A screen of cloud veils the mountain, And cold monkeys squawk from green pines. Fungi abound, but seeds dormant, Searching for sprouts -- alas, in vain. Somewhere near there's a fairy cave Where flutes and lutes are often played. Its Way is overgrown with moss, And the old stone gate yields no clue. Where have all the fairy folk gone?
Looking back, there's an endless plain Where flowers fall like streaming tears. It's easy to grow old; Where is the messenger to bring some news? To tell who the Golden Phoenix charms? Waking from a deep, restless dream What remains are blooms on the stream.
That’s trickier than it seems. I quite enjoy reading and many forms of bodily movement activities (e.g. swimming, yoga, taiji, qigong, exercise, etc.,) but I’d count them more as personal development activities than leisure activities. (Even something as seemingly non-purposeful as juggling.) I sometimes watch TV / movies, but I don’t know that I’d say I enjoy that so much as find it an opportunity to zone out.
From childhood's hour I have not been As others were -- I have not seen As other saw -- I could not bring My passions from a common spring --- From the same source I have not taken My sorrow -- I could not awaken My heart to joy at the same tone -- And all I lov'd -- I lov'd alone -- Then -- in my childhood -- in the dawn Of a most stormy life -- was drawn From ev'ry depth of good and ill The mystery which binds me still -- From the torrent, or the fountain -- From the red cliff of the mountain -- From the sun that 'round me roll'd In its autumn tint of gold -- From the lightening in the sky As it pass'd me flying by -- From the thunder, and the storm -- And the cloud that took the form (When the rest of Heaven was blue) Of a demon in my view --
One that involves interacting with only a small group of familiar people, and which allows for a great deal of deep thought and introspection. (And for the tricky part to reconcile,) one that involves / or allows for a good deal of travel.
Tell us about your first day at something — school, work, as a parent, etc.
I can’t say I have strong recollections of any of them. I have a vague recollection of the flight to basic training (first time flying, but mostly I remember there was a drunk dude sitting next to me,) but I don’t recall anything from my first day in the military proper. No first days of school or on any job have stuck.
I guess my clearest memory is for the most recent major first — first day living in Bangalore, India (a little over eleven years ago.) I must say, however, I just remember snippets of being lost in a walk around the neighborhood. One might expect a first day in urban India to be daunting / overwhelming- even for a reasonably well-traveled Westerner, but if it was I don’t remember that bit.
"Time to put off the world and go somewhere And find my health again in the sea air," Beggar to beggar cried, being frenzy-struck, "And make my soul before my pate is bare;
"And get a comfortable wife and house To rid me of the devil in my shoes," Beggar to beggar cried, being frenzy-struck, "And the worse devil that is between my thighs.
"And though I'd marry with a comely lass, She need not be too comely -- let it pass," Beggar to beggar cried, being frenzy-struck, "But there's a devil in a looking glass.
"Nor should she be too rich, because the rich Are driven by wealth as beggars by the itch," Beggar to beggar cried, being frenzy-struck, "And cannot have a humorous happy speech.
"And there I'll grow respected at my ease, And hear amid the garden's nightly peace," Beggar to beggar cried, being frenzy-struck, "The wind-blown clamor of the barnacle-geese."
Tiger Riding for Beginners 