Dog's Dinner

"You're not loved because you're lovable, you're lovable 'cause you're loved."

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

Interruption from Ghalib

This is Tim's brother joining in. I'm studying Chinese literature at the University of Washington in Seattle. Last night I happened to go to a talk by a professor, in another part of my department, who studies various Indian languages, and he talked about this couplet by Ghalib:

When nothing was, then there was God. Had nothing been, God would have been.
My being has defeated me. Had I not been, what would have been?


(translated by Ralph Russell)

There were refreshments including wine after the talk, and the combination of wine and this poem made me deliriously happy.

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