Lively Words

Let a Baby be Born

2011-11-29T23:06:00.001-08:00

“It was night in the basement of a ruined building.
The wounded from the atomic bomb
Filled the crowded, dark basement
Without even the light from one candle.
The smell of fresh blood and of dead bodies,
The panting and groaning.
From the midst of the sweaty people
A voice filled with wonder,
“A baby is coming!”
In the basement like the bottom of hell,
At this very instant a young woman was beginning in labour.
What could be done?
In the darkness without a single match.
They were anxious, forgetting their own pain.
Then, I’ll help. I’m a midwife.”
The woman, herself seriously wounded,
Had been groaning only a moment before.
In this way at the very bottom of that dark hell
A new life was born.
But the midwife, unable to endure to the dawn
Died covered with blood.
Let’s give them birth.
Let’s give them life.
Even if it means giving up our own.”

Kurito Sadako wrote about her experiences derived from the fateful pain inflicted by the atom-bomb dropped over Hiroshima on august 6 of 1945.

My Mother’s Name is Worry

2011-11-29T22:50:00.000-08:00

In summer, my mother worries about water,
In winter, she worries about coal briquettes,
And all the year long, she worries about rice.

In daytime, my mother worries about living,
At night, she worries for children.
And all day long, she worries and worries.

Then my mother’s name is worry,
My father’s is drunken frenzy,
And mine is tears and signs.

Poem written by a 12 year old child in a slum area.

For Every Woman

2011-07-26T00:14:00.000-07:00

For every woman who is tired of acting weak, when she knows she is strong.
There is a man who is tired of appearing strong, when he feels vulnerable.
For every woman who is tired of being called ‘an emotional female’
There is a man who is denied the right to weep and be gentle.
For every woman who feels ‘tied down’ by her children,
There is a man who is denied the full pleasure of parenthood
For every woman who takes a step towards her own liberation,
There is a man who finds that the way to freedom has been made a little easier.
Nancy R. Smith

It is not as if men have no problems:

2011-07-26T00:10:00.000-07:00

If you put a woman on a pedestal and try to protect her from the rat race, you re a male chauvinist.
If you stay home and do the housework, you’re a pansy.

If you work too hard, there is never any time for her.
If you don’t work enough, you’re a good-for-nothing bum.

If she has a boring, repetitive job with low pay, this is exploitation.
If you have a boring, repetitive job with low pay, you should get off your ass and find something better.

If you get a promotion ahead of her, that is favoritism.
If she gets a job ahead of you, it’s equal opportunity.

If you mention how nice she looks, it’s sexual harassment.
If you keep quiet, it’s male indifference.

If you cry, you’re a wimp.
If you don’t, you’re an insensitive bastard.

If you thump her, it’s wife bashing.
If she thumps you, it’s self-defense.

If you made a decision without consulting her, you’re a chauvinist.
If she makes a decision without consulting you, she’s a liberated woman.

If you ask her to do something she doesn’t enjoy, that’s domination.
If she asks you, it’s a favor.

If you appreciate the female form and frilly underwear, you’re a pervert.
If you don’t, you’re gay.

If you like a woman to shave her legs and keep in shape, you’re sexist.
If you don’t, you’re unromantic.

If you try to keep yourself in shape, you’re vain.
If you don’t, you’re a slob.

If you buy her flowers, you’re after something.
If you don’t, you’re not thoughtful.

If you’re proud of your achievements, you’re full of yourself.
If you are not, you are ambitious.

If she has a headache, she’s tired.
If you have a headache, you don’t love her anymore.

If you want it too often, you’re oversexed.
If you don’t, there must be someone else.

Anon.

In the name of ROMANCE

2011-06-01T04:34:00.001-07:00

Accusing women wrongly,
You are very foolish men,
If you do not see you cause
the very thing you condemn.

If with unmatched anxiety
You solicit their disdain,
Why demand their virtue,
while encouraging to sin?

You combat her resistance
And then, gravely you recount,
it was woman’s wanton ways
That brought you to this point

Who bears the greater blame,
in this passion that’s a loser?
She who’s fallen to his lure
or he, who, fallen, lures her?

Or who’s the guilty one,
though rightly neither’s free from stain
She who’s sinning for her pay,
Or he who’s paying for the sin?

Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz (1695-1651)

Mercy, Pity and Love

2011-05-23T02:06:00.000-07:00

For Mercy has human heart
Pity, a human face;
And Love, the human form divine,
And Peace, the human dress...

And all must love the human form.
In heathen, Turk, or Jew,
Where Mercy, Love and Pity dwell,
There God is dwelling too.

William Blake

The Homeless Poor

2011-05-23T02:02:00.000-07:00

In that very street, at that same hour,
In the bitter air and drifting sleet,
Crouching in a doorway was a mother,
With her children shuddering at her feet.

She was silent – who would hear her pleading?
Men and beasts were housed – but she must stay
Houseless in the great and pitiless city,
Till the dawning of the winter day.

Adelaide Anne Procter

Serenity Prayer

2011-05-03T22:31:00.000-07:00

O God and Heavenly Father,
Grant to us the serenity of mind
to accept that which cannot be changed;
courage to change that which can be changed,
and wisdom to know the one from the other,
through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

Reinhold Niebuhr

Prayer

2011-05-03T22:16:00.000-07:00

For Every ailment under the sun
There is a remedy, or there is none;
If there be one, try to find it;
If there be none, never mind it.

W. W. Bartley

Ashoka the Great!

2011-03-26T08:56:00.000-07:00

"...On each occasion one should honour the sect of the other, for by doing soone increases the influence of one's own sect and benefits that of the other; while by doing otherwi Again whosoever honours his own sect or disparages that of another, wholly out of devotion to his own, with a view to showing it in a favorable light, harms his own sect even more seriously. Therefore, concord is to be commended, so that men may hear one another's principles and obey them.

Ashoka, Mauryan emperor. inscribed in the 3rd century BCE.se one diminishes the influence of one's own sect and harms the other.

Do it anyway...

2011-03-24T08:17:00.000-07:00

The version found written on the wall in Mother Teresa's home for children in Calcutta:

...People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

The Donkey

2011-02-28T23:19:00.000-08:00

THE DONKEY
G.K. Chesterton

When fishes flew and forests walked
And figs grew upon thorn,
Some moment when the moon was blood
Then surely I was born;

With monstrous head and sickening cry
And ears like errant wings,
The devil's walking parody
On all four-footed things.

The tattered outlaw of the earth,
Of ancient crooked will;
Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb,
I keep my secret still.

