BEATING HEART

BEATING HEART
"Many a beating heart is silenced by the tyranny of indifference." ~Michael Faudet

THE PUREST PLACE

THE PUREST PLACE
"Retrace your steps and go back to the purest place in your heart… where your hope lives. You’ll find your way again.” ~Everwood (Trust Your Journey)

The Bible says

"a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of things which he possesseth."

17 December 2020

HOW I SURVIVED THE STORM

By Mandy Kocsis 

I’ve lived my life in Wonderland
It’s a place that’s like no else
Full of darkened fairy tales 
Where one must save one’s self
Each journey to survival
Is different from the rest
To each one there’s a lesson 
And you’ll have to pass a test
There’s rabbit holes and rainbows 
There’s madness with a blade
A royal heart to kill you
And a place where dreams are made
I’ve lived my life in  Wonderland 
It’s where my soul was born
And here I’ll write my story
Of how I survived the storm.

@2020 “Soul Survivor “ /FB


TO THE BEREAVED

By Patience Strong 

Trouble not your weary eyes
with gazing after vanished dreams.
Follow not into the past
echo of forgotten themes.
Burden not the memory
with too much dark and heavy grief.
God is good and offers you
the balm that gives the heart relief.

The dead have passed into His care,
What more could we desire to know?
They have travelled on ahead
unto the place where all must go…
Links with heaven we possess
through those dear souls beyond our sight.
Through their passing we, too, move
a little nearer to the Light.

GREAT THINGS ARE YET TO HAPPEN

By Doe Zantamata 

I look back with forgiveness,
both for myself and others.

I look to the present
with appreciation,
For those who are in my life
as well as those who are not.

I look to the future 
with faith and optimism
that things which never made sense
someday will.
And that great things
are yet to happen.

Source: POEMS/FB

16 December 2020

MY FIRST LOVE

By John Miles 

Music was my first love
and it will be my last.
Music of the future
and music of the past.

To live without my music 
would be impossible to do.
In this world of troubles,
my music pulls me through.

Source: Ups, Downs and Roundabouts/FB


15 December 2020

RETURNING ONCE MORE

I love you like a river which understands that 
It must learn to flow differently over waterfalls 
And to rest in the shallows.

I love you because we are all born
At the same source, with the same joys
And fears.

But when we feel weak, 
All we have to do is wait a little.
The Spring returns,
The Winter snows melt
And fill us with new energy.

Thank you, Spring,
For returning once more.

~Paulo Coelho~





26 October 2020

WE ARE WARRIORS FOR THE GREATER GOOD

We use not guns, we use a hoe
We drop not bombs, but seeds we sow
We don't kill, we make things grow 
We don't pretend, we are what we show

We wage not war with our fellow mankind 
But with their affliction in body, heart and mind 
Poverty, ignorance, apathy and despair 
To destroy these things we will dare

Our heart is for the people and the earth 
We see them for what they're really worth 
Setting all the energies we have in motion 
Towards single-minded devotion 

We are a few persons in this existence
But as focused rays of light are intense 
And can burn a really big hole 
Such is the greatness of the human soul 

We are warriors for the greater good 
Yearning for a loving brotherhood 
Across the world with hearts unfurled 
We can make this real in our world 

We call upon all the people alive :
Do you just want to survive or to thrive? 
With your life you can make a difference 
One that will last ages and ages hence 

What you choose and what you say
They really matter alot 
Show us your answer to this today :
Do you want to change the world or not? 

We ask you this , our friend 
What will be your life's end? 
What will you make of your biography? 
What will you have given to humanity? 

We challenge you while you still have time 
In this short life of ours and thine 
For your own generation and the children
Make a difference... you'll thank me then

Get involved. Take a chance . Make change. 

BY FELIX AKICHO
Source: FB
September 6, 2020


JOURNEY THROUGH THE SPRING

Photo Credit to Karen Smeed-Verschoor
Snowfall in Bathurst NSW
June 10, 2021

By Leah C. Dancel

Days hasten towards dusk;
Cloudy skies chasing daylight.
Soon twilights settle in revealing,
What veils the mystic darkness that deem.

Snow clouds feather the air;
Wafting freezing blows of wind;
Ready to imperil the cautious days;
Icy drops pelting without mercy.

Like a lazy kite, it's movement seems
Confetti of snowflakes flying slow;
Like cotton balls from the pillows;
They dance amidst the unrelenting gales.

The blanket of dense whiteness
Fills the ground neatly trimmed;
Capping mountains, covering the hills
Spectacles of beauty; fresh and crisps.

Days are short, nights are long;
Shiver sends thrills to the bones;
Patient notes of enduring anticipation;
The journey ends as coldness reels away.

Author's Note:

I wrote this poem years ago reminiscing our Winter in Orange NSW. I took a mental note of everything that happened during snowday that occurred at daytime. We happened to live in a house on top of an elevated ground (that could be a hill way back) and I was fascinated watching from our loungeroom window  the snowflakes gracefully gliding on the air as if they were dainty Ballerinas. I was full of curiosity as it was my first time to experience winter, let alone seeing the snow until they settle down on the ground, in my whole life. ❄️❄️❄️.

Submitted August 31, 2020 to THE DIARY FILES-DX Lab STATE LIBRARY of NSW

PS.

Written in August 2006 and finished it off in September 25, 2006 when my poetic muse resumed to work after a temporary hibernation. I have had originally titled it Journey Through The Winter. 

