アフターケア

http://d.hatena.ne.jp/yeuxqui/20051122

... Plotinus was preaching the dangers of multiplicity of the world back in the third century. Yet, the problem is particularly and essentially woman's. Distraction is, always has been, and probably always will be, inherent in woman's life.
For to be a woman is to have interests and duties, raying out in all directions from the central mother-core, like spokes from the hub of a wheel. The pattern of our lives is essentially circular. We must be open to all points of the compass; husband, children, friends, home, community; stretched out, exposed, sensitive like a spider's web to each breeze that blows, to each call that comes. How difficult for us, then, to achieve a balance in the midst of these contradictory tensions, and yet how necessary for the proper functioning of our lives. How much we need, and how arduous of attainment is that steadiness preached in all rules for holy living. How desirable and how distant is the ideal of the contemplative, artist, or saint -- the inner inviolable core, the single eye.

日本語で読むよりもしゃっきりした印象を受けるけど、英語の文体をどうこう言う資格も能力もないので、たんにわかりやすいからそう思うのかもしれない。
wheel - circular - compassと単語が続いていってweb - balance - tension と比喩が変わるのはこっちで読んだ方がよくわかった。が、上品なのか下品なのか、うまいのか、下手なのかよく分からない。あとcircularというのは円形でいいのだろうか。円を描く、くらいにしたいような気もするが、やっぱり英語の語感はよく分からない。
しかしあんまりノーコメントなのも芸がないので、おまけにこのあと一行だけ付け加えると

With a new awareness, both painful and humorous, I begin to understand why the saints were rarely married women.

と続く。それなりに深刻な、しかしクスリと笑った感じなのだろうか。

円の比喩をなぜもってきたかあれこれ考えるのはうがちすぎかな。無意識に書いているのかもしれないし、考えて書いているのかもしれないし。どっちにしても、まあいいか、どうでも。

Gift from the Sea

Gift from the Sea

... how to remain whole in the midst of the distractions of life; how to remain balanced, no matter what centrifugal forces tend to pull one off center; how to remain strong, no matter what shocks come in at the periphery and tend to crack the hub of the wheel.