Thursday, March 22, 2012

to slaughter memory






VII
The Verdict


The word landed with a stony thud 
Onto my still-beating breast. 
Nevermind, I was prepared, 
I will manage with the rest.

I have a lot of work to do today; 
I need to slaughter memory, 
Turn my living soul to stone 
Then teach myself to live again…

But how. The hot summer rustles 
Like a carnival outside my window; 
I have long had this premonition 
Of a bright day and a deserted house.






~ Anna Akhmatova
excerpt from Requiem, 
taken from The Complete Poems
with thanks to journal of a nobody

 


living with meaning, purpose and wisdom in the digital age









~ Eckhart Tolle with Bradley Horowitz




Monday, March 19, 2012

someday








Even the oldest of trees continues its wonderful labor.
Hummingbird lives in one of them.
He's there for the white blossoms, and the secrecy.
The blossoms could be snow, with a dash of pink.
At first the fruit is small and green and hard.
Everything has dreams, hope, ambition.

If I could I would always live in such shining obedience
where nothing but the wind trims the boughs.
I am sorry for every mistake I have made in my life.
I'm sorry I wasn't wiser sooner.
I'm sorry I ever spoke of myself as lonely.

Oh, love, lay your hands upon me again.
Some of the fruit ripens and is picked and is delicious.
Some of it falls and the ants are delighted.
Some of it hides under the snow and the famished deer are saved.






~ Mary Oliver
with thanks to rebel girl at the mark on the wall






Sunday, March 18, 2012

coleman barks - one through love









~ Rumi
with Coleman Barks



another spring





The seasons revolve and the years change
With no assistance or supervision.
The moon, without taking thought,
Moves in its cycle, full, crescent, and full.

The white moon enters the heart of the river;
The air is drugged with azalea blossoms;
Deep in the night a pine cone falls;
Our campfire dies out in the empty mountains.

The sharp stars flicker in the tremulous branches;
The lake is black, bottomless in the crystalline night;
High in the sky the Northern Crown
Is cut in half by the dim summit of a snow peak.

O heart, heart, so singularly
Intransigent and corruptible,
Here we lie entranced by the starlit water,
And moments that should each last forever

Slide unconsciously by us like water.







~ Kenneth Rexroth
from Selected Poems



the still point of the turning world










~ Thomas Merton



Saturday, March 10, 2012

beginning






The moon drops one or two feathers into the field.
The dark wheat listens.
Be still.
Now.
There they are, the moon’s young, trying
Their wings.
Between trees, a slender woman lifts up the lovely shadow
Of her face, and now she steps into the air, now she is gone
Wholly, into the air.
I stand alone by the elder tree, I do not dare breathe
Or move.
I listen.
The wheat leans back toward is own darkness,
And I lean toward mine.





~ James Wright
 from Collected Poems
photo by Gerhard Richter





must you fear what others fear?






Renounce knowledge and your problems will end.
What is the difference between yes and no?
What is the difference between good and evil?
Must you fear what others fear?
Nonsense, look how far you have missed the mark!

Other people are joyous,
as though they were at a spring festival.
I alone am unconcerned and expressionless,
like an infant before it has learned to smile.

Other people have more than they need;
I alone seem to possess nothing.
I am lost and drift about with no place to go.
I am like a fool, my mind is in chaos.

Ordinary people are bright;
I alone am dark.
Ordinary people are clever;
I alone am dull.
Ordinary people seem discriminating;
I alone am muddled and confused.
I drift on the waves on the ocean,
blown at the mercy of the wind.
Other people have their goals,
I alone am dull and uncouth.

I am different from ordinary people.
I nurse from the Great Mother's breasts.




~ Lao Tzu
from the Tao Te Ching
photo: Harlan and Anna Hubbard





there is






There is a beginning. 
There is no beginning of that beginning. 
There is no beginning of that no beginning of beginning. 

There is something. 
There is nothing. 
There is something before the beginning of something and nothing, 
and something before that. 

Suddenly there is something and nothing. 
But between something and nothing, 
I still don't really know which is something and which is nothing. 

Now, I've just said something, 
but I don't really know whether I've said anything or not.





~ Chuang Tzu
with thanks to whiskey river





Thursday, March 8, 2012

arabic coffee








~ Naomi Shihab Nye




after drinking all night with a friend







~ Robert Bly






Wednesday, March 7, 2012

garden song










~ David Mallett
performed by Pete Seeger



the walls of Layla






I pass by these walls, the walls of Layla
And I kiss this wall and that wall
It’s not Love of the houses that has taken my heart
But of the One who dwells in those houses




~ Nizami Ganjavi
from The Legend of
Layli and Madjnun
sculpture by Michael Alfano


leaders?




1717



The best leaders are those the people hardly know exist.
The next best is a leader who is loved and praised.
Next comes the one who is feared.
The worst one is the leader that is despised.

If you don't trust the people,
they will become untrustworthy.

The best leaders value their words, and use them sparingly.
When she has accomplished her task,
the people say, "Amazing:
we did it, all by ourselves!"




~ Lao Tzu
from the Tao Te Ching
translation by j.h.mcdonald




runner








It is hard to unlatch a day
from noun and story.

Breath pours
like water
out of a small bowl into a large.

One says,
Quicker.

Another says,
Listen, runner—
underwater things are fragrant to fish.





~ Jane Hirshfield