12 September 2020

TILL THE STORM PASSES BY


Till the storm passes over
Till the thunder sounds no more
Till the clouds roll forever from the sky'
Hold me fast, let me stand
In the hollow of Thy hand
Keep me safe till
The storm passes by.

Source: The Journey of Faith

Photo Credit to Elizabeth Martin via Bohemia Rain

9 September 2020

MAKE YOUR MOVE

"As you're reading this,
your life's getting shorter.
Its ticking away.

I'm not saying this to frighten you.
Or even scare you. Though it may.
I'm saying this to awaken you.

To inspire you.
To rise you out of your deep slumber.
To really know you wont live forever.
To share your unique gifts.
To ignite your great inner fire.
To ignite your great inner strength.
To ignite your great inner light.
To shine. Brightly shine.
To awaken your great inner beauty.
To motivate. Yourself and others.
To love. Yourself and others.
To paint. To write. To teach.
To innovate. To sing. To dance.
To care. To feel. To listen.
To learn. To laugh.
The clocks ticking.
The world needs you.
Make your move."

~Mike Litman

22 August 2020

FAREWELL MY DEAR SISTER RUTH


In memoriam of my younger Sister Ruth
(Interred on this date as written)


Today I am going to release this butterfly
Up into the air, to the highest sky;
I am going to let go all unkind remembrance of you:
The spites, the hurts, the agonies of the scars;
Once you had inflicted in me without closure.
I long have chosen to forgive and forget.
What will stay are memories of you
When life hit you hard on the road
and I couldn't close my eyes over you.
It was hurting us all when you left us
Without leaving a trace or a clue
Of where you were, no words to know
where to find you, as we lost you.
The only occasion you showed up
unannounced, unexpectedly were the times 
when we sent our folks to their resting place.
I had done my part - now you're ready to depart
Forever from our sight, from our life.
I bid you farewell today, as you return home
To the Eternal who gave you the breathe of life.
HE has taken it back so you'll go and rest in peace.
In us who are left behind, we will have our turn;
It maybe soon, it maybe later, we don't know.
I just hope we will all be ready to meet you
Somewhere beyond the blue and be together
Once more in peace, and in harmony.
Where the Land you are going is Bright and Fair,
It's just OVER YONDER!

Leah C. Dancel
Copyright@2019
August 23, 2019
Friday
Australia

HOW CURIOUS IS THE HEART

By Shadowjo

*

*

How Curious Is The Heart?

*

It has the strength to give life

*

It has the power to take it away

*

It can make your world shine 

*

It can make it all so dark

*

It can make you feel the magic

*

It can make you feel the miseries

*

It can place you on top of the world

*

It can drag you down to the abyss 

*

It can make you believe the impossible

*

It can blind you to the truth

*

It can hurt from so much pain

*

It can hurt from so much love

*

Oh this curious heart of mine.

Source: Shadowlands
December 07, 2010

THE GOLDEN YEARS

By Shadowjo

The sun is setting

My youth has vanished

My dreams have passed.

I pass on to you
My lessons learned

My wisdom earned.

Do not see me failed
My dear young child,
My heart is still wild.

Learn from the lessons

My bitter fights taught,

My body blows caught.

Go forth and be better

My disappointments be

My pride, in you I see.

Live long live better
My story, your teacher

My soul, your preacher.

Source: Shadowlands
November 21, 2014

17 August 2020

TWILIGHT SKYLIGHT

By Shadowjo

*

Before the daylight

Is subjugated by darkness

There ensures in the sky

A mighty celestial battle.

The forces of light 

Are locked in a pitched struggle

Against the coming dark.


*

Where they meet,

The sky is drenched

In blood red 

And bruised purple. 

But with each victory

Comes a not too distant defeat.


*

The very next day

This recurring theme

Is witnessed again 

And the battle recedes

Into an sempiternal fight

That inspire lovers and poets alike.


*
Source: Shadowlands

January 30, 2015

11 August 2020

THE STORY OF TREES

by Rado Gatchalian

inhale exhale breathe the air

that is commensurate

to life, eternal.

follow the wave of its arms
~
see the rays of contemplative gesture ~

touch the earth and feel its roots

where tomorrow’s may

you and the trees are one.

inhale exhale breathe the air

that is more profound

than any truths.

today’s rain and tomorrow’s sunshine:

lift yours hands like praying leaves —

and never doubt

that such glory

is always found in your roots.

believe

and you shall grow...

THE TURMOIL WITHIN

By Shadowjo

*
A strong outward facade

Does not always sustain

A strong inner self.


*

A deep turmoil within

Often over-compensates

With false strength without.


*

Only a healthy inner core 

Can sustain indefinitely 

A flourishing body and mind.


*
Source: Shadowlands 

August 02, 2020

8 August 2020

THE PATTERN OF LIFE

We met and married a long time ago.
We worked long hours when wages were low.
No telly, no bath, for times were hard.
Just a cold water tap and a walk in the yard.

No holidays abroad, no carpets on floors,
We'd coal on the fire, and didn't lock doors.
Our children arrived (No Pill in those days).
We brought them up without any state aid.

They were safe going out to play in the park.
And old folk could go for a walk in the dark.
No Valium, drugs and no LSD.
We cured most of our ill with a good cup of tea.

No vandals, no muggings (not much to rob).
We felt we were rich with a couple of bob.
People seemed happier in those far off days.
Kinder and caring in so many ways.

