Awake

 I woke up already to the peace within my heart,

Waiting eagerly for the flower buds

To open and let me drink their nectar

So my simple mind can take on

The task of letting the love in my heart

Flow freely to all in the world

So my simple soul

Can open up to the divine

And let my words flow as music

To provide a bit of inspiration

    Fully aware that giving some explanation of a poem, can take away some magic of it, I still think the main aim of poetry is to share the innermost things that live in the heart of the writer and if the meaning is lost in the metaphors, lots of value is gone.

   I believe quite strongly that we receive every day the wonderful gifts of peace, beauty, a huge dose of love placed in our hearts to freely share with all, and of creativity. In the small poem above, I was in a state of appreciating the peace but still searching inside and outside for the other three amazing gifts of beauty, love and creativity :)

A big enough flame

     A boy was passing a group of peasants who were trying to light a fire. They gathered dry wood and as soon it was alight, they put on some larger wet logs and the fire went out. This happened again and again. The boy was saying: you have to wait until the fire of the dry wood is big enough before putting on the wet logs. The peasants gathered enough dry wood and make a fire with huge flames before putting the wet logs and the fire was burning for a long time. 

    I think something similar is happening to all the kindness in the world. We kindle it with dry wood and all to soon we try to convince the wet logs, the people consumed by greed and selfishness, to follow us. The greedy ones mock us and the fire goes out. I think we need a critical number of people to truly believe and practice daily random acts of kindness and inspire as many as possible among us who are not drenched in greed and selfishness, let us kindle a huge fire with the "dry wood" and have a blaze of kindness that will not go out no matter how many wet logs drenched in greed and selfishness try to douse it. 

    I think the above is quite true. Our own fire has to be big enough before we can have an effect on others. Big souls like Ghandi were living a truth like this: be the change you want to see in the world. I love to think that one day soon the world will experience a true kindness and wisdom revolution. Let us all be part of the critical number of "dry wood", so we have a flame of kindness burning hard enough to warm up all those drenched in greed.

The above metaphor was inspired by a passage in a short story by Leo Tolstoy ("the godson")

The story of the bamboo

    The Chinese bamboo tree grows very slowly for 3 to 5 years, after which it suddenly can grow a few feet within weeks. During the period of slow growth it builds an underground network of roots and builds up the energy that will be necessary for the rapid growth phase. 

    Ferns grow quite fast very soon after planted but never reach the height of an adult bamboo tree. 

The Chinese parable of the bamboo tree compares humans to ferns and bamboos. Some of us are made to grow fast but do not reach the final heights of those among us who need to build a strong foundation before we can start to grow fast. It is a story of patience and perseverance. If we do not see the growth in our life even though we work hard and live a good life, this may the period we require to grow strong roots to sustain us when we experience rapid growth. 

Sometimes we need to learn so many lessons, especially the lesson of humility before we can grow as the bamboo tree, very fast. Without humility we tend to be so reckless that after a period of rapid growth, we will fall as fast as we were growing. Only if we have a strong foundation of values we will stay at a good height. I do not consider the billionaires or presidents of large nations who cannot even manage their own core family as high growers. They may be in the news, but they are often so far from peace of mind and true happiness that it is hard to call them truly successful. Becoming very wealthy without peace of mind or true happiness is a far cry from true success

The most unopened gift

This morning I received

An amazing gift

 

It was wrapped in softness

In transparent rays of light

I opened the gift with my heart

And enjoyed the peace inside

 

The gift of peace

Silence, comfort, grace, and ease

 

I resisted the habit of reaching for my phone

Of reading news about the wars and fights

 

I just enjoyed the gift of wonderful peace

With a grateful heart and soul

 

Thanks, dear Creator, dear universe

Every morning this gift seems to be delivered

 

But how often I failed to notice it

Or saw it and left it unwrapped

 

Or stepped on it and destroyed it

With negative thoughts

 

With focus on imperfection

With petty stresses and useless worries

 

With reading the crazy messages

About falling stocks and greed

 

I pray, my God, that much more often, 

No, every morn, I see and open

this wonderful present,

PEACE.