This presentation was originally titled "Time Waits for No Man: a Graphic Essay on a Lyrical theme. It was an attempt to: examine my lyrical work to see a) where and how the motif of Time in particular recurs, and b) if and how these lyrics echo or reflect the ideas about Time in Einstein's theories. It was prepared as part of Professor Larry Lagerstrom online course on 'Understanding Einstein,' hosted by Coursera.org in 2013. In case the link in the slideshow doesn't work for you, here's a URL to the poem Marina, by T.S. Eliot: http://genius.com/Ts-eliot-marina-annotated

1. Time Waits
for No Man
a Graphic Essay
on
a Lyrical theme
Niki Daniels, June 2013
(for Prof Larry Lagerstrom/'Understanding Einstein,' Coursera.org)

2. … and that
remembers the
powder
blue of the
leather shoes
she wore to the
Scottish
National Orchestra
(SNO)
on the day of her
first
snow
fall
We are about to embark on a journey
through a mind with a habit of making
and breaking connections between
words, events, and people.
A mind that sees 'Alice' and
'Bob' as but one way of
getting from A to B...
or,
from
B
to
A

3. This is my maternal grandmother on the day of my first wedding. She
was called Miss Mac (short for McIntosh). She bought me my first and
only piano (a stout white Zender with very heavily weighted keys). She
kept a plaque in her bathroom that read:
The hurrier
I go,
The behinder
I get!
(Miss Mac was very often late)
The quote is from the White
Rabbit in Lewis Carroll's
'Alice in Wonderland'.
It is another way to say:
'leading clocks lag.'

4. I took after my father – George Vincent Rodriques, or 'Mr Rod'– in
some ways. He was a sailor, always up before the sun. He had a very
good sense of direction but was no good with words. This doily called
'Ocean Surf' represents my memory of him*
My mother was a ballet
dancer in her youth, and is
still a dancer at heart. She is
also a feminist, but I don't
take after her in that sense.
That said, in my 20's I made
a time- inspired plaque of my
own. It read:
Time waits for no
Man... It is too busy
trying to catch up
with Woman!
*count the waves in the surf...

5. A memory: I was about
ten years old, and
my father and I were
waiting in his car to pick
mummy up from work.
There was a fountain in
the driveway and as she
passed by it, a breeze
blew the water in her
face, and she laughed
and skipped gracefully
towards us.
My mother, Jenny-Lind (named after the 'Swedish Nightingale,'
Johanna Maria Lind (1820 –1887) danced in the Jamaican National
Pantomime in 1947 (Cinderella) and 1948 (Beauty and the Beast).
Jenny playing with my feet. She still does this, and I love it.

6. Jenny
-Wren
in
2010
Growing up, I read a lot, and
listened to Jenny talking with
her friends. They used a lot of
big words. When I ran out of kid
books I read mummy's books.
Disseminate,
multitudinous scintillations!
Oh minute sidereal atom,
my contemplative soul
is distracted by mirific
conjectures as to the
mystery that envelops your
planetary entity.
You irradiate my vision like
a crystallized morsel of
carbonic matter, gleaming in
the inaccessible abysss of
ethereal profundity.
Twinkle, twinkle, little Star!
This version of Twinkle twinkle is not original - a father figure to my mom taught
it to her. Mom's father was a poet who drank until it killed him (when she was 4).

7. My English teacher wanted to enter me in the national Spelling Bee.
She gave the class a test and was surprised when I failed...
...so she tested me with the
most difficult words and found
that I could spell almost all of
the hardest words, but only a
few medium-hard words.
I was entered in the Bee. I
placed 3rd
in regionals, miss-
spelling frolicked. The girl who
came 2nd
cried, but I was glad
not to have to study more
meaningless word lists...
(The test mimicked the competition - spellers who missed
too many of the medium-hard words were eliminated).
Me just before elimination of my
'crowning glory' (cf Miss Mac) ---->

8. The first song I learned the lyrics
to was Raindrops Keep Falling
on My Head (Hal David). I cut the
lyrics out from a newspaper.
I sang on my school choir, and
learned piano. If I heard a song
a few times on the radio I sang
in my head till I knew it by heart.
Music was my light. I was shy
so I would wander around the
gardens at boarding school,
singing softly so nobody could
hear me.
One summer at teen summer camp, I entered a song competition. I've
lost the lyrics/score now but I remember getting a special mention from
the judges for a verse about the moon 'reflecting' light from the sun.
Like Alice (in Wonderland), I was a daydreamer. I often felt aware of
another world mirroring this one.

9. I found numbers as interesting as
words, so I read about numerology and
calculated all the numbers associated
with all of my names. These things I
have forgotten...
After my daughter was born (same
birthday as Miss Mac) I started writing
poetry and taking writing classes. Marina
(T.S. Eliot) spoke to something in me.
One of my early poems, Youth and the
Judge, is about 2 people contemplating
a pool of water. The Judge took precise
measurements to estimate its depth. The
Youth laughed, and jumped in.
Nicola, aka Niki
Nicola means victory of the people.”
I was once told Niki in Persian
means “to do good.”Playing dominoes at the beach
The poem 'Marina' by Eliot will give you a peek inside my head,
and hopefully help you 'get' this and other leaves of the tree.