Milkmen and paperboys would whistle and sing.
A night at the pictures was quite a mad fling.
We got our share of troubles and strife.
But we had to face it - the Pattern of Life.

Author Anon

From a paper cutting of anon source under a title heading:
"A poem about life as it was"

1 August 2020

INSPIRATION

Within the ancient city walls
Our great cathedral rise,
Towering over time and change
To point us to the skies.

~David Hope~

Source: The Friendship Book of Francis Gay

THE ESTRANGEMENT OF MY DERANGEMENT

*
My soul almost died in those days of shame,
It came close to death on so many occasions
Its survival is a miracle to me
One I never quite comprehended.
*
I was always the stranger in a strange land
The new boy that never stayed long enough
To be humiliated into submission,
Or assimilated into admission.
*
I refused to bend under the weight,
Or to snap under the strain.
But the price for my personal state of isolation
Was the capitulation of my soul.
*
The battles were many and the victories few
Towns, cities, states, and counties,
Like a carousel of hate and humiliation
Came and went and tore at the heart of my soul.
*
As the years passed and the body hardened
My one determined goal never strayed off course.
The body may bleed, the heart may cry,
But my soul will never be lost.
*
I swore allegiance to that battered soul
Took an oath and professed forever on
Whatever this world had in store,
I would not change to save myself from hurt
*
So here I am, battered and bruised.
Among my raddled but still noble anamnesis
With elysian pride and a peaceful heart
I watch at last, the renaissance of my soul.

By Shadowjo
Source: Shadowlands
30 June 2014

26 July 2020

A PHOENIX FROM THE ASH

They crushed your spark,
Put off your fire,
Laughed at you,
When you lay there as ash.

Little did they know,
The more they burn you
The more you'll rise
Like a Phoenix from the ash.

~The Luna|


22 July 2020

THE HONEY BAR HOTEL

By Shadowjo


*

The air hangs sluggishly in the room

The lights are dim and flickering

Spiders have long ago abandoned 

The stench and the bickering.


*

There once was much love here

Many-a-heart danced and fluttered

Where oaths and promises

Were frequently uttered.


*

But now the color has turned beige

It has lost the magic of its spell

All that lingers are the shadows

At the Honey Bar Hotel.


*

Source: Shadowlands

June 30, 2014

THE SERMON OF THE TREES

by Rado Gatchalian

i see the veins of man flowing

in every branch of a tree,

rushing through from earth

to the sweetest eloquence of air.


beneath the inhale, exhale, of life —

all roots speak of an immutable decree

that every matter shares the same ingredients,

as a leaf enthroned in the sky

so as the genius of a child.


whether you deny its existence

or glorify its infinite power —

a tree looks at you, and you look at the tree:

and a beauty is born in eternity.

21 July 2020

ALL GOOD WILL COME BACK TO YOU

Sometimes, you are unsatisfied with your life,
While many people are dreaming of living your life.

A child on a farm sees a plane fly overhead
And dreams of flying
But a pilot on the plane sees the farmhouse
And dreams of returning home.

That's life!
Enjoy yours!

If wealth is the secret to happiness,
Then the rich should be dancing on the streets.
But only poor kids do that.

If power ensures security,
Then officials should walk unguarded.
But those who live simply, sleep soundly.

If beauty and fame bring ideal relationships,
Then celebrities should have the best marriages.

Live simply, walk humbly, and love genuinely …
All good will come back to you.

~Anon~



16 July 2020

THE PEACE OF WILD THINGS

By Wendell Berry

When despair for the world
grows in me
and I wake in the night
at the least sound
in fear of what my life and
my children’s lives may be.
I go and lie down
where the wood drake
rests in his beauty
on the water,
and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace
of wild things
who do not tax their lives
with forethought
of grief. I come into the
presence of still water.
And I feel above me the
day-blind stars
waiting with their light.
For a time
I rest in the grace of the world,
and am free.

11 July 2020

A MESSAGE FROM HEAVEN

By Robert Clancy

Just because you can't see me,
doesn't mean that I'm not there.
I'm the gentle breeze that kisses your face;
I'm the warmth of the passing air.
I've become every note
of beautiful music you've ever heard,
I'm the songs of love in your heart.
I know how much you miss me
And how hard you've tried to restart.
I'm always right there beside you,
I've become what we're all meant to be.
I'm the essence of every precious flower;
I'm the blossoms on every tree.
If you look to the heavens you might see me;
I just might be that bird passing above,
but the best place to see me
is the place we all call love.


🕊 🕊 🕊 🕊 🕊 🕊 🕊 🕊 🕊 🕊




10 July 2020

A LIFE OF JOURNEYS

*

I have flirted with damnation

I have danced with the damned 

I have cried with the angels

I have laughed with the lost

I have endured with the sufferers

I have fought with the peaceful

I have lost to the rich

I have shared with the poor

I have dreamed of freedom

I have hurt with loved ones

I have learned from the ignorant 

I have taught the uneducated

I have drunk with the thirsty 

I have fed on crumbs

I have loved the loveless 

I have been loved with magic

I have lived a life of journeys

And now I have finally reached

My far horizon.


