When I was a young man I traveled in the Mediterranean as well as the Middle East. Four of the titles are inspired by the times I spent on the island of Cyprus. Caravan to Ur relates to my stay in Iraq in 1958. 

                In the course of writing this I was drawn back to two poems that influenced me in my youth. Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley and On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer  by John Keats. 

Ozymandias opened my understanding to the fact that no matter what you achieve, death can cause it to amount to nothing. Even the greatest and most powerful meet the same fate as the poor and destitute. The results of that understanding can drive me to look beyond time for the answer to death or as in Shelley’s case it can drive one to self-destruction. 

                Chapman’s Homer caused me to understand that no matter how hard the journey there are moments of illumination that make it worthwhile. If you seek you will find. Keats writes of his enlightenment while reading Homer for the first time thanks to Chapman’s translation. He likens it to Cortez, really Balboa, who after thousands of miles of foot weary travel with his men, tops a rise and is astounded to see the Pacific Ocean.

From an Antique Land

Charles Ellsworth Smith

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This is the first in a series of four neo classical instrumental albums. We call Classical Glass or Glassical

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  1. 1
    From an Antique Land 3:22
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  2. 2
    Climbing to Hillarion 1:58
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  3. 3
    Moonlight in Paphos 5:40
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  4. 4
    Sailing to Kyrenia 5:32
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  5. 5
    Silver Dance 2:43
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  6. 6
    In the Realms of Gold 4:36
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  7. 7
    A Traveler to Byzantium 3:44
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  8. 8
    Caravan to Ur 4:39
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  9. 9
    Minuet in Ivory 3:13
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  10. 10
    Beyond the Syrian Sea 6:35
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  11. 11
    A letter from China 2:47
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  12. 12
    Mountain Crossing 0:41
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  13. 13
    Ozymandius (with poem) 3:23
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  14. 14
    Chapman's Homer 3:42
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  15. 15
    Ceruliean Cyprus 4:25
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