10. Cover & title poem of Niki's chapbook (2005)
Now it's raining again. There's a
hole in the roof. You try to catch
the deluge in a paper cup.
- Crowded House
What's in a cup?
Ice, mountains, smell of coffee,
that's what, she told me
leaning by the kitchen door
feet unsteady, her chin in the air
and that puckered frown, as much to capture
questions as release them from limbo.
Speckled with flour, the recipe
overturned by a breeze, we labored
piles of words like thickets of rosemary
plunging our hands in the metal bowl
until the dough was too spent
to do anything but sigh, listless
at our child's game
So much rain.
To make the flowers grow
she said, drawing circles on the counter
adding lightning stems for the measure.
PTO

11. The dough sat in the fridge now
bloated, waiting to be pounded again.
I wiped the counter, relieving the flowers
of their frenzied growing. Mere zeros
the circles, like pockets of moondust,
drizzling by the window.
My paternal
grandmother
(Dearma) with
my baby in
1991---->>
My dearest daughter (2012)

12. Now you have an idea about who I am. On to the main purpose. I
will examine my lyrical work to see a) where and how the motif
of Time in particular recurs, and b) if and how these lyrics echo
or reflect the ideas about Time in Einstein's theories.
Disclaimer:
I believe the universe contains patterns/laws of cause & effect
which are 'discovered' by scientific method (Judge), and
through creativity/the arts (Youth) and that these patterns recur
because they are different expressions of the same reality.

13. The Nature of Time
In relation to Time, Einstein's theories suggest that:
1) Light/photons move(s) at a Constant/maximum speed in a vacuum
2) Leading clocks Lag
3) Simultaneity is Relative
Below is a list of my original lyrics which mention Time at least in passing (pun
intended). The poems were published in Weights & Measures (2005). The
songs in bold type contain the most Time-related content and will be examined
in detail. Excerpts from the other works will be presented without much ado.
The poems in blue are from a series written in response to works of art.
Sing for you (1992)
Sing it Again (1995)
Catcher in the Wry (circa 2002)
Eleven, and Fifteen (Anthony series)
Ocean Story (Anthony series)
Iron anniversary
Mask of the survivor (after Edvard Munch)
The Art of Dreaming (after Nakazzi Hutchinson)

14. Sing for you is, on one level, a song about human love. It expresses
the idea that there is something eternal about love – a kind of all-or-
nothing deal – that the depth of Love a person feels is not dependent
on the length of Time they have known their lover.
Words have a life of their own
Leave them alone, and they'll sing for you
Time's not an ultimate thing*
No measuring how I feel for you
Love has a way of ending space...@
has a way of lending grace to my arms,
Voice to my fears, and joy to my tears
In other words, Love is a constant which operates with maximum
intensity, all things being equal (i.e. assuming 'vacuum' conditions/
no obstacles in the way of the union). Love can thus be seen as a
form of Light, having the quality of constancy of its defining
characteristic.
@ Recall our thought
experiments with Alice
and Bob, in which lengths
appear to contract.
*'Time's not an ultimate
thing' is another way of
saying 'Time is Suspect.'
Sing for you

15. After the bridge, the last verse goes:
Free as a bird on the wing...
Flying, she'll bring you more smiles than this.
One for the road up ahead
*Leading, not led, still I'm far behind...*
@Now is the Time to tell me how
I'm supposed to make things
right in your eyes...@
Tell me, no lies,
for I can't read your...
#Words are an ultimate thing#
No measure in how you feel for me.
%Life has a love of its own,
leave it alone, let it sing for you.%
Sing for you / Sing / for you Sing / for you /
@Recall conversations
between Bob and Alice
as they compare the Time
on their clocks. Each knows
something is wrong with the
other's measurements...
#The 'words' in this lyric
are correspondent to the
measurements taken by
Bob and Alice!
%Once Bob and Alice 'get'
Relativity of Simultaneity,
although their clocks will
never agree, both can
understand the extent of
The Time and Distance
between them.
*Leading clocks lag :)for youSing (continued)
Sing for you / Sing / for you

16. Catcher in the Wry...
Now.
In the darkest hour of my Life,
Light
left me here, in your Sky
and Leaves, (me!) wondering why
I see evening in your eyes.
Eyes (eyes!)
seem so very near
Listen until you can –----
(here) ------- their ripple
(i)(i)
Have reasons
you don’t understand?
It's because you are only a man
In the evening of our Life.
A conversation between twin voices. Most of
the lines are duplicated with a slight shift in
sound, and opposing shift in meaning.
Now, in the darkest hour,
in the darkest hour of my Life,
Light
has left me hearing your Sky,
and leaves Me, wondering why?
I see evening in your eyes.
Eyes (eyes!)
seem so very near
Listen until you can hear –----
------- their reply
I have reasons.
You don’t understand…
Man,
in the evening of your life...
I recorded a very rough version of this song in 2007. I refined the lyric as a result
of this course. If you want to hear the original, email me at pudproof@gmail.com.

