This is a beautiful visual with words to match. If we could immerse ourselves in the world the way children do, what a world we would have.
Monthly Archives: January 2014
“Children’s Haiku” by Carl D’Agostino
Cages
When I posted The Panther, these musings began to circulate and percolate. They were part of that post and they kept resonating in ways that were difficult to ignore. More often than not, humans are the designers of their cages. We struggle to set aside the desires and ego that form the bars. Setting these aside, is a liberating process.
Mindlessly,
I build these cages,
Bars more imagined, than real;
Yet, impenetrable.
I look deep,
I find an inner source;
Here, power and beauty
In restful communion.
Here, the ego steps aside,
I let go;
Bars melt,
The cage is no more.
No longer, a captive of my making,
I walk–
The meadow endless;
Yet, much revealed in this place.
Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes!
I enjoy a Mary Oliver anytime. This is a gentle reminder to not lose our way in the busyness of life. Walk the beach, look at the mountains, or just find your space for retreat with those you care about. See them fully.
We become religious,
then we turn from it,
then we are in need and maybe we turn back.
We turn to making money,
then we turn to the moral life,
then we think about money again.
We meet wonderful people, but lose them
in our busyness.
We’re, as the saying goes, all over the place.
Steadfastness, it seems,
is more about dogs than about us.
One of the reasons we love them so much.
~ Mary Oliver
Credits:
- Thank you MJL for sharing the poem. I must check out Mary Oliver’s book “Dog Songs.” Amazing reviews on Amazon.
- Poem Source: “How It Is with Us, and How It Is with Them” by Mary Oliver, from Dog Songs via Writersalmanac
- Thank you Susan for the picture of our Zeke.
Blind By Harry Kemp
We are each blind in our own particular ways. Unfortunately, we do not always recognize our shortcoming.
The Panther
Rilke worked for the sculptor Rodin. Rumour has it Rilke could not write and grew frustrated. Rodin suggested he go to the zoo, observe and see one of the animals clearly, and write about those observations. The result was this poem which described the essence, from Rilke’s point of view, of this magnificent, trapped animal, a metaphor, in some ways for the sometimes trapped human essence and creative seat.
We, as humans, pace behind the bars that we construct for ourselves and have to look inside for power that allows escape. Our spirits reveal the power and beauty where ultimate personal and collective meaning are. In the quiet and stillness of being fully present to ourselves, much is revealed. Otherwise, the cages and bars of our own making capture us and refuse to let us go.
From seeing the bars, his seeing is so exhausted
that it no longer holds anything anymore.
To him the world is bars, a hundred thousand
bars, and behind the bars, nothing.
The lithe swinging of that rhythmical easy stride
which circles down to the tiniest hub
is like a dance of energy around a point
in which a great will stands stunned and numb.
Only at times the curtains of the pupil rise
without a sound … then a shape enters,
slips through the tightened silence of the shoulders,
reaches the heart, and dies.
George Saunders’ Advice to Graduates
This is an incredible message for each of us. It was worth reading from beginning to end. Life is about love after all.
George Saunders delivered this convocation speech at Syracuse University for the class of 2013. It subsequently went viral, and there’s a really solid reason for that; It’s awesome. In case you have not read it already, please enjoy;
- George Saunders by Damon Winter from the The New York Times.
The entire speech, graduation season or not, is well worth reading, and is included below.
“Down through the ages, a traditional form has evolved for this type of speech, which is: Some old fart, his best years behind him, who, over the course of his life, has made a series of dreadful mistakes (that would be me), gives heartfelt advice to a group of shining, energetic young people, with all of their best years ahead of them (that would be you).
And I intend to respect that tradition.
Now, one useful thing you can do with an…
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How to Get Noticed at Work in Your 20s
When I read this post, I was struck by the soundness of advice for all ages. If everyone tried following these rules, it might make communities and workplaces much better and healthier places. The word health and heal share a common root with the word whole. We can heal and make whole our communities when we follow the Golden Rule which is essentially what this is.
I once had a boss tell me that had she known I was 20 years old when she hired me, I would have never gotten the job.
Nice lady.
But if you know me and/or if you’ve read my writing, you know that I’m a huge proponent of the fact that age has zero to do with success and potential.
I’m sure that there are plenty of really really uber-smart 16 year olds who can do my job better than I can. So age, therefore, should have nothing to do with the hiring process.
Despite my strong opinion on this subject, let’s face it… ageism exists. People who are older have to deal with it and those of us fresh out of college have to deal with it too.
It’s not fun.
Some people don’t think we’re capable of much. Some people really underestimate our ability.
So here are some things that we…
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A Time to Talk
Robert Frost’s poem foreshadowed a need to make real human contact. There are times we need to move beyond the virtual realities, set the hoe down, and engage in those friendly visits. Human contact in the form of sound, touch, smell, and visuals is a human need that cannot be overlooked. It is a sensual place and space to be. It touches our spirit and makes us whole.
When a friend calls to me from the road
And slows his horse to a meaning walk,
I don’t stand still and look around
On all the hills I haven’t hoed,
And shout from where I am, What is it?
No, not as there is a time to talk.
I thrust my hoe in the mellow ground,
Blade-end up and five feet tall,
And plod: I go up to the stone wall
For a friendly visit.
le sens de la vie aura toujours été une énigme…
Originally posted on my virtual playground:
… comme les superbes cascades islandaises…
Closed Path
At the end of the week, as I approach Sabbath, I think the voyage is perhaps at an end. But, it is not. The Sabbath serves a time of replenishment, a finding of new wonder in the days to come. I look in as suggested in this poem by Rabindranath Tagore. The path opens in front of me in way I am sure this is in my destiny.
I thought that my voyage had come to its end
at the last limit of my power,—that the path before me was closed,
that provisions were exhausted
and the time come to take shelter in a silent obscurity.
But I find that thy will knows no end in me.
And when old words die out on the tongue,
new melodies break forth from the heart;
and where the old tracks are lost,
new country is revealed with its wonders.
ivonprefontaine
Teacher as Transformer 