*

Words © by Shadowjo
April 16 2015

Source: Shadowlands

7 July 2020

WHILE THERE IS HOPE THERE IS LIFE

By Wilfred A. Peterson
The well-known maxim, "While there is life there is hope," has a deeper meaning in reverse:
"While there is hope there is life."
Hope comes first, life follows.
Hope gives power to life.
Hope rouses life to continue, to expand,
to grow, to reach out, to go on.
Hope sees a light where there isn't any.
Hope lights candles in millions of despairing hearts.
Hope is the miracle medicine of the mind.
It inspires the will to live.
Hope is the physician's strongest ally.
Hope is our shield and buckler against defeat.
"Hope," wrote Alexander Pope, "springs eternal in the human breast."
And as long as it does we will triumph and move forward.
Hope never sounds retreat.
Hope keeps the banners flying.
Hope revives ideals, renews dreams, revitalizes visions.
Hope scales the peak, wrestles with the impossible,
achieves the highest aim.
"The word which God has written on the brow of every person," wrote Victor Hugo, "is Hope."
As long as we have hope no situation is hopeless.

"KEEP LOOKING UP..."

Source: "In the Garden of Faith, Hope and Love"

6 July 2020

HIS JOURNEY'S JUST BEGUN

By Ellen Brenneman

Don't think of him as gone away -
His jorney's just begun,
Life holds so many facets -
This earth is only one.

Just think of him as resting
From the sorrows and the tears
In a place of warmth and comfort
Where there are no days and years.

Think how he must be wishing
That we could know today
How nothing but our sadness
Can really pass away.

And think of him as living
In the hearts of those he touched …
For nothing loved is ever lost -
And he was loved so much.

NB -
A poem contained in a sympathy card sent to Carol Smith of Orange, NSW.
SADLY, Carol too had passed-away.
My sincere condolence to Karen

4 July 2020

THE BLINDFOLD

By Surf Reyes

In the brightest of days,
with the sun in our eyes,
we chose
to put on a blindfold,
covering our sight.
Then drowning in darkness,
where fear arose,
we wallow in wailing,
crying in prayer to the Sun
to give us light.

DID YOU EVER IMAGINE HOW HEAVEN WILL BE?

Did you ever imagine how heaven will be, 

what color the sky, the land or the sea?


I wonder if maybe the sky could be gold, 

with flowers too beautiful to behold.


I picture the trees with leaves colored pink,

near waters of crystal for people to drink,


and then in my mind I can see drops of dew,

all sparkling like diamonds, with bright crystal hue.


I am envisioning some soft snow or rain,

as warmly it melts on each window pane.


The birds will be every color and hue. 

They’ll land on your shoulder to cuddle with you!


The animals, able to smile and talk,

though some wild on earth, with you tamely will walk


I feel we might also be able to fly,

above trees and flowers, as we soar through the sky.


The homes and the mansions, breathtaking in sight, 

will thrill us and give us enormous delight!


Envision the gardens and water so clear, 

that of purest crystal to us will appear!


The food will be of such delectable taste, 

that not even a morsel, we will let go to waste.


Our family and friends will all be by our side, 

as in perfect love, we will gladly abide.


God in magnificence will smile and say,

“Welcome my child to eternal day!


Come let Me embrace you and show you the place,

in heaven you’ve earned for completing the race.


Now finally as you pass, through heaven’s door,

we’ll both be together, forevermore.


The things I have shown you just cannot compare, 

with all of the others that soon I will share.


Together in paradise we’ll stroll arm and arm,

eternally safe from life’s every alarm!”

Author: Anon(?)

Source: A Poem For Every Occasion
June 8, 2020

25 June 2020

TO A PRECIOUS DAUGHTER


HAPPY BIRTHDAY Noemi!!!

🎂🍸🌹🍾🌺🍨🥂🍰

A day of contrast today
Of what it was thirty-years ago.
It might not be as colourful as Fall
Nevertheless, it was a dreamy spectacle
That your crib days were rocked in Wonderland
Just as how I wished it to be.

My hope, my dream, my wish
Was granted by Mother Earth;
Whose soft nature you gladly inherited,
Sweet like watermelon that I craved.
From un-dimpled smile to a helpless cry,
You're a sweet baby of un-ending bliss.

Winter days do come and go
As life like wheels move to and fro;
Be they dreamy, be they weary;
They come year after year.
To us this season brings good cheers
With Little Zana, your special day is shared.

Joyful greetings and prayers blessed
From whom above that watched your birth;
We are as thankful that you are here
A precious daughter a universe behold:
Ever patient, ever strong, ever tender
A mother of two, her offsprings' dearly beloved.

Leah C. Dancel
Copyright @2020
All rights reserved
Australia
June 25, 2020

11 June 2020

SET SAIL TO PARADISE

By @Sandra Dartt

The sails capture the sultry winds
Gliding across the turquoise sea
This is where our adventure begins
Embracing the need to be free
As the crystalline heavens reflect
the oceans aqua blue
Its beauty is for us to inspect
in the skies deep tropical hue
We skim the waves in tranquilly
bound for Key Largo’s enchanted shore
With all of its unspoiled serenity
here you'll open imaginations door
Sandy white beaches are spied
touched by the blazing sun
We go romping through the tide
as children once had done
Time here does not exist
in this idyllic place
Laughter is unable to resist
placing a smile upon your face
The coral reefs are spellbinding
we see fish in a rainbow array
This underwater world is unwinding
in a dazzling delightful display
The sun is setting in the west
Painting the azure sky
Twilight’s the time I love best
As the day bids us good-bye
The full moon now awakens
while night’s mysteries unfold
Love is for the taking
as its wonders we behold.

