DAILY PHOTO: Green Field

“There is a finished feeling” (856) by Emily Dickinson [w/ Recording]

There is a finished feeling
Experienced at Graves—
A leisure of the Future—
A Wilderness of Size.

By Death’s bold Exhibition
Preciser what we are
And the Eternal function
Enabled to infer.

PROMPT: Broken Bone

Have you ever broken a bone?

To the best of my knowledge, I have never broken a bone — neither mine nor anyone else’s.

But it’s not been for a lack of trying.

DAILY PHOTO: Ananuri Fortress

Spring Stream [Haiku]

willow-lined stream
swells with a rush of
Spring white water.

Quatrain 62 of the Rubaiyat of Rumi [w/ Audio]

If you desire the self, get out of the self.
Leave the shallow stream behind
And flow into the river deep and wide.
Don't be an ox pulling the wheel of the plow,
Turn with the stars that wheel above you.

As translated in: Helminski, Kabir (ed.). 2018. The Pocket Rumi. Boulder, CO: Shambhala South Asia Editions. p. 4; translators: Kabir Helminski, Camille Helminski, and Lida Saedian

DAILY PHOTO: Wood Carving

PROMPT: Sacrifices

What sacrifices have you made in life?

I’ve thrown coins in a fountain, and I once went to a pig roast where someone prayed out loud before we ate, but I’ve never pushed anyone into a volcano — if that’s what you’re getting at.

“Epigram for Wall Street” by Edgar Allan Poe [w/ Audio]

I'll tell you a plan for gaining wealth,
Better than banking, trade or leases —
Take a bank note and fold it up,
And then you will find your money in creases!
This wonderful plan, without danger or loss,
Keeps your cash in your hands, where nothing can trouble it;
And every time that you fold it across,
'Tis as plain as the light of the day that you double it!