Fools! For I also had my hour;
One far fierce hour and sweet:
There was a shout about my ears,
And palms before my feet.

On to Abyss

2011-02-01T00:56:00.000-08:00

A heart shaped stone with naturally carved figures of Lovers arm in arm -
The beloved dragging the lover to a whirlpool.

Mirza Ghalib

Medical Materialism

2010-11-04T01:47:00.000-07:00

"Indigestian"

from the play A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens,
adapted for the stage by Christopher Bedloe.
Music and lyrics adapted by James Wood

You were not an apparition,
But a medical condition.
This extraordinary suggestion
Was a touch of — indigestion.

A bit of underdone potato,
Half digested slice of veal,
Blot of mustard, spot of sago,
Or a bit of jellied eel.
A crumb of cheese most likely was the knave.
There's more in you of gravy than the grave.

P'raps those oysters that I fancied
Were just slightly on the turn,
Or the butter going rancid —
Too long parted from the churn.
A touch of colic likely is the knave.
There's more in you of gravy than the grave.

A spoonful of bicarbonate
Will very soon alleviate
The ill that made my senses misbehave —
There's more in you of gravy than the grave.

Righteousness

2010-10-27T00:19:00.000-07:00

"Where there is righteousness in the heart
There is beauty in the character.
When there is beauty in the character,
There is harmony in the home.
When there is harmony in the home.
There is an order in the nation.
When there is order in the nation,
There is peace in the world."

A famous Indian saying quoted by A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
during his speech at the European Parliament at Strasbourg on
24-April-2007

Rabi'a al-Adawiyyah

2010-09-16T00:32:00.001-07:00

"If all women were like as the one we have mentioned,
then women would be preferred to men.
For the feminine gender is no shame for the sun,
nor is the masculine gender an honor for the crescent moon."

...Jami about Rabi'a (a famous woman Sufi)

final product

2010-08-16T03:29:00.001-07:00

Then the black-bright, smooth-running clicking clean
Brushed, oiled and dainty typewriting machine,
With tins of ribbons waiting for the blows
Which soon will hammer them to verse and prose.
John Masefield.

unreal to real

2010-07-30T01:27:00.000-07:00

Asato ma sad gamaya!
Tamaso ma Jyotir gamaya!
Mrityor ma umritangamarya!

"Lead me from unreal to real,
Lead me from darkness to light,
Lead me from death to immortality"

Brihadaranyak Upanishad

happiness

2010-07-22T01:43:00.000-07:00

May all beings be full of happiness secure!
May they all be happy!
Whatever they are of living beings,
Whether they move, or are bound in their places,
Whether they are weak or stron,
Whether long or short, whether big or small,
Whether medium size, or slim, stout,
Whether visible or invisible
Whether near or far,
Whether now in life or longing to come into life,
May they all be happy!
As a mother protects her only child with her own life,
Cultivate such boundless love towards all beings.

Majjhima Nikaya (Discourse 31)

Truth - Rig Veda

2010-06-28T03:35:00.000-07:00

"Ekam sat vipraha bahudha vadanti" Rig Veda

"Truth is One; the wise call it by many names"

Liberation of Mankind

2010-06-28T03:28:00.001-07:00

Man's dearest possession is life. It is given to him but once, and he must live it so as to feel no torturing regrets for wasted years, never know the burning shame of a mean and petty past; so live that, dying he might say: all my life, all my strength were given to the finest cause in all the world- the fight for the Liberation of Mankind."

Nikolai Ostrovsky

2010-06-07T04:30:00.001-07:00

Tor-baithe jab ke hum jam-o-sobu phir hum ko kya
Asama se badah-o- gulfa'am gar barsa'a kare..

meaning in English:

When I have already crushed the challises and vase,
Of no significance, if the sky rained wine and seductive winds!

- an Urdu couplet written
in the thirties by Maulana Hussain ahmad Madani...

Independent India

2010-05-20T00:28:00.000-07:00

"Independent India, as conceived by me, will have all Indians belonging to different religions living in perfect friendship. There need be no millionaires and no paupers; all would belong to the State, for the State belonged to them. I will die in the act of realizing this dream. I would not wish to live to see India torn asunder by civil strife."

Mahatma Gandhi, Independent India of my Dream, From speech at prayer meeting, Kafilatali, 12, Feb., 1947.

'Do or Die'

2010-05-20T00:26:00.000-07:00

"Here is a mantra, a short one, that I give you. You may imprint it on your hearts and let every breath of yours give expression to it. The mantra is: "Do or Die.' We shall either free India or die in the attempt; we shall not live to see the perpetuation of our slavery."

Mahatma Gandhi, "I give you a Mantra", 1942.

Sovereignty

2010-03-21T23:42:00.000-07:00

We desire most from men,
From men both rich and poor,
To have sovereignty without lies.
For where we have sovereignty, all is ours,
Though a knight be ever so fierce,
And ever win mastery.
It is our desire to have master
Over such a sir.
Such is our purpose.

—The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell (c. 1450).

Wild Peace

2010-03-11T02:27:00.001-08:00

Wild Peace

by Yehuda Amichai

Not the peace of a cease-fire
not even the vision of the wolf and the lamb,
but rather
as in the heart when the excitement is over
and you can talk only about a great weariness.
I know that I know how to kill, that makes me an adult.
And my son plays with a toy gun that knows
how to open and close its eyes and say Mama.
A peace
without the big noise of beating swords into ploughshares,
without words, without
the thud of the heavy rubber stamp: let it be
light, floating, like lazy white foam.
A little rest for the wounds - who speaks of healing?
(And the howl of the orphans is passed from one generation
to the next, as in a relay race:
the baton never falls.)

Let it come
like wildflowers,
suddenly, because the field
must have it: wildpeace.

O! Woman

2010-03-05T00:47:00.000-08:00

O woman, you are not merely the
handiwork of God, but also of men;
these are ever endowing you with
beauty from their hearts.
Poets are weaving for you a web
with threads of golden imagery;
painters are giving your form ever
new immortality.

The sea gives its pearls, the mines
their gold, the summer gardens their
flowers to deck you, to cover you, to
make you more precious.
The desire of men' hearts has shed
its glory over your youth.
You are one half woman and one
half dream.

Rabindranath Tagore

The Sheep to the Butcher

2010-02-25T02:40:00.000-08:00

Was it for this you carried me
on your shoulders as I limped?
And saved me from the sacrificial fire
after that fiery speak on dharma in the royal assembly?

The poet says you too are
performing your dharma.