4 June 2020

BE

Be the person who cares.
Be the person who makes an effort,
Who loves without hesitation.
Be the person who makes people feel seen.
There is nothing stronger than someone
Who continues to stay soft in a world
That hasn't always been kind to them.

~Anon~

30 May 2020

THE PRESENCE OF LIGHT

"We are not saints; we are not heroes.
Our lives are lived in the quiet corners of the ordinary.
We build tiny hearth fires,
sometimes barely strong enough to give off warmth.

But to the person lost in the darkness,
our tiny flame may be the road to safety,
the path to salvation.

It is not given to us to know
who is lost in the darkness that surrounds us
or even if our light is seen.
We can only know that
against even the smallest of lights,
darkness cannot stand.

A sailor lost at sea
can be guided home by a single candle.
A person lost in a wood
can be led to safety by a flickering flame.
It is not an issue of quality or intensity or purity.
It is simply an issue of the presence of light."

~Kent Nerburn

Source: "Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace."

28 May 2020

I AM FILIPINO

By Caloy Bueno

I am Filipino:

Descended from the noble and fiercely freedom-loving Maharlika race ~

From the forgotten ancient lands lost to the mists of time ~

Migrated to the place that formed a jade archipelago, the “Pearl of the Orient Seas”...


I am Filipino:

Molded independently through the crucible of past events down the ages ~

Becoming disparate tribes, according to where we settled in these islands ~

Our brown ancestry the only common bond across the inter-island seas...


I am Filipino:

Our common ancestry scattered over this archipelago runs through my blood ~

My brown skin the only living proof of our ancestral line, and our heritage ~

But intermingled now with the histories of other peoples that came to our jade isles...


I am Filipino:

A complex modern inhabitant of this our beloved Philippine Republic ~

While conflicted internally by many historical influences and debacles ~

We stand outwardly proud of our ancestral heritage, the Filipino identity of our brown unity…


I am Filipino:

Our quarrelsome character with each other grew from our separate development ~

But when we stand as one, we can dream as one, none can stand against us ~

We win as one, standing for one another as much as we rise together…


I am Filipino:

We are all related through our citizenry, our nationality joined in sovereignty ~

To forge our own destiny by the power that we wield with responsibility ~

Redefining ourselves constantly, by refining our aspirations ever closer to each other’s…


I am Filipino:

Realizing that we can only be as strong as we are able to mask our weakest point ~

We recognize that at long last, we now have real leadership strengthening our greatest weakness ~

Our incapacity to cooperate fully, by making the majesty of law finally work in our favor…


I am Filipino:

Each of us are born not with nobility of purpose but the ability to pursue a noble vision ~

Our keenest struggles as men are fought with our minds, hearts and souls ~

Because we believe fate isn’t decreed by predestination, but mainly determined by our character…


I am Filipino:

The hardest virtue we struggle to learn is earning the tranquility of patience ~

The serenity of calm acceptance and tolerance, and the dignity of quiet surrender ~

The surrender to life’s inscrutable wisdom and natural justice, measuring our individual worth and merit…


I am Filipino:

To the mute but clear challenge of our tomorrows, in the house of the future we cannot go ~

Only our children and their children, as the world constantly spins throughout time ~

Our future is our whole country, our individual destinies intertwined, reinforced by our still being…


FILIPINO!


~ 'pag may time 👊🇵🇭
May 27, 2020

WHERE DO YOU GO?

By Shadowlands

Where do you go?

When you lay down your head,

The eyes have drawn their curtains,

And your lights have been turned off.

You're all cocooned in linen 

And silence reigns supreme.

When the ghosts of memories past

Play hopscotch with your senses?

"Where do you go?

When reality has gone on vacation 

And your visions are a collection of moments,

Lost through time and space.
When fatigue is like a lead blanket,

The body attempts to heal it's wounds

And the mind tries to tranquilize

The events of the day?"

Where do you go?

When the lights shine on faint recollections

And private thoughts gently cascade

From an overflowing fountain

Of a vivid imagination.

Do you know the path you take.

Or is the destination just as whimsical

As the journey you create

Through your mind's deepest catacombs?

Where do you go indeed?

Source: FB, May 24 2016

25 May 2020

GRIEF AND SORROW

"If you're ever going to love me, love me now while I can know.
All the sweet and tender feelings which from real affection flow.
Love me now, while I'm living; do not wait 'til I am gone.
And then chisel it on marble - words on ice, cold stone.
If you have dear sweet thoughts about me.
Why not whisper them to me?
Don't you know it would make me happy and as glad as glad could be?
If you wait until I'm sleeping, never to awaken here again,
there will be walls of earth between us and couldn't hear you then.
I won't need your kind caresses when the grass grows over my face.
I won't crave your love or kisses in my last low resting place.
So then, if you love me any, if it's but a little bit.
Let me know while I am living, so I can own it treasure it."

~Anon

22 May 2020

DELIGHTING POETRY

How much I find delight in poetry
With verses not long; one liners are best.
Stanzas are trimmed and cut to simpleness
Devoid of pageantry and pompous words.

I love the ones with landscape thoughts;
A portrait only minds can draw or paint.
Instead of pictures, words are inscribed
Designed to amaze, awe and inspire.

I walk along the trail that poets leave
Their stories, like my own, are found on the road of life.
Some are epics of better and mis-spent days
They give lessons to ponder under this covid mess.

