11.8.15

I was thinking of this tonight after watching a special on Nikola Tesla--that is, this blog. The choice to name it "Sport of Infinity" was derived from the document name wherein my poems were stored at the time I started it.

Generally, I store all my typed poems in word documents on the computer and on the cloud after having handwritten their originals in a journal or on a scrap of paper that was to hand. The current one I'm writing in is called "Loud on the Brink", but at the time of starting this I had another. The idea of Sport of Infinity came from the lyrics (well, what I thought the lyrics were) of a song as performed by Reilly and Maloney, a folk duo. The song is called A Delicate Balance (here is a recording), and I thought they said "And it's all such a delicate balance/ that the spark of infinity gives", and I loved that thought. The idea that a simple spark, perhaps of inspiration or growth, would spiral on into forever. I changed it to "sport" because I thought life was a little like that; searching for that spark that will keep you moving into forever, that which always keeps us moving. (The spark is what makes it relevant to Tesla)

However, I didn't realize this song was a cover of the artist Tom Dundee who apparently was close friends with Reilly and Maloney, who covered it in homage to his career. And according to the internet, the lyrics actually are "sport of infinity". It reminds me of Elizabeth Zimmeman's "unventions", things which come from your mind but are certainly not unique to you but still feel clever and useful. Here is a recording of the same song performed by Dundee.

Did you ever surprise yourself with your unventions? I love it when long-held things are wrong in a lovely way.




Deep within there is a vision
That time is nothing but space,
And between every minute and mile that is in it
Somehow there is a beautiful face.

And its all such a delicate balance
That the sport of infinity gives,
Expectations we have can lead down the path
Where that devil discouragement lives.

I dreamed I was barer than naked
And it scared me so bad that I called,
"Help me back to the prison, with the chains of the living"
Although nothing had hurt me at all.

And its all such a delicate balance
As it turns through the circles of air,
To worry does nothing but steals from the loving
And robs from the pleasure that's there.

To worry does nothing but steals from the loving
And robs from the pleasure that's there.

Deep within there is a feeling
That love and understanding's the door,
And honesty is the key that was given to you and me
To open it and so many more.

And its all such a delicate balance
Takes away just as much as it gives,
To live it is real, to love it is to feel
You're a part of what everything is.