Morning and evening
I gazed at
incense smoke –
drifting,
remembering…
poetry
life’s passages … 8
simply for all this
as if there was nothing else
early spring sunlight*
*unknown
life’s passages … 7
Though we are parted,
I feel the sounds
of pine trees swaying
with the summer breeze …
on Casper Mountain Peak
life’s passages … 5
Does that bird
think of past times
as it flies, singing
over the shade in the spring…
of weeping willows? ~unknown
life’s passages … 4
See and realize
that this world
is not permanent.
Neither late nor early flowers
will remain.
~Ryokan*
*cited:
Sky Above, Great Wind
Trans: K Tanahashi
life’s passages … 3
Spring has its hundred colors,
Autumn its moon,
Summer has its cooling breezes,
Winter its snow.
If you allow no idle concerns
to weight on your heart,
Your whole life will be one
Perennial good season.*
*cited: The Golden Age of Zen, p. 286
life’s passages … 2
Through the years
I’ve become used to sorrow,
There was not one spring
I didn’t leave behind
the flowers.
~Izumi Shikibu*
*cited:
The Ink Dark Moon
Trans: J Hirshfield & M Aratani
life’s passages … 1
Morning haze
jewels of rain, falling
in a dream
tuesday morning with yosano akiko
Purple butterflies
Fly at night through my dreams.
Butterflies, tell me,
have you seen in my village
the falling flowers of the wisteria? ~Yosano Akiko*
*cited: K Rexroth and Ikuko Atsumi
wednesday morning with Wang Wei
Empty mountain, no man is seen.
Only heard are echoes of men’s talk.
Reflected light enters the deep wood
And shines again on blue-green moss. ~Wang Wei*
*cited: Rafal Stepien, Jestor Daily Vol.16, No.2 (2014)
words of wisdom
“We are solitary.” *
*cited: Trans: Stephen Mitchell. Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet
Image and citation submitted in response to Paula’s Lost in Translation WOW challenge.
feeding america
Oatmeal, walnuts, sugar
Mother Earth, sunshine, and rain
in my breakfast bowl
Did you know 1 in 6 military and Veteran families experience food insecurity? Many of these families are forced to choose between paying their bills or putting food on the table.
During a research project for a sociology class while an undergraduate at San Diego City College in 1982, I was stunned to learn that many enlisted Navy Families relied on Food Stamps to feed their families. I found myself questioning then and again now the justification for service personnel whose lives are on the line for all of us to be experiencing food insecurity.
I recently learned that Navy Federal Credit Union is partnering with Feeding America to get more meals to those in need in the military community. With a little help from augmented reality (AR), you can join them in their mission to help combat hunger for Veteran and military families
a meditative journey 
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