The Flower That Reaches [Senryū]

Hibiscus
reaches for pollen; though
pollen is nomadic.

DAILY PHOTO: Kowloon from Across Victoria Harbour

“Limits” by Ralph Waldo Emerson [w/ Audio]

Who knows this or that?
Hark in the wall to the rat:
Since the world was, he has gnawed;
Of his wisdom, of his fraud
What dost thou know?
In the wretched little beast
Is life and heart,
Child and parent,
Not without relation
To fruitful field and sun and moon.
What art thou? His wicked eye
Is cruel to thy cruelty.

PROMPT: 10 Things

List 10 things you know to be absolutely certain.

1.) Nothing is permanent.

2.) The world is not what it seems.

3.) One’s subjective experience is not determined by the state of the world.

4.) Nobody grasps enough truth to be intolerant.

5.) Uncertainty is the root of all fear.

6.) Fear is the root of all hatred.

7.) Hatred is a subjective experience (See #3.) Also, uncertainty is the root of all hatred (by the transitive property,) hence the benefit of travel.

8.) Any who: a.) has suffered a string of hardships; b.) allows themselves to believe that some “other” is wholly responsible for said hardships; and c.) who lacks a sufficient sense of self-empowerment to avoid surrendering entirely to a group identity can (and likely will) become a Nazi (or the equivalent of their day.)

9.) No one can predict the future. [Regardless of how much we all love to try. (See #5.)]

10.) Entropy increases (ultimately, in a closed system.)

NOTE: I remain ready to abandon any certainty in the face of better information.

Bell Pavilion [Haiku]

Summer night: 
bell pavilion - silent,
but for cricket chirp.

DAILY PHOTO: Side Streets of Seoul

“Crossing 16” by Rabindranath Tagore [w/ Audio]

You came to my door in the dawn and sang; 
it angered me to be awakened from sleep,
and you went away unheeded.
You came in the noon and asked for water;
it vexed me in my work,
and you were sent away with reproaches.
You came in the evening with your flaming torches.
You seemed to me like a terror and I shut my door.
Now in the midnight I sit alone in my lampless room
and call you back whom I turned away in insult.

PROMPT: Security or Adventure

Daily writing prompt
Are you seeking security or adventure?

Not sure what to do with this one. It reads to me much as would, “Would you prefer air or water?”

Urban Oasis [Haiku]

stream cascade:
soft water burble drowns out
the city’s noise.

DAILY PHOTO: Shivajinagar