Like the comfortless plover of the beach
In the sand printing characters soon to be washed away.
Unable to leave a more enduring trace in this fleeting world.
~The Sarashina Diary, AD 1009-1059 (Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan)
The enduring qualities of art…speaking through time’s boundaries…resonating with the soul’s deep and private moments.
dandelion wind
another wish
drifts away
~Garry Gay
Continual…frequently recurring…a service disrupted by continual breakdowns.
Within the shadows of today’s political discord and emotional-driven social media postings, there is a continual theme I have encountered in the past several weeks…a grass-root movement providing a basic need…food. No, not $1,000,000-3,000,000 weekend golfing trips or $50,000 jackets…food, simple, over-the-counter food.
The first time was the poster in my doctor’s office which informed patients, “we have food if you need.” The second was an alteration to the random small wooden book exchanges that invite neighbors to share books; that is, the Lutheran Trinity Church offers…a mini food pantry.
Jump on over to Lost in Translation to participate.
just today
I wish I had neighbors…
my new summer robe
~Issa (www.haikuguy.com)
dandelion and prayer flags…entwined
Friend: The Roget’s International Thesaurus listed friend as:
acquaintance, confidant, inseparable, alter ego, sisterhood, fellowman, well-wisher, supporter, companion, associate, compeer, consort, colleague, partner, crony, chum, buddy, roommate, schoolmate, playmate, …
I identify friend as one with whom, for a too-short period of time, we walked side-by-side, sharing our unique and separate lives and gifting us with memories to cherish during the times of separation.
I remember the days
When dandelions
Entrusted with wishes
Danced above summer fields
Tree
Within a tree
another tree that is not yet,
and now the upper branches shift in the wind.
Within the blue sky
another blue sky that is not yet,
and now the horizon is rent by a bird in flight.
Within a body
another body that is not yet,
and now the shrine gathers blood.
Within a road
another road that is not yet,
and now that space is shaken by my destination.
–Kora Rumiko
“Life can certainly have meaning without books, but books cannot have meaning without life. Most of us probably share a belief that life is greatly enriched by them: life goes into books and books go back into life. But the relationship is not equal or symmetrical. Nonetheless what is in them not only adds to life, but genuinely goes back into life and transforms it, so that life as we live it in a world full of books is created partly by books themselves.”
~I McGilchrist, The Master and his Emissary
“…the power of attraction exerted by totalitarian thinking, whether of the left or of the right, does not belong to the past…
When a writer strives to present reality most faithfully he becomes convinced that the untruth is at times the greatest truth. The world is so rich and so complex that the more one tries not to omit any part of the truth, the more one uncovers wonders that elude the pen.
…
Eyes that have seen should not be shut; hands that have touched should not forget when they take up the pen.”
~Czeslaw, Milosz: The Captive Mind
Spring departs –
the clear moon oblivious
of passing time
~Soseki (S Carter, Haiku before Haiku)
this image of a dandelion is submitted in response to Lost in Translation’s photo challenge.
“…you cannot know how many people your words, actions and thoughts have touched.
When I make a pot of oolong tea, I put tea leaves into the pot and pour boiling water on them. Five minutes later there is tea to drink. When I drink it, oolong tea is going into me. If I put in more hot water, making a second pot of tea, the tea from those leaves continues to go into me. After I poured out all the tea, what will be left in the pot is just the spent tea leaves. The leaves that remain are only a very small part of the tea. The tea that goes into me is a much bigger part of the tea. It is the richest part.
We are the same; our essence has gone into our children, our friends and the entire universe. We have to find ourselves in those directions and not in the spent tea leaves. I invite you to see yourself reborn in forms that you say are not yourself. You have to see your body in what is not your body. This is called your body outside of your body.”
~Thich Nhat Hanh (No Death, No Fear, pp. 119-120)
Going deep,
I enter the pathway
of the god –
where transcendent, above all
in the wind of the pines.
~Saigyo (S Carter, Haiku before Haiku)
a meditative journey 
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