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#208740 - 01/05/13 05:59 PM - -- "grooks"
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,120 LukeJavan8![]()
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Posts: 9,120
Land of the Flat Water
Distilled Spirits
When Germany occupied Denmark in 1940, physicist Piet Hein published an innocent-seeming poem:
Losing one glove
is certainly painful,
but nothing compared to the pain
of losing one,
throwing away the other,
and finding the first one again.
The German censors let it go, not understanding its meaning -- that while enduring occupation was bad, ceasing to resist would be worse. "It said that what happens to you from outside is less important than how you take it," he explained later. "The Danes knew what I meant."
In later years Hein cultivated a talent for such tiny aphoristic poems, which he called "grooks":
Problems worthy
of attack
prove their worth
by hitting back.
There is
one art,
no more,
no less:
to do
all things
with art-
lessness.
The road to wisdom? -- Well, it's plain
and simple to express:
Err
and err
and err again
but less
and less
and less.
Put up in a place
where it's easy to see
the cryptic admonishment
T.T.T.
When you feel how depressingly
slowly you climb,
it's well to remember that
Things Take Time.
In all he wrote more 7,000 grooks, which have become a part of Scandinavian culture. "I cannot really say where my activity as a scientist ends and where my activity as a man of letters begins," he said. "Whether I am writing a poem or solving some technical problem, I think the same."
----please, draw me a sheep----
#208750 - 01/06/13 05:28 AM Re: - -- "grooks" [Re: LukeJavan8]
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 724 Avy![]()
old hand![]()
old hand
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 724 Really, really, really wonderful and much needed post Luke. Thank you for sharing.
#208751 - 01/06/13 07:24 AM Counter Grooks. A new thread? [Re: LukeJavan8]
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 1,554 jenny jenny![]()
veteran![]()
veteran
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 1,554
Lower Aberdeen, Mississippi Put up in a place
where it's easy to see
the cryptic admonishment
T.T.T.
When you feel how depressingly
slowly you climb,
it's well to remember that
Things Take Time.
__________________________________
Put up in a place
You donna wanna be
The dynamite explosive
T.N.T.
And if you feel explosive
As you climb,
Be sure to remember that
Time Negates Time.
#208758 - 01/06/13 05:16 PM Re: - -- "grooks" [Re: Avy]
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,120 LukeJavan8![]()
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Posts: 9,120
Land of the Flat Water Originally Posted By: AvyReally, really, really wonderful and much needed post Luke. Thank you for sharing.
Just ran across it and was intrigued myself, thought others
might appreciate it. You're welcome.
----please, draw me a sheep----
#208759 - 01/06/13 05:18 PM Re: Counter Grooks. A new thread? [Re: jenny jenny]
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,120 LukeJavan8![]()
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,120
Land of the Flat Water Put up in a place
You donna wanna be
The dynamite explosive
T.N.T.
And if you feel explosive
As you climb,
Be sure to remember that
Time Negates Time.
Very nice addition.
Last edited by LukeJavan8; 01/06/13 05:18 PM.
----please, draw me a sheep----
#208925 - 01/11/13 05:25 AM Re: Counter Grooks. A new thread? [Re: LukeJavan8]
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 Jackie![]()
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 11,613
Louisville, Kentucky These are cool, Luke.
#208934 - 01/11/13 05:48 PM Re: Counter Grooks. A new thread? [Re: Jackie]
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,120 LukeJavan8![]()
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 9,120
Land of the Flat Water
----please, draw me a sheep----
#208935 - 01/11/13 05:55 PM Re: Counter Grooks. A new thread? [Re: Jackie]
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 Buffalo Shrdlu![]()
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 7,210
Vermont Originally Posted By: JackieThese are cool, Luke.
Give him a Hand.
:¬ )
formerly known as etaoin...
#208936 - 01/11/13 05:57 PM Re: Counter Grooks. A new thread? [Re: Buffalo Shrdlu]
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,120 LukeJavan8![]()
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,120
Land of the Flat Water Thanks, but they're not from my head.
Found them and just thought I'd share.
----please, draw me a sheep----
#208937 - 01/11/13 06:03 PM Re: Counter Grooks. A new thread? [Re: LukeJavan8]
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 Buffalo Shrdlu![]()
Carpal Tunnel![]()
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Vermont I know, I was just playing with Cool Hand Luke.
:¬ )
formerly known as etaoin...
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