Then tell me, what is the sheep's dharma?
To fatten you with milk?
To die, turn into your meat?
No one shouts at your,
"Don't savage!"
Poets have stopped that business long ago.
Only, make sure your knife is sharp.
And don't go after my lamb.
My udders will ooze milk when it cries.

But what you want is blood.
Be quick, do it in a single stroke.

K. Sachidanandan in The Little Magazine, Vol VIII.

With you, known to be a neurotic

2010-02-25T02:24:00.000-08:00

All day, you converse
With your own ears.

What you're trying to measure
With your aimless feet is but
The length and breadth of your room.

The sleeping pill, too, has forsaken you.
Tormented by the long night,
You strive hard to bring
The dawn forward by making
The lamplight shine really bright.

Mornings, you never fail
To inspect the paper balls
You had crumpled and wedged
Into the space
Under your pillow.

Even when you're all alone,
You move about furtively,
Hiding in corners.

Like drawing out a few
Memories from time past,
You pull out straws from the mat
And stash them away.

Your anxieties
Pour into
My fictive notions
That you're growing tender.

When my woes turn heavy
During the times I spend
With you, known
To be a neurotic,
I wouldn't cite my sympathy
For you as the sole reason.

by Salma, a Tamil writer, translated by N. Kalyan Raman
in The Little Magazine, Vol. VIII

I am not a swimmer

2010-02-24T01:35:00.000-08:00

Joys are soft-spoken
Like a calm, sweet stream,

Sorrows are outspoken
Like a waterfall.

I am not a swimmer.

Translated from Marathi
by the poet Vishram Laxmikant Pramanik
in The Little Magazine.

I Know

2010-02-24T00:13:00.000-08:00

I know
What hunger is.
I know
How childhood and age
Cry to death.
I know
Where the naked maiden sleeps.
I know
What hunger is.

Hunger can turn
A man into a wolf
Snatching the pen
Giving him daggers and swords.
War is the harvest of hunger;
Anarchy is hunger's daughter;
Hunger is a stream of mishaps.

I know what hunger is.

Hindi poem "Main Janta Hoon" written by Davinder Sharma
and translated by Vivek Sachdeva.

Courtesy: The Little Magazine Vol.viii.

Good for Evil

2010-02-16T02:40:00.000-08:00

For a bowl of water give a goodly meal;

For a kindly greeting bow thou down with zeal;

For a simple penny pay thou back with gold;

If thy life be rescued, life do not withhold…

But the truly noble know all men as one,

And return with gladness good for evil done.

– Vaishnava hymns quoted by Gandhi in his Autobiography.

Paradox of Unity and Multiplicity

2010-02-10T03:04:00.000-08:00

Bullhe Ki Jana Mai Kaun

Bullhe, what do I know what I am?
Neither am I a Muslim in the mosque nor am I in the way of paganism,
Nor among the pure, nor the sinful,
Nor am I Moses, nor Pharaoh...
I am not of Arabia nor of Lahore,
Nor an Indian from the city of Nagaur,
Neither a Hindu nor a Turk or a Peshawari...

Bullhe Shah (1680-1758)

Love

2010-02-04T03:24:00.000-08:00

What shall I call him who denies love?
He is a cow, a jackass and a hard stone.

Gesudaraz

colour

2010-01-17T09:02:00.000-08:00

When I am born I am black,
When I grow up I am black,
When I am in the sun I am black,
When I am sick I am black,
When I die I am black,

and you...

When you are born you are pink,
When you grow up you are white,
When you're cold you're blue,
When you are sick you are blue,
When you die you are green and
you dare call me coloured.

...Malcom X...

I have a dream...

2009-07-27T12:16:00.000-07:00

I have a dream that one day this Nation will rise up and live out
the true meaning of its creeds ---'we hold these truths to be self-evident
that all men are created equal'.

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of slaves
and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the
table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi,
sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression,
will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream today...

Martin Luther King Jr.

Nostalgia

2009-07-14T01:59:00.000-07:00

Nostalgia.. may depend.. on the irrecoverable nature of
the past for its emotional impact and appeal.
It is the very pastness of the past, its inaccessibility, that accounts for a large part of nostalgia's power...This is rarely the past as actually experienced, of course; it is the past as imagined, as idealized through memory and desire.

-Linda Hutcheon-

Men

2009-03-26T02:24:00.000-07:00

When I was young, I used to
Watch behind the curtains
As men walked up and down the street. Wino men, old men.
Young men sharp as mustard.
See them. Men are always
Going somewhere.
They knew I was there. Fifteen
Years old and starving for them.
Under my window, they would pause,
Their shoulders high like the
Breasts of a young girl,
Jacket tails slapping over
Those behinds,
Men.

One day they hold you in the
Palms of their hands, gentle, as if you
Were the last raw egg in the world. Then
They tighten up. Just a little. The
First squeeze is nice. A quick hug.
Soft into your defenselessness. A little
More. The hurt begins. Wrench out a
Smile that slides around the fear. When the
Air disappears,
Your mind pops, exploding fiercely, briefly,
Like the head of a kitchen match. Shattered.
It is your juice
That runs down their legs. Staining their shoes.
When the earth rights itself again,
And taste tries to return to the tongue,
Your body has slammed shut. Forever.
No keys exist.

Then the window draws full upon
Your mind. There, just beyond
The sway of curtains, men walk.
Knowing something.
Going someplace.
But this time, I will simply
Stand and watch.

Maybe.

MAYA ANGELOU.

To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time

2009-03-24T22:55:00.000-07:00

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
   Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today
   Tomorrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun, 
   The higher he's a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
   And nearer he's to setting.

That age is best which is the first,
   When youth and blood are warmer;
But being spent, the worse, and worst
   Times still succeed the former. 

Then be not coy, but use your time,
   And while ye may, go marry;
For having lost but once your prime,
   You may forever tarry.


By Robert Herrick

One!

2009-02-05T02:36:00.000-08:00

To us all towns are one, all men our kin.
Life's good comes not from other's gift, nor ill
Man's pains and pain's relief are from within.
Death's no new thing; not do our bosoms thrill
When joyous life seems like a luscious draught.
When grieved, we patient suffer; for, we deem
This much - praised life of ours a fragile raft
Borne down the waters of some mountain stream
That o'ver huge boulders roaring seeks the plain
Tho' storms with lighting's flash from darkened skies
Descend, the raft goes on as fates ordain.
Thus have we seen in visions of the wise!
We marvel not at greatnessof the great;
Still less despise we men of low estate."

Kaniyan Poongundran in Purananuru.
Tamil poem written 2500 years ago
Translation rendered by Rev. G.U Pope.

