I saw you from a foreign window Bearing down the sufferin' road You were carryin' your burden …
I spied you from a foreign window ... To the place you kept your books
You were reading on your sofa You were singin' every prayer That the masters had instilled in you Since Lord Byron loved despair.
— Van Morrison, "Foreign Window"
Ode on Melancholy
by John Keats
No, no, go not to Lethe, neither twist Wolf's-bane, tight-rooted, for its poisonous wine; Nor suffer thy pale forehead to be kiss'd By nightshade, ruby grape of Proserpine; Make not your rosary of yew-berries, Nor let the beetle, nor the death-moth be Your mournful Psyche, nor the downy owl A partner in your sorrow's mysteries; For shade to shade will come too drowsily, And drown the wakeful anguish of the soul.
But when the melancholy fit shall fall Sudden from heaven like a weeping cloud, That fosters the droop-headed flowers all, And hides the green hill in an April shroud; Then glut thy sorrow on a morning rose, Or on the rainbow of the salt sand-wave, Or on the wealth of globed peonies; Or if thy mistress some rich anger shows, Emprison her soft hand, and let her rave, And feed deep, deep upon her peerless eyes.
She dwells with Beauty—Beauty that must die; And Joy, whose hand is ever at his lips Bidding adieu; and aching Pleasure nigh, Turning to poison while the bee-mouth sips: Ay, in the very temple of Delight Veil'd Melancholy has her sovran shrine, Though seen of none save him whose strenuous tongue Can burst Joy's grape against his palate fine; His soul shalt taste the sadness of her might, And be among her cloudy trophies hung.
“Sorrow prepares you for joy. It violently sweeps everything out of your house, so that new joy can find space to enter. It shakes the yellow leaves from the bough of your heart, so that fresh, green leaves can grow in their place.” ~ Rumi
Thematic Images for the Winter Blues
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Thematic Images for Melancholy & Depression
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The Winter Blues
Thematic Images for the Winter Blues & Wyrd (Upside Down) Path of Odin
Odin hanging from Yggdrasil (World Tree)
Odin hanging from Yggdrasil (World Tree
Odin hanging from Yggdrasil (World Tree
A common complaint from those who suffer from Winter Blues (Seasonal Affective Disorder-SAD) is: "I feel all upside down," or "I feel hung upside down." This is truly weird. Unless, we consider the "Wyrd Path of Odin" at this "dark time" of year.
Thematic Images of Ancient Melancholia
Evening and Sorrow (Moreau)
Mary Magdalene as Melancholy (Gentileschi 1621)
Thematic Images for Conventional Wisdom about the Winter Blues
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Thematic Images for the GS' Unconventional, Crazy Wisdom about the Winter Blues
As stated in the musical essay, the GS's musical prescription for the Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is "the homeopathic principle that like cures like; in other words, fight fire with fire!"
West-Running Brook
by Robert Frost
I have been one acquainted with the night. I have walked out in rain—and back in rain. I have outwalked the furthest city light.
I have looked down the saddest city lane. I have passed by the watchman on his beat And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.
I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet When far away an interrupted cry Came over houses from another street,
But not to call me back or say good-bye; And further still at an unearthly height, One luminary clock against the sky
Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right. I have been one acquainted with the night.
Melancholy is often times tinged with a bittersweet nostalgia for earlier times; for something lost, such as lost love. Melancholy memories.
Thematic Images for Erotic Melancholy (Amor Hereos or "Lovesickness")
