expectation+anticipation

I don’t seem to have blogged for ages...

A book that I’ve just finished reading has been Liz Gray’s “99 Words” (actually, I suppose its full title is: “You have breath for no more than 99 words, what would they be?”). This was a question she asked after experiencing a life-changing injury had left her facing a future of uncertainty. She sought responses to this query from writers, artists, musicians and thinkers. The results were fascinating – some quite wonderful and some rather bizarre, mystifying and pretentious.
One of my favourite contributions was from Ben Okri.
I’ve previously blogged about the excitement and anticipation of things I’ve yet to do; places I’ve still to visit; people I’ve yet to meet; performances (theatrical, musical, sporting, artistic or whatever) I’ve yet to experience.
Ben Okri’s 99 words (actually only 75!) seemed to sum up what I’d been struggling to say just perfectly. The art of a good writer is a beautiful thing:
Tomorrow’s music sleeps
in undiscovered orchestras,
in unmade violins,
in coiled strings.
Spring waits by the lakes,
listening to the unfurling daffodils.
Summer lingers with the
hyperborean worms,
awaiting an astonishing command
from the all-seeing eye of Ra.
Tomorrow’s music sleeps
in our fingers,
in our awakening souls,
the blossom of our spirit,
the suggestive buds of our hearts.
Tell everyone the idea
is to function together
as good musicians would
in undefined future orchestras.
From “Lines in Potentis” by Ben Okri.