today’s heavenly gift
again is small…
billowing cloud ~Issa (cited: haikuguy.com)
micro images (AF-S micro nikkor 40mm) submitted in response to slow shutter speed’s lens-artists photo challenge.
be safe…be well…be sage.
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,
“it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,
“it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity,
“it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the winter of despair,
“we had everything before us, we had nothing before us,
“we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way
“– in short, the period was so far like the present period,
“that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received,
“for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.” ~Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities.
Quote from Charles Dickens’, A Tale of Two Cities, and images submitted in response to Travels and Trifles first photo challenge for 2021.
Silence
in a field with oak trees.
The winter moon.
~Buson, (cited: Y Sawa & E Shiffert, Haiku Master Buson)
if my father were here–
dawn colors
over green fields ~Issa (cited: haiku.guy)
Glazed silk, newly cut, smooth, glittering, white, As white, as clear, even as frost and snow. Perfectly fashioned into a fan, Round, round, like the brilliant moon, Treasured in my Lord's sleeve, taken out, put in— Wave it, shake it, and a little wind flies from it. How often I fear the Autumn Season's coming And the fierce, cold wind which scatters the blazing heat. Discarded, passed by, laid in a box alone; Such a little time, and the thing of love cast off. ~Pan Chieh-Yü*
*cited: Trans: Florence Ayscough & Any Lowell The Project Gutenberg EBook of Fir-Flower Tablets
We live
in a tide-swept inlet,
floating, flung.
In such a world, why cling to
collections of poems?
~Izumi Shikibu, (J Hirshfield & M Aratani, The Ink Dark Moon)
previously posted on November, 2017
The smoke from the Cameron Peak fire submitted for the Six Word Saturday photo challenge
The images above were created through the use of multiple exposure, both within camera and through digital editing. This Double Exposure project was inspired by the belief that images give voice to the emotional pain of COVID across the globe. While this virus does not discriminate, the number of people who are most impacted during this time are those who live within impoverished communities—dense housing projects, reliance on public transportation, low income, limited access to medical care and sick leave, employment instability, and rates of non-communicable diseases and illness.
The phoenix that may arise from the flames of inconsolable grief is an awareness of the inequality aggregation of these social and economic disparities exacerbates the adverse effects of all humanity.
COVID-19 is not a pandemic. It is a syndemic.
The grass does not refuse To flourish in the spring wind; The leaves are not angry At falling through the autumn sky. Who with whip or spur Can urge the feet of Time? The things of the world flourish and decay, Each at its own hour. ~LiPo
Trans: Arthur Waley, The Poet Li Po II. 26. The Sun Gutenberg.org
“The old man was thin and gaunt with deep wrinkles in the back of his neck. The brown blotches of the benevolent skin cancer the sun brings from its reflections on the tropic sea were on his cheeks. The blotches ran well down the sides of his face and his hands had the deep crease scars from handling heavy fish on the cords. But none of these scars were fresh. They were as old as erosions in a fishless desert.” ~Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea
I’ve been stuck in a family’s surgical waiting room since November 3, 2020. Today as I wait for the results of the Electoral College I fear that a widespread uncritical acceptance of questionable concepts is tearing our county apart.
I’ve also come to fear that the foundation of our democracy was built from a “gentlemen’s agreement” and not upon laws as this anxiety-filled waiting now extends to January 6th when the the vice president, as assigned by the Constitution, tallies the Electoral College results and declares a winner.
Putting aside uncritical acceptance, laws, and gentleman’s agreements would there be a coming together of beliefs so that we may begin to heal in unity if our leaders practiced the qualities listed below?
▪ Charity — Willingness to sacrifice one’s interest for the good of the people.
▪ Morality — Maintaining a high moral order in one’s personal conduct.
▪ Altruism — Generosity toward people, avoiding selfishness.
▪ Honesty — Fulfilling one’s duties with loyalty and integrity.
▪ Gentleness — Being kind and gentle, never arrogant.
▪ Self-control — Performing one’s duties with dispassion.
▪ Non-anger — Remaining calm in the midst of confusion.
▪ Nonviolence — Being nonviolent, not persecuting the people
▪ Forbearance — Practicing patience in one’s duties.
▪ Uprightness — Respecting public opinion, promoting harmony.
Just saying as I wait, wait, and wait ….
You must be logged in to post a comment.