Return of the exile

2009-01-22T06:07:00.000-08:00

After years of wandering, I return
to this strange place, the home I left;
forgotten in the land of my birth.

Nourished under alien skies,
I come alone woken by nightmares,
unable to drift back to a land of dreams.

Gone is the mansion, the garden I grew up in,
gone are my people, landscape of my childhood.

None left here to comfort me
through the long journey into light
or nothingness, redemption or oblivion...

We have hardened ourselves, grown up;
no longer ask questions we do not understand.

Is that why we are punished for turning back?

Can't we explode space and time
back to when it all began,
demand to know why we were sent here,
why so hard the lives given to us,
some more than others;
where do we go when our time is up---

Our insignificant lives
tempered by the questions we ask?

Shanta Acharya.

Dispossessed

2009-01-22T05:56:00.000-08:00

Dispossessed

We embarked on this pilgrimage
to the promised land beyond the treacherous seas,
true believers, steadfast in our faith,

Dreaming of placing trust
in our adopted homeland; thought
life would no longer be cheap, easily snatched:

Did not reckon death had so many paths,
so many notions of justice and redemption.

What are you after?
Our souls are sick, moving from harbour to harbour.

To know itself a soul must look into its own soul.

We knew the islands were beautiful
when we stowed ourselves, leaving the rest to God,
praying to the imortal sea to bring us here.

Our country is closed in; our days clouded by war.
At night fear rose like the moon
spreading its shroud over death and hunger.

We came here believing in freedom,
believing if we wished it long and hard enough
our dreams will turn into reality.

Our history a mascot we carried in our hearts.

We did not expect a miracle,
we did not look back---
have we not paid enough?

If you need more
take us,
whatever is left of our dreams, our possessions;
only spare our children, our future.....

Shanta Acharya, Associate Director, Initiative on Foundation
and Endowment Asset Management at London School of Business.

Defending God

2009-01-22T05:43:00.000-08:00

Defending God

Whatever name you may give Him
In this Age of Kali
You can't save God.

You have everything to prove it..
Facts, figure, evidence:
If you have been following the news
You must have read, in the papers---
Up against one namebreast
There is a trident ---Trishul;
Drawn up against another,
A dagger;
A third one is absconding
From the trained AK-47..
And apart from these three Names
There are now abroad
Diktats fatwas hukamamas.
That one, having shed the name, is hiding
In the books... how long
But how long will it be safe for Him
Having no name!

Just because it has survived so far,
It's somewhat presumptuous to assert
That God is but almighty!

He's a survivor alright. Though
That is because
He has faced attacks by turns;
The enemy now
(i.e the plurality of the devotees---)
Is on the alert,
And in accord.

And now when the tridents begin to rain
The rest of arms as well
Are bound to arraign
Round the Lord

Ambushed thus
Who prevails?
Who?

Gridhar Rathi.

Theme

2009-01-21T03:53:00.000-08:00

Theme

Pain is perhaps
the main theme,
painlessness a variation.
Each day free of pain
I celebrate

My life is a series of
celebrations
I celebrate my right to live
I celebrate my right
to die....

Kamala Das.

Timepiece

2009-01-21T00:32:00.000-08:00

Timepiece

I was so ill
so ill, so frightened
that I neglected all, nglected my own self
more than all. Now I lie as a ticking timepeice
under a quilt
beaten by a sense of loss.
What a waste
of energy --- a cloudburst
of intese fantasy!
I never learnt to compromise.
I thought I would learn from Islam
a clean way to compromise ----I did not.

I am hard as a nail
on the cross ---
not the original cross
they hung Jesus on----
there are myriad Iscariots
lurking in the dark
waiting for the cock's
third crowing.
The Cross I use
resembles the one Jesus used
but I am too shabby
for resurrections.

Pritish Nandy called my best book
pulp-fiction.
No, not even a maggot can
grow out of the debris
of my crucifixion,
not an ant alive
shall peer out of my viscera.
Do not put my body
in any coffin of wood,
the embers of my corpse
will burn holes and smoulder.

If I marry an ordinary man
I had hoped I would become
Ordinary,
Insulated against scorn.
Why would want to marry me?
I am such as eccentric!
When I loved,
I became pure love
When I lost,
I became pure loss
Nothing else.
There is no beatification
in suffering
I shall break open
my mind
and display the viscera.
I shall hold an exhibition
at the Chitram Art Gallery.
Chitram does not invite me
any longer to inagurate
their shows.
Cenversion to Islam
bothers them all.
Muslims and Hindus,
both factions are bothered.
I am not Mother Teresa
eligible for canonisation
I am not the smiling Amma
prepared to embrace all.

I am some kind of a worm
now laid under
the microscope.
My fame itself
is in doubt,
It's crisscrossed with blunders.
I am the son
of Eleanora Heine
or was it said by another?
I forget names.
Will one of my sons dare to say
I am the son
of Kamala Das?
My wayward search for love
made me seem ridiculous.
all searches are wayward,
there is grace
only in repose.

Kamala Das.

JEEP

2009-01-21T00:25:00.000-08:00

Jeep

There isn't much to do
but
to wait.
Other than waiting
there isn't much to do.

At midnight, the jeep stops
at the front door.
Even the sound of breath
leaps about the house
like an assassin; knocks at the door...
pulling at the roots of the house.

Has it stopped for good, at the front door?
After the long wait
comes the honking of unplumbed destiny.

The jeep dashes off.

Now even the house
waits
as it is written into history.

(Translated from the Bengali poem 'Jeep' by Antara Dev Sen.
Written by Hayat Mahmood, a leading poet from Bangladesh.)

No one for me.....

2009-01-15T22:15:00.000-08:00

They came first for the Communists
and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics
and I did not speak out because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Martin Niemoller (1892-1984)

Prayer of the Frog

2009-01-07T10:51:00.000-08:00

Prayer of the Frog
"Prisoner at the bar", said the Grand Inquisitor,
"you have been charged with encouraging people
to break with the laws, traditions and customs of
our holy religion. How do you plead?"
"Guilty, Your Honour"
"And with frequenting the company of
heretics, prostitutes, public sinners,
the extortionist tax-collectors,
the colonial conquerors of our nation -
in short, the ex-communicated. How do you plead?"
"Guilty, Your Honour"
"Finally, you are charged with revising,
correcting, calling into question
he sacred tenets of our faith. How do you plead?"
"Guilty, Your Honour"
"What is your name, prisoner?"
"Jesus Christ, Your Honour"
(Some people are just as alarmed to see
their religion practised as they are to hear it doubted.)
- Fr Anthony de Mello's Prayer of the Frog

The Development Sector

2008-11-28T01:21:00.000-08:00

Excuse me, friends, I must catch my jet
I`m off to join the Development Set;
My bags are packed, and I`ve had all my shots
I have traveller`s checks and pills for the trots!