Somewhere in between the lines I'm caught
In a trance lost to a forest of all that I believe
Forgetting the time that passes by
I'm soaked, immersed in words of the poets' fare.

Leah C. Dancel
Copyright@2020
All rights reserved
May 10, 2020
Australia

17 May 2020

MOTHER

In dedication to my Late Mother and AUNTIE MARY, who recently passed away and by coincidence was buried on my mother's 39th Death Anniversary. May 16th 2020. Auntie is the wife of Uncle Alex who went ahead of time, but years later after my mother was gone. She's 91 years old when she was called to the Eternal Home. My mother died too young just as she had crossed over the bridge of her critical years.

~•✿•~ ~•✿•~

For those lucky to still be blessed with your Mom, this is beautiful.
For those of us who aren't, this is even more beautiful.
For those who are moms, you'll love this:

♥*✿*•♥

"The young mother set her foot on the path of life.
'Is this the long way?' she asked.

And the guide said:

'Yes, and the way is hard
And you will be old before you reach the end of it..
But the end will be better than the beginning.'

But the young mother was happy,
And she would not believe
That anything could be better than these years.

So she played with her children,
And gathered flowers for them along the way,
And bathed them in the clear streams;
And the sun shone on them,

And the young Mother cried,
'Nothing will ever be lovelier than this.'

Then the night came, and the storm, and the path was dark,
And the children shook with fear and cold,
And the mother drew them close and covered them with her mantle,

And the children said,
'Mother, we are not afraid, for you are near, and no harm can come.'

And the morning came, and there was a hill ahead,
And the children climbed and grew weary,
And the mother was weary.

But at all times she said to the children,
'A little patience and we are there.'

So the children climbed,
and when they reached the top they said,
'Mother, we would not have done it without you.'

And the mother, when she lay down at night
Looked up at the stars and said,

'This is a better day than the last,
For my children have learned fortitude
in the face of hardness.

Yesterday I gave them courage.
Today, I've given them strength.'

And the next day came strange clouds which darkened the earth,
Clouds of war and hate and evil,
And the children groped and stumbled,

And the mother said:
'Look up.
Lift your eyes to the light.'

And it guided them beyond the darkness.
And the days went on, and the weeks and the months and the years,
And the mother grew old and she was little and bent.

But her children were tall and strong, and walked with courage.
And when the way was rough, they lifted her,
For she was as light as a feather;
And at last they came to a hill,

And mother said,
'I have reached the end of my journey.
And now I know the end is better than the beginning,
For my children can walk alone, and their children after them.'

And the children said,
'You will always walk with us,

She went on alone,
and the gates closed after her.

And they said:
'We cannot see her but she is with us still. '

Author Anon

16 May 2020

FRIENDSHIP WITHOUT ENVY

Where in this wide world can man
find nobility without pride,

Friendship without envy,
Or beauty without vanity?

Here, where grace is served
with muscle..
And strength by gentleness
confined …

By Ronald Duncan


THE LAST TWIST OF KNIFE

‪The memory throws up high and dry‬
‪A crowd of twisted things;‬
‪A twisted branch upon the beach‬
‪Eaten smooth, and polished‬
‪As if the world gave up‬
‪The secret of its skeleton,‬
‪Stiff and white.‬
‪A broken spring in a factory yard,‬
‪Rust that clings to the form that the strength has left‬
‪Hard and curled and ready to snap.‬

‪Be ready for life‬
‪the last twist of the knife‬


By YESU BEN

A MEDITATION OF A TRAVELER (Part II)

by Rado Gatchalian

With all the searching and looking —
What shall I find?
Everything and nothing.
Alone in the dark yet accompanied by the light.
Of all the luminous things:
How shall I measure wisdom?

As I move from low to high
And from known to unknown —

Shall I remain like an empty cup?
Will I endure this test of life

And become a child forever?
Shall I embrace silence like a brother to me?
How shall I step toward that peaceful beauty

If what is spoken cannot be heard?

Like a star in a quiet night:

Soon, we shall all shine so bright.

Source: Poem and Photography

13 May 2020

SHE WHO LOVES THE BEACH

By Suzy Toronto

No words can express,
The depth of her contentment,
As she walks along the beach.

As the waves lap against the shores,
They create the rhythm of her life,
Balmy breezes kiss,

Her sun-bronzed skin,
And she wonders …
Could there ever be a greater destiny,

Than to be born with a love,
For the treasures of the sea?
Here, she is home.

Source: Journey to Peace




10 May 2020

A PSALM OF LIFE

By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
(1807-1882)

What the Heart of the Young Man Said to the Psalmist

Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
   "Life is but an empty dream!"
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
   And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!
   And the grave is not its goal;
"Dust thou art, to dust returnest,"
   Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
   Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
   Finds us farther than to-day.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
   And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
   Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world's broad field of battle,
   In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
   Be a hero in the strife!

Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant!
   Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act,--act in the living Present!
   Heart within, and God o'erhead!

Lives of great men all remind us
   We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
   Footprints on the sands of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another,
   Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
   Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing,
   With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing
   Learn to labor and to wait.

