Sunday, June 9, 2019

A Gentle Rain Is Falling / ᎤᏓᏅᏘ ᎠᎦᏍᎬ ᎤᎶᏒᎦᏎ

A gentle rain is falling,
birds hop in tree branches,
expecting worms.

ᎤᏓᏅᏘ ᎠᎦᏍᎬ ᎤᎶᏒᎦᏎ,
ᏥᏍᏆᏗ ᎠᏓᎾᏫᏗᏍᎦᏎ ᎤᏍᏗ-ᎤᏩᏂᎦᎸᏗ ᎾᎿ,
ᎤᏚᎩ-ᎬᏓᏁᏖ ᏥᏍᎪᏯᏗᏁ.






Text and image © 2019 by Donald C. Traxler ꮨᏺꭽꮅ.

Bride Cart

I'll push no more the militant bride-cart,
because I simply don't think it right
to seek my name with high abandon
in stony paths that know no peace.






Text and image © 2019 by Donald C. Traxler.

Saturday, June 8, 2019

ᏌᎪᏂᎨ ᎦᎸᎶᎢᏗ / Blue Skies

ᏌᎪᏂᎨ ᎦᎸᎶᎢᏗ,
ᎥᏝᎪᎱᏍᏗ ᎠᎴᎾᏍᎩ
ᎠᏴ ᎦᏚ.

Blue skies,
nothing else
over me.






Image and Udugi text © 2014-2019 by Donald C. Traxler ꮨᏺꭽꮅ.

62,000 Visits

This morning we passed the milestone of 62,000 visits to this blog since its inception in October of 2016. Over the past month, most of the visits have come from (in descending order) the United States, Russia, Germany, France, Israel, an Unknown Region (I believe it to be associated with Russia, but I'm not sure), a small Middle Eastern country, Portugal, Greece, and South Korea. These are the top ten, but there have been visits from many other countries as well.

As to the popularity of individual posts, I see that The Beatitudes, a Trajectory through Time, a prose piece from 31 May, related to New Testament studies and my proposed solution to the so-called Synoptic Problem (which is really a puzzle rather than a problem) has attracted 35 visits. The only post garnering more visits was The Light, a small, minimalist poem published on 25 May, at 38 visits. All types of posts are reflected in the top ten positions.

I'm afraid I must cut this entry short, as the thunder outside is becoming worrisome.

Thanks to all of you for your continued interest in this blog.






Text and image © 2019 by Donald C. Traxler.

Friday, June 7, 2019

Nature and machine / ᎬᏩᎣ ᎠᎴ ᎪᏢᏅᏙᏗ

Nature and machine
must work together
for either
to survive.

ᎬᏩᎣ ᎠᎴ ᎪᏢᏅᏙᏗ
ᎠᏎ ᏗᎦᎸᏫᏍᏓᏁᏗ ᎢᏧᎴ
ᎢᏳᏍᏗᏉ ᎬᎵᏱᎵᏏ
ᎠᎴᏂᏙᎢ.






Text and image © 2019 by Donald C. Traxler ꮨᏺꭽꮅ.

Wednesday, June 5, 2019

Man, Machine / ᎠᏍᎦᏯ, ᎪᏢᏅᏙᏗ

Man, machine,
and the power
of word
and image . . .

ᎠᏍᎦᏯ, ᎪᏢᏅᏙᏗ,
ᎠᎴ ᎤᎳᏂᎬᎬ
ᎧᏁᎢᏍᏗ ᎠᎴ
ᏗᏟᎶᏍᏔᏅ ᎥᎿᎢ . . .






Text and image © 2019 by Donald C. Traxler ꮨᏺꭽꮅ.

Friday, May 31, 2019

The Beatitudes: A Trajectory through Time

Luke 6:20-23 (reflects "Matthew I"):

1) Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

2) Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.

3) Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude and insult you and reject your name as evil because of the Son of Man,

4) Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.


Matthew 5:3-11, in the Shaprut version (reflects "Matthew II"):

1) Blessed are the humble of spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

2) Blessed are those who wait, for they shall be comforted.

3) Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

4) Blessed are the innocent of heart, for they shall see God.

5) Blessed are those who PURSUE peace for they shall be called sons of God.

6) Blessed are those who are PERSECUTED for righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

7) Blessed are you when they persecute and revile you and say against you all kinds of evil for my sake, but speak falsely.

8) Rejoice and be glad for your reward is very great in heaven, for thus they persecuted the prophets.


Matthew 5:3-11, in the canonical version ("Matthew III"):

1) Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

2) Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

3) Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

4) Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

5) Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

6) Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

7) Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

8) Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

9) Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.


To review a bit: My Layered Matthew Hypothesis was presented in this blog in the series The Layers of Matthew I-X, posted in October and November 2018. It is diagrammed and explained most succinctly in The Layers of Matthew VI, posted on 17 November 2018. Here is the diagram that was given there:




What we notice here, first of all, is the increasing fullness of the list of Beatitudes from Matthew I (Luke is our witness) to Matthew II (the Shem Tob Ibn Isaac Ibn Shaprut Hebrew Matthew is our witness for at least one of the intermediate forms of Matthew to which I have given this designation) and finally to Matthew III (canonical Matthew). We also notice a play on words that only works in Hebrew, based on the Hebrew root רדף, which means both "to pursue" and "to persecute," and forms a "catchword" or "linking word" between the thoughts in the fifth and sixth Beatitudes in the Shaprut Hebrew Matthew. What we call "peacemakers" are "peace-doers" in Greek, but idiomatic Hebrew is "those who pursue peace." Thus, the play on words is lost when one takes Matthew out of its original Hebrew.

Text and image © 2018-2019 by Donald C. Traxler.