Veiled

Rain waited for nightfall, quickly dampened everything, then turned to mist. It drifts, silent itself, revealed to the ear only by the intermittent drops falling from the trees, though now and them more rain falls, though its sound never rises above a soft whisper, as of rustling grass. I walk in this damp darkness and listen, but it reveals no secrets thought can grasp. Some verse is there which cannot be translated to ordinary language. It passes quickly, and only mist remains, gradually soaking my hair until I feel the drops running down my face and the back of my neck like beads of sweat. What change has this exertion wrought? Something broken down, perhaps, like soil slowly eroding to form some new landscape yet undiscerned. I return home to sleep, and let the water do its work.

There's a Lot to be Learned from Books

I was delighted to discover that Sir Richard Burton's translation of The Book of a Thousand Nights and a Night is one among the thousands of texts which has been made available as an e-book by Project Gutenberg. It is in sixteen volumes of several hundred K each (only a couple of hundred K each in zip form) and, as is everything on the site, free. I always intended to buy this translation of the complete text, which I believe was available in a Modern Library edition, but never got around to it. I'd still like to get the printed version, but in the meantime I can just stuff the e-book onto Sluggo's hard drive and dip into it whenever he isn't being too cranky. Nice.

Update:Drat! I had a link to the download page for the book itself, but it didn't work. It merely defaulted to the search page. You'll have to put "Burton" into the author box and "Book of a Thousand Nights" into the name box. That should fetch it.

The rain has continued in moderation today, with the clouds parting for a while just before sunset, thus affording me a little bit of sunshine. Now I'm going to settle in for the night and read.