or a bourgeois? Least we know… So in his life’s case his words speak louder than his actions since we don’t know what actions he took apart from the books he wrote.
“words are strange things – i have a love affair with words” … How often?
Goodness, anchi yeguwadawun mistir badebabay? Anyway, zimita yiseber eyalin silehone, enilefew. can i be ye-ayin abat when the babies are born, though? … hehe … this is ye-small mind talk i guess. as a side note, ene milew guen why aren’t males allowed to contribute articles? is this some kind of female (20 something that is) conspiracy going on? LOL … just kidding.
Until next time …
Nani, April 27th, 2009 at 5:12 am:
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LOL why are you going to grace us with your blog?
now you’re talking!
tpeace, April 28th, 2009 at 7:59 am:
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LOL can i just say i love this back and forth yall…
ahem…we’ll keep the ayn abat bit in the guada if u will *wink wink*
hehe …yeguadawin mister wede adebabay, alk?…what i’m sayin is there’s soo much hidden in that guada cos everyone’s clamoring their dirty business in there, shooo the inventory room dude must be soooo overworked! poor fellow …i’m just lookin out for him in my small way, ya know what i mean?Me…we’re open to contributions from “the male perspective” to the blog actually men are probably as human as we are i guess…why? u know anyone who’s interested?
while female voices don’t get the podium often, we like the idea of entertaining men who tout interesting ideas
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hehe … i dont kno any male out here who’s interested …. but that was just my silly observation …
it’s not a criticism … actually it is more fun to remain a bystander, not a passive one, though, and, watch you guys play with words.
Anyway, speaking of words here is an interesting quote:
“I’m not interested, as a poet, in words like ‘plash’ – Seamus Heaney words, interesting words. I like to use simple words but in a complicated way.”
? Maybe an excerpt from her poem explains it:
“Not a red rose or a satin heart.
I give you an onion.
It is a moon wrapped in brown paper.
It promises light
like the careful undressing of love.”AROL ANN DUFFY, the poetess.
….
“actually men are probably as human as we are i guess…” hmm … just as women are the 13th element that mysteriously escaped from men’s closet?
Until next time ….
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oopsi … C is missing from the above name. CAROL is the correct name.
Nani, May 4th, 2009 at 2:45 am:
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koy i don’t get u Me are u a guy or a girl? Pardon my sillyness, and if you’re a guy or a girl, keep the idea of playing in words … even if not now some time in the future
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Nani!! lol … well I could be a hermaphrodite … these days anything is possible, you kno!
I gotta see my doc, perhaps. I wonder what bothered you …
Incense « Diffusi0n, October 28th, 2009 at 11:00 am:
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[...] the subject of ‘Words & Incense‘ a girl called Sofi writes “It’s funny how, though one stands at a distance, one [...]