Augustby Elizabeth Maua Taylor August rushes by like desert rainfall,A flood of frenzied upheaval,Expected,But still catching me unprepared.Like a matchflameBursting on the scene,Heat and haze of crimson sunsets.Like a dreamOf moon and dark barely recalled,A moment,Shadows caught in a blink.Like a quick kiss;One wishes for moreBut it suddenly turns to leave,Dragging summer away.
Bacchusby Ralph Waldo Emerson Bring me wine, but wine which never grewIn the belly of the grape,Or grew on vine whose tap-roots, reaching throughUnder the Andes to the Cape,Suffer no savor of the earth to scape. Let its grapes the morn saluteFrom a nocturnal root,Which feels the acrid juiceOf Styx and Erebus;And turns the woe … Read more
Little Summer Poem Touching the Subject of Faithby Mary Oliver Every summerI listen and lookunder the sun’s brass and eveninto the moonlight, but I can’t hear anything, I can’t see anything —not the pale roots digging down, nor the green stalks muscling up,nor the leavesdeepening their damp pleats, nor the tassels making,nor the shucks, nor … Read more
A Moment’s Indulgence from Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) I ask for a moment’s indulgence to sit by thy side. The works that I have in hand I will finish afterwards. Away from the sight of thy face my heart knows no rest nor respite, and my work becomes an endless toil in a shoreless … Read more
Ho’opuka e-ka-la ma ka hikina(The Dawning of Enlightenment) — 17th century Hawaii, anonymous Ai, Ai, Ai.Ho’opuka e-ka-la ma ka hikina eKahua ka’I hele no tumutahiHa’a mai na’I wa me Hi’iakaTapo Laka ika ulu wehiwehiNee mai na’I wa ma ku’u aloHo’I no’o e te tapu me na’ali’I e E ola makou a mau loa laeEala, eala, … Read more
A Blessing for One Who is ExhaustedJohn O’Donohue (1954 – 2008) When the rhythm of the heart becomes hectic,Time takes on the strain until it breaks;Then all the unattended stress falls inOn the mind like an endless, increasing weight, The light in the mind becomes dim.Things you could take in your stride beforeNow become laborsome … Read more
Innocence (The Sun) © Osho Zen TarotThe Summer Day by Mary Oliver Who made the world? Who made the swan, and the black bear?Who made the grasshopper?This grasshopper, I mean– the one who has flung herself out of the grass,the one who is eating sugar out of my hand, who is moving her jaws back … Read more
In loving celebration of the 40th Anniversary today of the Stonewall Riots.Do not follow where the path may lead. Go, instead, where there is no path and leave a trail. — Ralph Waldo Emerson I AM RAINBOWBy Oshumare Nijiof the Sri Chinmoy Centre Looking in a puddle on a semi-rainy dayI saw myself but dimlyimperfect, … Read more
Happy birthday yesterday to Alruna: The Flowers by Robert Louis Stevenson All the names I know from nurse:Gardener’s garters, Shepherd’s purse,Bachelor’s buttons, Lady’s smock,And the Lady Hollyhock. Fairy places, fairy things,Fairy woods where the wild bee wings,Tiny trees for tiny dames–These must all be fairy names! Tiny woods below whose boughsShady fairies weave a house;Tiny … Read more
He’s there among the scented treesby Rabindranath Tagore (1861 – 1941) (from The Lover of God, translated by Tony Stewart and Chase Twitchell) He’s there among the scented trees,playing the notes he has taught you.Too late for embarrassment, shy doenibbling at the forest’s edge,shawled in deep blue shadows.He’s calling you. The flower of your soulis … Read more