water lilies stand
confidently, while herons
step warily.
Lily Pad Heron [Haiku]
Reply
Category Archives: Blogs
Submerge [Haiku]
PROMPT: Tattoo
What tattoo do you want and where would you put it?
I have no interest in tattoos. I’m with the Buddhists on “all is impermanence” and the idea that there is some message that would be poignant for the rest of my days seems silly and unlikely.
Plus I’ve seen so many bad ones: faces that look demented, Chinese characters that make no sense (and/or are upside-down or sideways.) So, no thanks.
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
“Because I Could Not Stop for Death” (479) by Emily Dickinson [w/ Audio]
Because I could not stop for Death —
He kindly stopped for me —
The Carriage held but just Ourselves —
And Immortality.
We slowly drove — He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labour and my leisure too,
For His Civility —
We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess — in the Ring —
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain -
We passed the Setting Sun -
Or rather - He passed us -
The Dews drew quivering and chill -
For only Gossamer, my Gown -
My Tippet - only Tulle -
We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground -
The Roof was scarcely visible -
The Cornice - in the Ground-
Since then - ‘tis Centuries - and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses’ Heads
Were toward Eternity -
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
PROMPT: One Word
Green Fields [Haiku]
the rice fields
are at their most verdant;
scent of rain.
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
Cold River Sky [Haiku]
clouds - low & textured -
look yet angrier when seen
in the cold river.
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
DAILY PHOTO: A Pair of Planters
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
Cormorant Patience [Kyōka]
the cormorant,
glistening & dripping,
must air dry
before it’s a bird again;
humans cramp in the pool.
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
“There Is a Bird in the Tree” by Kabir [w/ Audio]
On this tree is a bird:
It dances in the joy of life.
No one knows where it is:
And who knows what the burden
Of its music may be?
Where the branches throw a deep shade,
There does it have its nest:
And it comes in the evening
And flies away in the morning,
And says not a word
Of that which it means.
None tell me of this bird
That sings within me.
It is neither coloured nor colourless:
It has neither form nor outline:
It sits in the shadow of love.
It dwells within the Unattainable,
The Infinite, and the Eternal;
And no one marks
When it comes and goes.
Kabir says, “O brother Sadhu!
Deep is the mystery.
Let wise men seek to know
where rests that bird.”
NOTE: This is the translation by Rabindranath Tagore from the 1915 text, One Hundred Poems of Kabir. This is poem #30 (XXX) of that volume.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 