17. We will be One!
Bright as the Sun!
We will be Long in the Morning,
rosy and Fair.
Clear on the Ear,
now we can Hear
our Destinies calling
We will be One!
We have left song,
and Dance behind!
...No, one else sees
the mooring, in the mourning,
deep in the Morning's Eye.
We will belong!
Bright as the sun,
we will be One in the Mourning.
Rosy and fair/clear!
On the air now,
we can hear.
Our destiny is calling.
We will belong!
We have left
song-and-dance behind...
No-one else sees the morning,
like the mourning, deep
In the mourning's sighs.
<<=== Left hand Voice (Bob) has exchanged
empty words for good deeds with no
expectation of reward, and firmly believes
when he dies he will enter the other (spiritual)
world which is Timeless, or 'Light-Like',
hence any earthly trials are insubstantial
as fog. He sees Alice's predicament, but
she stands by her own clocks...
Right hand Voice (Alice) is =====>>
attached to her earthly possessions,
which cause her much worry. She believes
she has done what she should to live a life
worthy of applause, but also thinks her
problems are unique, outside her control, and
of paramount importance (i.e. Space-Like).
X+Google Spacetime/Minkowski diagram/Light Cone,
or do the course for free at www.coursera.org.
Readers who didn't do the course may wish to:

18. Miscellaneous Time-like lyrics
Morning = the Light of Understanding/traveling @ speed of Light, c; while
Evening/Night = ignorance engendered by relative difference in Velocity.
Anthony,
you are my morning
early, when only the birds
and distant trucks
about their fathers' business
dare to break
the moon's funereal covenant.
(Eleven, first stanza)
Now, what is a tree
but somewhere to sit
and be happy with you?
And forget our leafy burdens
long enough to sprout
a blossom of our own
in time to carve a forest nation
and laugh again
petals falling from our lips.
(Fifteen, last stanza)
Now, what is a tree
but somewhere to sit
and be happy with you?
And forget our leafy burdens
long enough to sprout
a blossom of our own
in time to carve a forest nation
and laugh again
petals falling from our lips.
(Fifteen, last stanza)
As I speak the waves retreat
sighing: soon, they say soon.
The sand glitters with the foam's promise
and like a truant child's last lick the sea
rushes to lap at my heels.
Soon it will be done, Anthony.
Soon the eye of the sea will open
on a morning like no other,
(Ocean Story, end of 1st
- start of 2nd
stanza)
You gave me iron roses/ And you said,
“They will not wither, or die.”/
Your flowers take so little care
the toil was in their making
now they need not
fade, or grow
or please.
(Iron Anniversary, parts of 1st
+ last stanza)

19. Mask of the Survivor
After Edvard Munch
i dreamed the artist
We were both dead
plucked from Tellurian space
with its choked
and folding hills
he told me about the end
a feeling of being
squeezed through a tube
and I heard
the scream
(p.19, Weights & Measures)
“Der Schrei der Natur”
The Scream of Nature
Edvard Munch, 1895 (pastel on board)
PS
i
tru
el
y
did
dr
eam
T
H
I
S

20. Sing it Again (I Sing a Choir for You)
No reason to stay
I'm so full of you, I have to give some away.
Love, if we rise at dawn, and dream until... the moon reveals our madness
I never tire of You.
My Love, it all comes back to You.
Let's sing it again: Love!
Is like a bird in a tree (Is like the arrow that flies) (Is like a bird in the sea)
Oh, sing it again: Love!
Is like a fish in the sea (Is like the circle that ties) (Is like a fish in a tree)
Sing it again: Love! That's the reason you love, when you love:
(You love, you love, you love, you love, you love, you love)
Final chorus: You love your love, you love your love, you love your love.
No reason to change...Write it on my heart, and burn the words on the page.
Love, if we move too fast... the earth will turn us back to where we started
I build a fire for You...My Love, it all comes back to You.
No reason to fear...I believe in following the Voice that You Hear
Love, if we run away... the Truth will choose another Day to find us.
I sing a choir for you... My Love, it all comes back to You
Composed at Miami Writers Workshop,
Summer 1995

21. The Art of Dreaming
(After Nakazzi Hutchinson)
Driftwood lounging in a pool of green
connected to the sky by her gnarly hair
spinning from the knotted wood a clean
unpolished arc, as if the sere
tree could breathe, and reach, and feel
on its own. Driftwood the colors of sand,
the shape of a nymph, with hair like steel,
wakes with a fish-dream in her hand.
(p. 21, Weights & Measures)

22. In conclusion: thanks to Prof Lagerstrom for hurrying so slowly with us on
the path to Understanding Einstein. I hope you have enjoyed this leisurely
journey as much as I have. I believe the race is not for the swift, but it is in
some ways a 'race'... effort is required to reach any worthwhile destination.
I leave you with this poem from my grandpa, William Kenneth McIntosh (Bill).
I who most desire you,
I would have you turn and run from me,
Turn and run with the wind, and seek escape from me.
Turn, baffled at bay, when the swift pursuit of the feet
Of my unwearying soul shall tire you,
Till you turn no more away,
Knowing not whither to flee,
Knowing at last your utter want of me.
I would have it only so,
I who most desire you.