Source: Poets dot org

4 May 2020

TO FEEL ALIVE

From the Lessons Learned In Life

I want to go on a road trip someday.
Alone or with someone I love.
I want to get away.
Explore places.
Stop a lot just to admire the view.
Visit museums and try out coffee shops.
Listen to my favourite music while driving.
Have a camera.
Take pretty pictures of the sunrise.
Take pictures of myself.
Run through a forest.
Chase fog.
Chase the sun.
Spend hours on a field making flower crowns.
Feel the wind in my hair.
Buy souvenirs.
Meet people.
Take time to observe.
I want to make memories.
I want to feel alive.

I SEE YOU

"I see your strength and courage,
Your hesitations and fears.
I see the way you love others, and
Your struggle to love yourself.
I see how hard you work to grow,
And your dedication to heal.
I see your vulnerable humanity,
And your transcendent divinity.

I see you, and
I love what I see!"

~Anon

2 May 2020

THE KOALA

Poem by Francis Duggan


He's not been known to expend energy
Spends most of his life on high branch of gum tree
Scratching his ears and sitting on his bum
And feasting on the leaves of manna gum.

Whilst other creatures run and sport all day
He eat and sleep and doze his life away.
Small eyes, big ears and button type dark nose
All night and day he sleep and eat and doze.

By white man hunted to extinction brink
The Koala, Aboriginal for 'no drink'
The creeks all dry and no water about
But Koala not been known to die in drought.

And I've been told that their numbers on increase
That conservationist gave to them a new life lease
And it's thanks to those, to those who genuinely care
That Australian wood still has it's 'native bear'.

A cuddly looking creature like big cuddly toy
And i have always felt a sense of joy
The few times I've been lucky enough to see
A koala up on high branch of gum tree.

30 April 2020

THE AGE OF AWAKENING

By Rado Gatchalian

What is done cannot be undone
But every step we do now
Determines our tomorrow.
We are unprepared
Everything seems to float and flout—
Until we realise something is wrong.
If it is never too late
Or if it is not too much to ask:
STOP, LOOK, AND LISTEN
(Can we do our part?).
The future rests in our hands:
Let’s make it clean
Literally and metaphorically.
We are confronted with a self-examination —
Everyone seems to (mis)understand:
Man becomes a parasite to his own kind.
(But we are better than that).
Let numbers awaken our mind —
One death is too much to bear.
When our loved ones start wailing:
Will this let us stop and listen?
When everything is lost
And everything is taken for granted:
Time is telling us:
STOP. LOOK. AND LISTEN.
When we do:
We become wise.
Then, the world
Becomes a better place to thrive.

Source: The Philippine Community Herald Newspaper
April 30, 2020

THE AGE OF ANXIETY

By Rado Gatchalian

There’s a death waiting on a solitary bed,
Behold, the next day is afraid of every breath.
Will we contain our misery in this unusual night
Or sleep without consuming any dream?
We become crippled, jobless, and sick —
The only faith is to live and give and live.
We look at the sky, we see an empty feeling,
Yet at this age of darkness, stars give us peace.
How shall we wait when death is waiting as well?
We say a little prayer — and — we wait for answers.
The crown intoxicates everything, everywhere,
It weakens our body — and — everyone is silent.
Like a violet moon hiding from her own fear —
A child becomes old; the old, a helpless child.
One day when all of these are done and gone:
It will be a story for our daughters and sons.
When all our untold dreams become myth
(Time, time is our only safekeeping).
Be afraid but never surrender
Be at peace but continue to love others.
Soon: when this suffering ends
A new, refreshed, life begins.

Source: The Philippine Community Herald Newspaper
April 30, 2020

29 April 2020

WE ARE THE FLUTE

We are as the flute, and the music in us is from thee; 

we are as the mountain and the echo in us is from thee.


We are as pieces of chess engaged in victory and defeat: 

our victory and defeat is from thee, O thou whose qualities are comely!


Who are we, O Thou soul of our souls, 

that we should remain in being beside thee?


We and our existences are really non-existence;

thou art the absolute Being which manifests the perishable.


We all are lions, but lions on a banner: 

because of the wind they are rushing onward from moment to moment.


Their onward rush is visible, and the wind is unseen: 

may that which is unseen not fail from us!


Our wind whereby we are moved and our being are of thy gift; 

our whole existence is from thy bringing into being.

By Rumi
Translated by: A..J. Arberry

'Persian Poems', an Anthology of verse translations 
edited by A.J.Arberry, Everyman's Library, 1972

27 April 2020

FOR THE FALLEN

By Laurence Binyon

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal 
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres,
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: 
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again; 
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound, 
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust, 
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness, 
To the end, to the end, they remain.

WWI 1914

26 April 2020

AUSTRALIA

by David Whyte

The light has come to find you again, 

even on the far side of the waking world,

look inland and you catch the dark interior

core of what only looks like an empty 
centre,
look outward and you see the tidal run 

of ocean stretching forever from the shore 

on which you stand, above all and across both, 

newness and the unimaginably ancient, singing together, 

and then everywhere, light painted on light, in the sky,
on the ground and in the faces of those looking
not at you but through you, to the beckoning horizon, 

to the pale night of a southern sapphire sky,
or even beneath you, through the dust of the endless earth,

to the dream-time in the mind’s eye of what has happened
and what is about to happen, even in the crowded cities,
even on the endless coast, even in the beautiful interior
desolations that never grew a single tree, we feel it when we hear

the growing whisper of rain feeding the parched ground,

or in the inward growth that makes what has been hidden 

begin to show its face in the world, the unspoken sense, 

not of being free now, but the anticipation of being allowed
into something deeper, further, beyond our living in the everyday, 

into the beckoning endless land, into the blue-hilled horizon, 

into the oceans mounting roar, an unspoken and indescribable freedom
just about to happen, reaching for the fatal shore, we ride
the slow, curling, but never breaking wave of our longed for arrival.