The Development Set is bright and noble
Our thoughts are deep and our vision global; A
lthough we move with the better classes
Our thoughts are always with the masses.

In Sheraton Hotels in scattered nations
We damn multi-national corporations;
injustice seems easy to protest
In such seething hotbeds of social rest.

We discuss malnutrition over steaks
And plan hunger talks during coffee breaks.
Whether Asian floods or African drought,
We face each issue with open mouth.

We bring in consultants whose circumlocution
Raises difficulties for every solution --T
hus guaranteeing continued good eating
By showing the need for another meeting.

The language of the Development Set
Stretches the English alphabet;
We use swell words like epigenetic
Micro, macro, and logarithmetic

It pleasures us to be esoteric --
It`s so intellectually atmospheric!
And although establishments may be unmoved,
Our vocabularies are much improved.

When the talk gets deep and you`re feeling numb,
You can keep your shame to a minimum:
To show that you, too, are intelligent
Smugly ask, Is it really development?

Or say, That`s fine in practice, but don`t you see:
It doesn`t work out in theory!
A few may find this incomprehensible,
But most will admire you as deep and sensible.

Development set homes are extremely chic,
Full of carvings, curios, and draped with batik.
Eye-level photographs subtly assure
That your host is at home with the great and the poor.

Enough of these verses - on with the mission!
Our task is as broad as the human condition!
Just pray god the biblical promise is true:
The poor ye shall always have with you
Ross Coggins

Whose slave..

2008-11-21T09:35:00.000-08:00

Look here, don't leave me!
If you leave me, I'll insult You saying,
"O Madman who wears the fierce elephant's skin!
O Madman who wears the tiger's skin!
O Madman who ate the poison!
O Madman surrounded by the fire of the town's crematorium!
O Madman who has me as His slave!"

Manickkavasakar, a Tamil poet.

Being..

2008-11-21T09:30:00.000-08:00

If it rains fire you have to be as water;
if it is a deluge of water you have to be as the wind;
if it is the Great Flood you have to be as the sky;
and if it the Very Last Flood of all the worlds
you have to give up self and become the Lord.

ALLAMA PRABHU,
South Indian poet, tenth century.

Poor me..

2008-11-21T09:10:00.000-08:00

The rich will make temples for Shiva.
What shall I, a poor man, do?
My legs are pillars,
The body, the shrine,
The head, a cupola of gold.
Listen, O Lord of the Meeting Rivers,
Things standing shall fall
But the moving ever shall stay.

BASAVANNA, Founder of the Lingayat Sect.

Self...

2008-10-20T10:18:00.000-07:00

Believe in your spontaneous inputs,
your will to share and to joy
Believe your heart to be good
human beings are created to love!

Have faith in the existence of love
if only as a longing and a seed
beyond fear and hurt
She is your most truthful self.

---Margareta Melin----

Where does God live?

2008-10-20T09:46:00.000-07:00

Leave this chanting and singing and telling of beads!
Whom does thou worship in this lonely dark corner
of a temple with doors all shut?

Open thine eyes and see thy God is not before thee!
He is there where the tiller is tilling the hard ground and where the pathmaker is breaking stones.
He is with them in sun and in shower, and his garment is covered with dust.

Gitanjali, Tagore.

2008-05-20T21:42:00.000-07:00

"Do what is necessary, then what is possible, and all of the sudden, you will discover doing the impossible, Keep the hope."
Senior Hania Halabi

BE BROKEN

2008-05-06T22:22:00.000-07:00

LET SORROWFUL LONGING DWELL IN YOUR HEART.
NEVER GIVE UP, NEVER LOSE HOPE.
ALLAH SAYS, "THE BROKEN ONES ARE MY BELOVED."
CRUSH YOUR HEART. BE BROKEN.

SHAIKH ABU SAEED ABIL KHEIR, AKA NOBODY, SON OF NOBODY.

PERSIAN PROVERB

2008-05-06T22:20:00.000-07:00

WHEN IT IS DARK ENOUGH,
YOU CAN SEE THE STARS

Many questions than answers?

2008-04-20T11:13:00.000-07:00

...Have patience with everything unresolved in your
heart and to try to love the questions themselves
as if they were locked rooms or books written
in a very foreign language. Don't search for
the answers, which could not be given to you now,
because you would not be able to live them.
And the point is to live everything.
Live the questions now. Perhaps then,
someday far in the future, you will gradually,
without even noticing it,
live your way into the answer.

(Rainer Maria Rilke)

Oh Freedom!

2008-04-20T11:11:00.000-07:00

OH FREEDOM, oh freedom,
Oh freedom over me
And before I'll be a slave,
I'll be buried in my grave
And go home to my lord and be free.

No more killing, no more killing over me.....
No more hunger...
No more hatred...
No more injustice...
No more war...

(African-American Spiritual)

We shall overcome...

2008-04-20T11:07:00.000-07:00

WE SHALL OVERCOME (3X)
SOMEDAY.
OH, DEEP IN MY HEART,
I DO BELIEVE
WE SHALL OVERCOME SOMEDAY...

(AFRICAN-AMERICAN SPIRITUAL AND FREEDOM SONG)

Not by Might

2008-04-20T11:04:00.000-07:00

NOT BY MIGHT

Not by might, not by power, but with love
(Laisa bil harb, laisa bil kuwwa, bal bil hob)

Linda Hirschhorn

If I had a Hammer...

2008-04-20T10:59:00.000-07:00

If I had a hammer
I'd hammer in the morning
I'd hammer in the evening
All over this land.
I'd hammer out danger
I'd hammer out warning
I'd hammer out love between
My bothers and my sisters
All over this land.

If I had a bell
I'd ring it in the evening
All over this land.
I'd ring out danger
I'd ring out love between
My brothers and my sisters
All over this land.

If I had a song
I'd sing it in the morning
I'd sing it in the evening
All over this land.
I'd sing out danger
I'd sing out warning
I'd sing out love between
My brothers and sisters
All over this land.

Well, I've got a hammer
And I've got a bell
And I've got a song to sing
all over this land.
It's the hammer of justice!
It's the bell of freedom!
It's the song about love between
My brothers and my sisters
All over the land.

