[Essay] ...beneath the ground...

[rodgers white]

For me, imagination in writing is just like the filter in a fish tank, and words and paintings are a perfect combination to provide a snapshot into our minds and thoughts. Would you please proofread my sentences and share what you imagine when you look at the painting? Any help would be appreciated. Here are the words and the painting.

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I almost never visit, and yet how sad in the night sounds the wind in the trees. And she, here beneath the ground... Does she hear it too, endlessly?

 

[Tarheel]

I don't get it. What do you never visit? Who is beneath the ground?

 

[rodgers white]

I don't get it. What do you never visit? Who is beneath the ground?

I never visit the place I almost never want to be. But at the same time I am dying to go there. So maybe in my dreams I flew there like the wind many times because I miss her so much. Life sometimes just plays a joke on me.

Someone I really care is resting beneath the ground.

The time we spent together almost got so bad it was so good at one stage, because we were both trying so hard.

 

[Tarheel]

I never visit the place I almost never want to be. But at the same time I am dying to go there. So maybe in my dreams I have flown there like the wind many times because I miss her so much. Life sometimes just plays a joke on me.

Someone I really care about is resting beneath the ground.

The time we spent together almost got so bad it was so good at one stage, because we were both trying so hard.

It seems like there are some conflicting feelings going on.

~R

 

[rodgers white]

It seems like there are some conflicting feelings going on.

~R

Exactly. This painting was called Memory of the Garden at Etten (Ladies of Arles). The painter was Van Gogh, Vincent. This painting was produced at Arles, in Provence, to which van Gogh moved in February 1888, embarking upon 15 months of frenetic painting - he produced over 200 canvases, despite or perhaps because of his depression and nervous crises.This painting recalls his native Holland and the garden of his parents' house at Etten. The artist's impressions of the bright sun and resonant colours of the south were combined with nostalgia for home.

However, what’s the most unforgettable memory for Van Gogh was: on the summer of 1881 he became infatuated with his recently widowed cousin. Vincent had last visited her in Amsterdam some three years before while her husband was still alive. But now her new situation stirred his tender feelings and romantic disposition. So he invited her to live with her 8-year-old son in the Garden at Etten. They took pleasant walks together and within the fortnight Vincent proposed marriage. She famously rebuffed him with a curt "No, at no time, never", abruptly taking her leave for Amsterdam and never dealing with him again. It became the deepest love and pain of his emotional life.

For Van Gogh, the Garden at Etten defintely was a sad place that he would never want to visit again, but at the same time he also missed that time so much. Humans are arguably the most bizarre creatures in the animal kingdom. He loves someone the most, who actually hurts him the most. His unrequited love leaves the scars on his heart forever.

So this evokes particularly strong and anguished memories for me:

I almost never visit, and yet how sad in the night sounds the wind in the trees. And she, here beneath the ground... Does she hear it too, endlessly?

By the way, anything to improve or to share, my friends?

 

[Tarheel]

Say:

His unrequited love leaves scars on his heart forever.

~R

 

[rodgers white]

Hi, there. Sometimes I wonder how the westerners express their deepest sorrow and sadness in their emotional life. Would you like to list some? Thanks.

 

[Tarheel]

Hi, there. Sometimes I wonder how [STRIKE]the[/STRIKE] Westerners express their deepest sorrow and sadness in their emotional life. Would you like to list some?

You seem to be in the habit of hitting me with stuff I'm not prepared for.

While cultures differ, people are pretty much the same the world over. They have the same emotions and they want more or less the same things for them and their families.

Happiness is happiness, and sorrow is sorrow. What do I mean by that? What makes people happy and what makes people sad is pretty much the same the world over. I don't need to list what makes people happy. It is, in a word, achievement. (Falling in love is perhaps not exactly an achievement, but it does make people happy.) What makes people unhappy? In a word, loss. Perhaps the biggest, most emotionally wrenching loss is the loss of a spouse. It can be very hard to deal with. You might even wish you had been the one who died instead of her.

So while people are different, they are also the same.

 

[rodgers white]

You seem to be in the habit of hitting me with stuff I'm not prepared for.

While cultures differ, people are pretty much the same the world over. They have the same emotions and they want more or less the same things for them and their families.

Happiness is happiness, and sorrow is sorrow. What do I mean by that? What makes people happy and what makes people sad is pretty much the same the world over. I don't need to list what makes people happy. It is, in a word, achievement. (Falling in love is perhaps not exactly an achievement, but it does make people happy.) What makes people unhappy? In a word, loss. Perhaps the biggest, most emotionally wrenching loss is the loss of a spouse. It can be very hard to deal with. You might even wish you had been the one who died instead of her.

So while people are different, they are also the same.

Thank you for your patience. I totally agree with your point. However, what I want to say here is that: what kind of metaphors would Westerners usually use to express their deepest sorrow and sadness in their emotional life? I mean people have their unique ways to express that, especially those from different cultures.

 

[Tarheel]

I know that you can miss someone to the point that you can hear her breathing next to you even though you know she's not really there.

 

[rodgers white]

I know that you can miss someone to the point that you can hear her breathing next to you even though you know she's not really there.

Wow, I like your sentence. When I read your words, something blurs my vision. In this world, the most painful thing you can feel is not to die. Instead, it is the memory. Recently I saw a Hollywood movie 'Endless', it is a love story. When madly in love high school graduates Riley and Chris are separated by a tragic car accident, Riley blames herself for her boyfriend's death while Chris is stranded in the limbo. Miraculously, the two find a way to connect. In a love story that transcendes life and death, both Riley and Chris are forced to learn the hardest lesson of all: letting go.