Britta's Letters from her life divided between city-life in German's capital Berlin and life in a Bavarian village
Showing posts with label Matthias Claudius. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Matthias Claudius. Show all posts

Monday 1 July 2013

Siamese Cats, Symmetry and Disappearances


In a comment to my last post John Gray remarked attentively: 
                                                 That is ONE. Art Deco cat  
"Potzblitz!", as people around Frederic the Great would have said - or, also charmingly old-fashioned: "Ei der Daus!" (Nowadays even Google says only "Oops!", not even "sorry" - but what can one expect of an institution that - at last in Germany - also doesn't know the word "please"? "Sign in!" they bellow). 
            So: only ONE cat. How could I overlook that? Do I become professionally blinkered? I mean, being deeply involved in Crime TV, of course I know "Silver Blaze" by Sherlock Holmes, the famous short story 


Gregory (Scotland Yard detective): "Is there any other point to which you would wish to draw my attention?"
Holmes: "To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time."
Gregory: "The dog did nothing in the night-time."
Holmes: "That was the curious incident."[


(Yes, from this short story Mark Haddon got the title "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"). 
So: There is only ONE cat, says John. Where is the other? 
In Germany we have a saying - "He said he just left the house to buy some cigarettes"  wails little wifee - meaning: he will never return - up and away he is, the rogue. Trying to Catch a Carven A?  
Had the cat sneaked away? Applying for  a major part in "A Lady  Cat Vanishes"? 
Our German poet Matthias Claudius has written a beautiful song, "Abendlied" - (see my translation on my blog Britta's Happiness of the Day: http://burstingwithhappiness.blogspot.de/2012/11/abendlied-evening-song-der-mond-ist.html
There is more moon, says Claudius, as you sometimes see. 
Or as Shakespeare said:
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
I love Zen. As you know there is a general absence of symmetry in Japanese art. Okakuro notes that true beauty "could be discovered only by one who mentally completed the incomplete."  
But for the lovers of Western harmony I added the second cat above, symbol of the Egyptian god Bastet
Is it perfect now, John?