Lyrics by Lee Hays and Pete Seeger

Manjhan - Madhumalati

2008-04-17T13:41:00.000-07:00

Love is the costliest jewel in existence.
The man whose soul knows love is blessed.

trans. Aditya Behl and Simon Weightman
in Manjhan Madhumalati: An Indian Sufi Romance.

Miles to go before I sleep

2008-04-17T07:56:00.001-07:00

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

        -- Robert Frost

Pray for our Military - A Prayer for America

2008-04-16T19:11:00.001-07:00

We are America,
the heart of a world seeking
freedom and peace.

We are the East and the West,
the North and the South -
one people embracing many.

We are a legacy of courage
with a destiny of greatness.

We are history and prophecy,
liberty and home,
refuge and vision.

So we lift up our light as a beacon of hope
with this prayer to our God and Creator:

Make us a people who care and comfort.

Let us reach out a welcoming hand
to the homeless, the helpless, the hungry.

Let us fulfill God's great plan for our land.
Let our gift to the nations be love.

Lukas Visher (Swiss theologian)

(How I wish this prayer becomes a reality...)

World Ethics

2008-04-16T18:55:00.000-07:00

“No survival without a world ethic.

No world peace without peace between the religions.

No peace between the religions without dialogue between the religions.”

Hans Kung

WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT

2008-04-14T12:26:00.001-07:00

God give me faith in myself. Not only on the days when I am going great and winning and nothing seems impossible, but on days when I wonder if I am brave enough, smart enough, strong enough. Don't let me quit, not ever. Let me keep faith in myself. No matter how many people discourage me, doubt me, laugh at me, warn me, think me a fool, don't let me listen. Let me hear another voice telling me, "You can do it, and you will!"

I am Yours...

2008-04-14T12:23:00.000-07:00

I am no longer my own but yours,
Put me to what you will
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed for you or laid aside for you.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to Your pleasure and disposal
And now glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
You are mine and I am yours. So be it.
And this covenant now made on earth, let it be satisfied in heaven.

Amen
John Wesley

JESUS RAISES UP THE HARLOT

2008-04-13T14:55:00.000-07:00

JESUS RAISES UP THE HARLOT

THE HARLOT SQUATTED
WITH HER HANDS OVER HER RED HAIR.
SHE WAS NOT LOOKING FOR CUSTOMERS.
SHE WAS IN A DEEP FEAR.
A DELICATE BODY CLOTHED IN RED,
AS RED AS A SMASHED FIST
AND SHE WAS BLOODY AS WELL
FOR THE TOWNSPEOPLE WERE TRYING
TO STONE HER TO DEATH.
STONES CAME AT HER LIKE BEES TO CANDY
AND SWEET REDHEADED HARLOT THAT SHE WAS
SHE SCREAMED OUT, I NEVER, I NEVER
ROCKS FLEW OUT OF HER MOUTH LIKE PIGEONS
AND JESUS SAW THIS AND THOUGHT TO
EXHUME HER LIKE A MORTICIAN.

JESUS KNEW THAT A TERRIBLE SICKNESS
DWELT IN THE HARLOT AND HE COULD LANCE IT
WITH HIS TWO SMALL THUMBS.
HE HELD UP HIS HAND AND THE STONES
DROPPED TO THE GROUND LIKE DOUGHNUTS.
AGAIN HE HELD UP HIS HAND
AND THE HARLOT CAME AND KISSED HIM.
HE LANCED HER TWICE. ON THE SPOT.
HE LANCED HER TWICE ON EACH BREAST,
PUSHING HIS THUMBS IN UNTIL THE MILK RAN OUT,
THOSE TWO BOILS OF WHOREDOM.
THE HARLOT FOLLOWED JESUS AROUND LIKE A PUPPY
FOR HE HAD RAISED HER UP.
NOW SHE FORSOOK HER FORNICATIONS
AND BECAME HIS PET.
HIS RAISING HER UP MADE HER FEEL
LIKE A LITTLE GIRL AGAIN WHEN SHE HAD A FATHER
WHO BRUSHED THE DIRT FROM HER EYE.

INDEED, SHE TOOK HOLD OF HERSELF,
KNOWING SHE OWNED JESUS A LIFE,
AS SURE-FIRE AS A TRUMP CARD.

ANNE SEXTON, THE BOOK OF FOLLY

THE FIREBOMBERS

2008-04-11T14:00:00.001-07:00

WE ARE AMERICA
WE ARE THE COFFIN FILLERS.
WE ARE THE GROCERS OF DEATH
WE PACK THEM IN CRATES LIKE CAULIFLOWERS.

THE BOMB OPENS LIKE A SHOEBOX.
AND THE CHILD?
THE CHILD IS CERTAINLY NOT YAWNING.
AND THE WOMAN?
THE WOMAN IS BATHING HER HEART.
IT HAS BEEN TOWN OUT OF HER
AND BECAUSE IT IS BURNT
AND AS A LAST ACT
SHE IS RINSING IT OFF IN THE RIVER.
THIS IS THE DEATH MARKET.

AMERICA,
WHERE ARE YOUR CREDENTIALS?

ANNE SEXTON, THE BOOK OF FOLLY.

The Easy Escape..

2008-04-01T14:53:00.001-07:00

The Easy Escape.

I often wondered why loving God was so easy.
No commitments, no bonds, no payments and no obligations.
It is easy to seek God than to seek the folly of human beings
At least God would not repudiate our attempts in seeking Him.

Anti-War song (used as..)

2008-03-01T01:26:00.000-08:00

How many roads must a man walk down before you call him a man?
Yes, 'n' how many seas must a white dove sail before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannon balls fly before they're forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind, the answer is blowin' in the wind.

How many times must a man look up before he can see the sky?
Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have before he can hear people cry?
Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows that too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind, the answer is blowin' in the wind.

How many years can a mountain exist before it's washed to the sea?
Yes, 'n' how many years can some people exist before they're allowed to be free?
Yes, 'n' how many times can a man turn his head, pretending he just doesn't see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind, the answer is blowin' in the wind.

Bob Dylan

It is right here...

2008-02-25T23:36:00.000-08:00

There is an illimitable fountain of milk within thee:
Why art thou seeking milk from the pail?
O lake, thou hast a channel to the Sea;
be ashamed to seek water from the pool;
.
.
There is a basket full of loaves on the crown of thy head,
and thou art begging a crust of bread from door to door.

Attend to thine own head, abandon giddy headedness;
go knock at the door of thy heart:
why art thou (knocking) at every door?

Whilst thou art up to the knee in the river water,
thou art heedless of thy self and art seeking water
from this one and that one.

Water in front; and behind too, an unfailing supply of water;
(but) before thine eyes is a barrier and behind them a barrier

Rumi, Mathnawi.

