Tag Archives: life

“Water Dragon Chant” by Ge Changgeng [w/ Audio]

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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.

PROMPT: Leisure Time

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Daily writing prompt
What do you enjoy doing most in your leisure time?
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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.

“The Past” by Ralph Waldo Emerson [w/ Audio]

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The debt is paid,
 The verdict said,
 The Furies laid,
 The plague is stayed,
 All fortunes made;
 Turn the key and bolt the door,
 Sweet is death forevermore.
 Nor haughty hope, nor swart chagrin,
 Nor murdering hate, can enter in.
 All is now secure and fast;
 Not the gods can shake the Past;
 Flies-to the adamantine door
 Bolted down forevermore.
 None can re-enter there, --
 No thief so politic,
 No Satan with a royal trick
 Steal in by window, chink, or hole,
 To bind or unbind, add what lacked,
 Insert a leaf, or forge a name,
 New-face or finish what is packed,
 Alter or mend eternal Fact.

Evolution [Free Verse]

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Anywhere copies are made, 
   but copies aren't exact,
      selection will take place.

Some erroneous copies will 
    be more beloved than others.
      Some errors will propagate.
      Some errors will die out.

Thus is language,
   thus is chemistry,
   and thus is life.

PROMPT: First Name

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Daily writing prompt
Write about your first name: its meaning, significance, etymology, etc.
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Having been raised in a Catholic household, I wouldn’t have this name if one or more saints hadn’t already. In my case, there are several Saint Bernards, and I don’t know that my parents had any particular one in mind. As far as I know, none were associated with Ireland, from whence my ancestry lies. [St. Bernard of Clairvaux seems to be the most famous St. Bernard – he’s “The St. Bernard,” if you will – excepting of course Chris the St. Bernard dog who starred in the 1992 movie “Beethoven” whose name was actually Chris and his breed was “St. Bernard” so, technically, Clairvaux is still king of the St. Bernards.] I also know that it’s not the first time this name appeared in my genealogical line, but don’t know much more than that.

I understand the etymology of the name is Germanic and that it means something like “Bear Hardy,” with which I’m pleased. (Could have been much worse — e.g. “Squirrel Brave” or “Bear Smelling.”)

“Alone” by Edgar Allan Poe [w/ Audio]

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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 --

“Infant Sorrow” by William Blake [w/ Audio]

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My mother groan'd! my father wept.
 Into the dangerous world I leapt:
 Helpless, naked, piping loud:
 Like a fiend hid in a cloud.
 
Struggling in my father's hands,
 Striving against my swadling bands.
 Bound and weary I thought best
 To sulk upon my mother's breast.

Schrödinger’s Dragonfly [Haiku]

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dragonfly,
 cool autumn morn:
  dead or in thaw?

PROMPT: A Year Ago

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Is your life today what you pictured a year ago?

I make no predictions. Forecasting is a sucker’s game.

PROMPT: First Day

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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.