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Showing posts from December, 2007

The Wise Person

The Wise Person is always a man without a mind - he takes the mind of the hundred clans as his mind. Those who are good, I am good to them; those who are not good, I am also good to them - Te is good. Those who are honest, I am honest with them; those who are not honest, I am also honest with them - Te is honest. The Wise Person, lives in the world all drawn in, for the world's sake he keeps his mind muddled. The hundred clans, all strain their eyes and ears toward him. The Wise Person treats them all as his children. Lao Zi

To ----

I remember the marvellous moment you appeared before me, like a transient vision, like pure beauty’s spirit. Lost in hopeless sadness, lost in the loud world’s turmoil, I heard your voice’s echo, and often dreamed your features. Years passed. The storm winds scattered, with turbulent gusts, that dreaming. I forgot your voice, its tenderness. I forgot your lovely face. Remote in my darkened exile, the days dragged by so slowly, without grace, without inspiration, without life, without tears, without love. Then my spirit woke and you, you appeared again, like a transient vision, like pure beauty’s spirit. And my heart beats with delight, and ecstasy, inside me, and grace and inspiration, and tears, and life, and love. Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin

Flower

Pluck this little flower and take it, delay not! I fear lest it droop and drop into the dust. I may not find a place in thy garland, but honour it with a touch of pain from thy hand and pluck it. I fear lest the day end before I am aware, and the time of offering go by. Though its colour be not deep and its smell be faint, use this flower in thy service and pluck it while there is time. Rabindranath Tagore

Words

"All that we are is the result of what we have thought. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him. " - Lord Buddha

Last Night

Last night as I was sleeping I dreamt a marvelous illusion that there was a spring breaking out in my heart. I said, "Along what secret aqueduct are you coming to me Oh water, water of a new life that I have never drunk." Last night as I was sleeping I dreamt a marvelous illusion that there was a beehive here in my heart. And the golden bees were making white combs and sweet honey from my old failures. Last night as I was sleeping I dreamt a marvelous illusion that there was a fiery sun here in my heart. It was fiery because it gave warmth as if from a hearth And it was sun because it gave light and brought tears to my eyes. Last night as I was sleeping I dreamt a marvelous illusion that there was God here in my heart. God, is my soul asleep? Have those beehives who labor by night stopped, and the water wheel of thought, is it dry? The cup's empty, wheeling out carrying only shadows? No! My soul is not asleep! My soul is not asleep! It neither sleeps nor dreams, but wat

A Golden Day

I found you and I lost you, All on a gleaming day. The day was filled with sunshine, And the land was full of May. A golden bird was singing Its melody divine, I found you and I loved you, And all the world was mine. I found you and I lost you, All on a golden day, But when I dream of you, dear, It is always brimming May. ~ Paul Laurence Dunbar

SOMETHING LEFT UNDONE.

Labor with what zeal we will, Something still remains undone, Something uncompleted still Waits the rising of the sun. By the bedside, on the stair, At the threshold, near the gates, With its menace or its prayer, Like a mendicant it waits; Waits, and will not go away; Waits, and will not be gainsaid; By the cares of yesterday Each to-day is heavier made; Till at length the burden seems Greater than our strength can bear, Heavy as the weight of dreams, Pressing on us everywhere. And we stand from day to day, Like the dwarfs of times gone by, Who, as Northern legends say, On their shoulders held the sky. Author: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Departed

Gone though you have, I heard your voice today. I tried to make out what the words might mean, Like something seen half-clearly on a screen: Each savoured reference, each laughing bark, Sage comment, bad pun, indiscreet remark. Gone since you have, grief too in time will go, Or share space with old joy; it must be so. Rest then in peace, but spare us some elation. Death cannot put down every conversation. Over and out, as you once used to say? Not on your life. You're on this line to stay. Vikram Seth,prepared an acrostic poem for his address at Gordon's 2005 memorial service.

In dreams (featured in 'the breaking of the fellow LOTR)

When the cold of Winter comes Starless night will cover day In the veiling of the sun We will walk in bitter rain But in dreams (But in dreams) I can hear your name And in dreams (And in dreams) We will meet again When the seas and mountains fall And we come to end of days In the dark I hear a call Calling me there I will go there And back again

Fixing a broken heart

There was nothing to say The day you left I just filled a suitcase Full of regrets And threw the key Of hope Splash (Based on The Painter of Signs, by R K Narayan) Fixing a broken heart, adapted from a song of the same name, describes Raman's feelings at the end of the book where Daisy reveals that she feels her calling to be more important than the marriage the two had agreed on. The key, given to him by Daisy (who tells him to pass it to someone) was thrown into a dry fountain. The 'splash' as mentioned in the poem was a metaphorical term. The key thrown away would indicate how Raman has given up hope of Daisy's return.

Sonnets from the Portuguese XIV

If thou must love me, let it be for nought Except for love's sake only. Do not say 'I love her for her smile--her look--her way Of speaking gently,--for a trick of thought That falls in well with mine, and certes brought A sense of pleasant ease on such a day'-- For these things in themselves, Beloved, may Be changed, or change for thee,--and love, so wrought, May be unwrought so. Neither love me for Thine own dear pity's wiping my cheeks dry,-- A creature might forget to weep, who bore Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby ! But love me for love's sake, that evermore Thou mayst love on, through love's eternity. -- Elizabeth Barrett Browning

The Cup

This is your cup -- the cup assigned to you from the beginning. Nay, My child, I know how much of that dark drink is your own brew Of fault and passion, ages long ago, In the deep years of yesterday, I know. This is your road -- a painful road and drear. I made the stones that never give you rest. I set your friend in plesant ways and clear, And he shall come like you, unto My breast. But you, My child, must travel here. This is your task. It has no joy nor grace, But it is not meant for any other hand, And in My universe hath measured place, Take it. I do not bid you understand. I bid you close your eyes to see My face. - Swami Vivekananda

La Belle Dame Sans Merci

Ballad I. O WHAT can ail thee, knight-at-arms, Alone and palely loitering? The sedge has wither’d from the lake, And no birds sing. II. O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms! 5 So haggard and so woe-begone? The squirrel’s granary is full, And the harvest’s done. III. I see a lily on thy brow With anguish moist and fever dew, 10 And on thy cheeks a fading rose Fast withereth too. IV. I met a lady in the meads, Full beautiful—a faery’s child, Her hair was long, her foot was light, 15 And her eyes were wild. V. I made a garland for her head, And bracelets too, and fragrant zone; She look’d at me as she did love, And made sweet moan. 20 VI. I set her on my pacing steed, And nothing else saw all day long, For sidelong would she bend, and sing A faery’s song. VII. She found me roots of relish sweet, 25 And honey wild, and manna dew, And sure in language strange she said— “I love thee true.