Wailing Bulbul...

2008-02-25T16:31:00.000-08:00

"Who can say that the wailing of bulbul is ineffective.
Don't you see that one flower has itself broken into a thousand petals".

Mirza Ghalib...

Bravery....

2008-02-18T14:12:00.000-08:00

For a woman to advise men like you
is almost an insult.
And yet, my deep troubles compel me
to overstep the limits of womanly conduct,
make me speak up.

The kings of your race, brave as Indra,
have for a long time ruled the earth without a break.
But now with your own hand
you have thrown it away,
like a rutting elephant tearing off
his garland with his trunk...

If you choose to reject heroic action
and see forbearance as the road to future happiness,
then throw away your bow, the symbol of royalty,
wear your hair matted in knots,
stay here and make offerings in the sacred fire!

Draupati to King Yudhisthira in Mahabharata
as quoted in The Argumentative Indian by Amartya Sen, p. 9.

"Silence is Violence"

2008-02-18T13:54:00.000-08:00

SILENT SPECTATORS ARE DANGEROUS

EDMUND BURKE

If only...

2008-01-16T17:35:00.000-08:00

If saying Ram (God) gave liberation
saying candy made your mouth sweet,
saying fire burned your feet,
saying water quenched your thirst,
saying food banished hunger,
the whole world would be free.

Kabir.

Martyred in Pakistan

2008-01-06T20:45:00.000-08:00

"I have led an unusual life....I have buried a father
killed at age 50 and two brothers killed in the prime
of their lives. I raised my children as a single mother
when my husband was arrested and held for eight
years without a conviction - a hostage to my political
career.

I made my choice when the mantle of political
leadership was thrust upon my shoulders after
my father's murder. I did not shrink from
responsibility then, and I will not
shrink from it now."

MRS. BENAZIR BHUTTO (Former Prime Minister of Pakistan
from The Washington Post. As quoted in the Editorial and Opinion
of the Rocky Mountain News, Friday 12/28/07.

Judging others...

2008-01-06T19:33:00.000-08:00

There is so much good in the worst of us,
And so much bad in the best of us,
That it hardly behooves any of us
To talk about the rest of us.

Joaquin Miller (1841-1913)

Morality

2008-01-06T19:20:00.000-08:00

Morality, thou deadly bane,
Thy tens o' thousands thou hast slain!
Vain is his hope, whase stay an' trust is
In moral mercy, truth, and justice!

Robert Burns...

Faith question

2008-01-06T17:31:00.000-08:00

FAITH THAT DOES NOT DOUBT IS DEAD FAITH

MIGUEL DE UNAMUNDO

....but preparation..

2008-01-04T19:03:00.000-08:00

To love is good, too: love being difficult.
For one human being to love another:
that is perhaps the most difficult of all
our tasks, the ultimate, the last
test and proof, the work for which all
other work is but preparation.

Rainer Maria Rilke
from Letters to a Young Poet.

In search of a Saki....

2007-12-14T19:21:00.000-08:00

Where art thou O Saki, where are thou?
Come forth for my soul yearns for that wine,
That ruby wine tasted by the pure in paradise.
Come O Saki pour thy wine into the vessel of my soul,
Wherever thou art, I shall search and find thee,
And having found thee shall never let thee go,
Until my thirst is quenched and my being drenched
In that wine which we drank in the pre-eternal dawn,
And shall drink again in the beatific eve of our earthly life.

From the collection 'Poems of the Way' by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

(Saki means spiritual master)

Die before you die....

2007-12-12T15:19:00.000-08:00

Go die, O man of honor, before you die,
So that you will not suffer the pangs of death,
Die in such a way as to enter the abode of light,
Not the death that places you in the grave,

Rumi

My Madonna....

2007-12-12T15:12:00.001-08:00

I haled me a woman from the street,
Shameless, but, oh, so fair!
I bade her sit in the model's seat
And I painted her sitting there.

I hid all trace of her heart unclean;
I painted a babe at her breast;
I painted her as she might have been
If the Worst had been the Best.

She laughed at my picture and went away.
Then came, with a knowing nod,
A connoisseur, and I heard him say;
"'Tis Mary, the Mother of God."

So I painted a halo round her hair,
And I sold her and took my fee,
And she hangs in the church of Saint Hillaire,
Where you and all may see.

Robert W Service

Whatever...

2007-12-10T20:44:00.001-08:00

Whatever you have in your mind -
forget it....
Whatever you have in your hand -
give it...
Whatever is to be your fate -
face it...

ABU SA'ID...

person of the heart....

2007-12-06T19:21:00.000-08:00

Become a person of the heart
or at least the devotee of one;
Or else, you will remain
like a donkey stuck in the mud

If one has no heart,
one has no benefits;
In wretchedness, one
will be famous in the world.

Rumi...

want to do something useful?

2007-12-06T19:02:00.000-08:00

Fasting is a way to save on food.
Vigil and prayer is a labor for old folks.
Pilgrimage is an occasion for tourism.
To distribute bread in alms is something for philanthropists.
Fall in love:
That is doing something!

Ansari.

Song of Love.....

2007-12-04T18:59:00.000-08:00

SONG OF LOVE

I am the lover’s eyes, and the spirit’s

Wine, and the heart’s nourishment.

I am a rose. My heart opens at dawn and

The virgin kisses me and places me

Upon her breast.

I am the house of true fortune, and the

Origin of pleasure, and the beginning

Of peace and tranquility. I am the gentle

Smile upon the lips of beauty. When youth

Overtakes me he forgets his toil, and his

Whole life becomes reality of sweet dreams.

I am the poet’s elation

And the artist’s revelation,

And the musician’s inspiration.

I am a sacred shrine in the heart of a

Child, adored by a merciful mother.

I appear to a heart’s cry: I shun a demand:

My fullness pursues the heart’s desire:

It shuns the empty claim of the voice.

I appeared to Adam through Eve

And exile was his lot:

Yet I revealed myself to Solomon, and

He drew wisdom from my presence.

I smiled at Helena and she destroyed Tarwada:

Yet I crowned Cleopatra and peace dominated

The Valley of the Nile.

I am like the ages –building today

And destroying tomorrow:

I am like a god, who creates and ruins:

I am sweeter than a violet”s sigh:

I am more violent than a raging tempest.

Gifts alone do not entice me:

Parting does not discourage me:

Poverty does not chase me:

Jealousy does not prove my awareness:

Madness does not evidence my presence.

Oh seekers, I am Truth, beseeching Truth:

And your Truth in seeking and receiving

And protecting me shall determine my

Behaviour.

Khalil Gibran, from Tears and Laughter

A woman saint on her love of God....

2007-12-02T13:57:00.000-08:00

Mechthild of Magdeburg expresses her spiritual experiences as below:

In overcoming the world

Renouncing all desires

And defeating the ego

The soul comes to God.

If the world gives blow

It causes no sorrow;

If the flesh gives her a kick,

The spirit does not fall sick.

Though the devil may dare

The soul does not care.

She loveth and loveth

And knows nothing other.

You will only feel free

If love possess you:

All your teaching is useless,

For I cannot be loveless.

I want to be imprisoned by love:

I cannot live without love:

Where it is, there I must go,

In life or death I dont know.

It is the foolishness of the fools

Who live without sorrow and heartache.

You and I..

2007-12-02T13:34:00.000-08:00

Early in the day it was whispered that we should sail in a boat, only thou and I, and never a soul in the world would know of this our pilgrimage to no country and to no end.

In that shoreless ocean, at thy silently listening smile my songs would swell in melodies, free as waves, free from all bondage of words.

Is the time not come yet? Are there works still to do? Lo, the evening has come down upon the shore and in the fading light the seabirds come flying to their nests.

Who knows when the chains will be off, and the boat, like the last glimmer of sunset, vanish into the night?

Gitanjali....

Mercy...

2007-12-02T13:31:00.000-08:00

Let mercy be you Mecca:
Instead of fasts use humility:
Seek no other paradise than abiding by the Word of your teacher;
For houris, seek in your paradise
The fragrance of the light
That streams from the Lord;
Seek no other palace or pleasure than devotion to God.
To practice truth is to be a Qazi (Muslim Judge)
To purify the heart is to be a Haji (a Muslim who has undertaken
the pilgrimage),
To shame the devil is to be a Mullah (a Muslim cleric).
To praise God is to be a Dervish ( a Sufi mystic known for ecstatic dancing).

Let your first prayer be God's praises,
Your second inner peace,
Your third humility, your fourth charity,
Your fifth subduing the five senses to God.
While you live, remember God.
Instead of washing your hands before prayer
Get rid of your evil deeds.

Guru Nanak.

Veil..

2007-12-02T13:27:00.000-08:00

What's all this tale about the veil?
Fred and Gail shout and hail
Straw as hero
For his hail of fire on Aïsha's attire.
Did Straw want Aïsha to show
Herself from head to toe?
Let Gail wear a mini-skirt
For her flirt.
And let Aïsha wear on her face
Or on her hair
Whatever piece
That would bring her peace
Vis-à-vis God and vis-à-vis Man.
Oh, man!
Why d'you wish her to disclose
Her beautiful eyes and nice nose
Or her lips or her hips
If that belongs to her?
Come on, Sir!
That body you want her to show
Is a diamond dearer than the glow
Of the face of Marilyn Monroe!

Mohamed Ali LAGOUADER Morroco,
http://hikayatblady.blogspot.com/

Through the Looking Glass....

2007-12-02T13:24:00.000-08:00

A boat, beneath a sunny sky,
Lingering onward dreamily
In an evening of July..

Children three that nestle near,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Pleased a simple tale to hear...

Long has paled that sunny sky;
Echoes fade and memories die;
Autumn frosts have slain July.

Still she haunts me, phantomwise,
Alice moving under skies
Never seen by waking eyes.

Children yet, the tale to hear,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Lovingly shall nestle near.

In a Wonderland they lie,
Dreaming as the days go by,
Dreaming as the summers die.

Ever drifting down the stream..
Lingering in the garden gleam
Life, what is it but a dream?

Lewis Carroll...

Chinese way to peace....

2007-12-02T12:54:00.000-08:00

If there is to be peace in the world, there must be peace in the nations.
If there is to be peace in the nations, there must be peace in the cities.
If there is to be peace in the cities, there must be peace between neighbors.
If there is to be peace between neighbors, there must be peace in the home.
If there is to be peace in the home, there must be peace in the heart.

Lao-Tse, Chinese Philosopher, 6th Century BCE.

My heart bleeds for you, my brethren...

2007-11-26T10:30:00.000-08:00

Oh God who knows no partiality!
Were you the One who created
the ones who bring "justice" at the cost of human lives?
the ones who enjoy abundance by plundering others?
the ones who blind themselves to obvious truths?
the ones who suffer innocently for no wrong of theirs?
the ones who remain scapegoats all their days?
the ones who rape the mother earth consciously?
the little ones, the feeble ones, the helpless ones,
the strong, the mighty, the powerful,
the ones who have weapons?
the ones who are innocent victims?
the ones who have no more tears left?
the ones who walk on dead bodies?

Tell me Oh God! Are you the One who created....

J Christy Femila

Visiting the Library in a Strange City

2007-11-26T10:27:00.000-08:00

The Words reappear, slowly
developing
on a vast unknown
but precise number of pages

as I enter: the great building
empty of visitors
except for me, reading
the minds of the dead

moving with exaggerated
and slow-motion care,
as when assigned to lead
the blind kid to his classroom

forty years ago,
down rows
between dusty volumes, a light
snow beginning.

Franz Wright..

May I....

2007-11-18T17:54:00.000-08:00

May I become at all times, both now and forever
A protector of those without protection
A Guide for those who have lost their way
A ship for those with oceans to cross
A bridge for those with rivers to cross
A sanctuary for those in danger
A lamp for those without light
A place of refuge for those lack shelter
And a servant to all in need.
For as long as living beings remain,
Until then may I, too, abide
To dispel the misery of the world.

Shantideva - 8th century Buddhist Scholar.

Hindu Peace Prayer

2007-11-18T17:48:00.000-08:00

I desire neither earthly kingdom,
nor even freedom from birth and death.
I desire only the deliverance
from grief of all those afflicted by misery.
Oh Lord, lead us from the unreal to the real;
from darkness to light, from death to immortality.

May there be peace in celestial regions.
May there be peace on earth.
May the waters be appeasing.
May herbs be wholesome
and may trees and plants bring peace to all.
May all beneficent beings bring peace to us.
May thy wisdom spread peace all through the world
May all things be a source of peace to all and to me.

Native american Prayer for Peace

2007-11-18T17:46:00.000-08:00

Oh Great Spirit of our Ancestors,
I raise my pipe to you.
To your messengers the four winds,
and to Mother Earth
who provides for your children.
Give us the wisdom to teach our children
to love, to respect, and to be kind to each other
so that they may grow with peace of mind.
Let us learn to share all good things
that your provide for us on this Earth.