...
'Australia' © David Whyte
2015 and 2016
Walking the Shore
 Byron Bay,
Australia, April 25th 2016


Source: FB

18 April 2020

INSPIRATION IS EVERYTHING


14 April 2020

EFFERVESCENT MEMORIES

Like little bubbles of frozen thoughts

They float about in a sea of time

Full and plump at their birth

Withered and frail into oblivion
These are the memories of our lives

Treasured and stored for reflection

But left neglected they vanish

Forgotten and lost with time.
Once into the dark void they reach

No power can restore them

So keep your memories effervescent 

And hold on to the true essence of you.

By Shadowlands
April 12. 2016

13 April 2020

THE WEATHER OF LOVE

Love
Has a way of wilting
Or blossoming
At the strangest,
Most unpredictable hour.
This is how love is,
An uncontrollable beast
In the form of a flower.
The sun does not always shine on it.
Nor does the rain always pour on it
Nor should it always get beaten by a storm.
Love does not always emit the sweetest scents,
And sometimes it can sting with its thorns.
Water it.
Give it plenty of sunlight.
Nurture it,
And the flower of love will
Outlive you.
Neglect it or keep dissecting it,
And its petals will quickly curl up and die.
This is how love is,
Perfection is a delusional vision.
So love the person who loves you
Unconditionally,
And abandon the one
Who only loves you
Under favorable
Conditions.

By Suzy Kassem,
(Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem)

A MEDITATION OF A TRAVELER

by Rado Gatchalian

In my heart I found the stone
That shall make me bold and strong;
In here I come to my senses

Of my own brief life and death.
If I can travel from here to there
I shall reside to the depths of my heart.

As glimpse of light uncovers my contempt
Here in my shadow I shall resurrect.

If I shall be a brother to a cause

Let me unfold my breast for me to rise,
Like an empty child looking for his father
Each day becomes an oath to remember.
When time as profound as infinite sky
Asks me to choose between a slave and a master,
I shall pray solemnly that I find in myself
The full measurement of who we are.

And when this journey comes to an end:

Life and death, faith and wonder, all become one.

Source: The FILOsopher/10 April 2020

HELD, NOT HEALED

Stop trying to heal yourself, fix yourself,

even awaken yourself.

Stop trying to Fast-Forward the movie of your life.

Let go of 'letting go'.

Healing is not a destination.

Be here.
Your pain, your sorrow, your doubts, your longings,

your fearful thoughts: they are not mistakes,

and they are not asking to be 'healed'.

They are asking to be held.
Here, now, lightly,
in the loving,
healing arms of present awareness…

By Jeff Foster

DESCENT

I made a far journey

Earth's fair cities to view,

but like to love's city

City none I knew

At the first I knew not
That city's worth,

And turned in my folly

A wanderer on earth.

From so sweet a country

I must needs pass,

And like to cattle

Grazed on every grass.

As Moses' people

I would liefer eat

Garlic, than manna

And celestial meat.

What voice in this world

to my ear has come

Save the voice of love

Was a tapped drum.

Yet for that drum-tap

From the world of All

Into this perishing

Land I did fall.

That world a lone spirit

Inhabiting.

Like a snake I crept

Without foot or wing.

The wine that was laughter

And grace to sip

Like a rose I tasted

Without throat or lip.

'Spirit, go a journey,
'
Love's voice said:

'Lo, a home of travail

I have made.'

Much, much I cried:

'I will not go';

Yea, and rent my raiment

And made great woe.

Even as now I shrink

To be gone from here,

Even so thence

To part I did fear.

'Spirit, go thy way,
'
Love called again,

'And I shall be ever nigh thee

As they neck's vein.'

Much did love enchant me

And made much guile;

Love's guile and enchantment

Capture me the while.

In ignorance and folly

When my wings I spread,

From palace unto prison

I was swiftly sped.

Now I would tell

How thither thou mayst come;

But ah, my pen is broke

And I am dumb.

By Rumi
Translated by: A..J. Arberry

'Persian Poems', an Anthology of verse translations 
edited by A.J.Arberry, Everyman's Library, 1972

PATIENCE

Patience is that characteristic

That allows a seed to wait,

Unruffled, unshaken until

Life swings open the golden gate.

Patience is that characteristic

That’s confident that time will yield,

That the season of drought will pass

And the skies will flood the field.

Patience is that characteristic

Where confidence rests within,

Content in the secret knowledge

That waiting is untouched by sin.

Patience is that characteristic

That winners wear on their crown

And while they may be tested often

They spring back whenever they’re down.

~ Raj Yogi

LET YOURSELF REST

If you’re exhausted, rest.
If you don’t feel like starting a new project, don’t.
If you don’t feel the urge to make something new,

just rest in the beauty of the old, the familiar, the known.

If you don’t feel like talking, stay silent.
If you’re fed up with the news, turn it off.
If you want to postpone something until tomorrow, do it.
If you want to do nothing, let yourself do nothing today.

Feel the fullness of the emptiness, the vastness of the silence, the sheer life in your unproductive moments.

Time does not always need to be filled.
You are enough, simply in your being.

By Jeff Foster

21 March 2020

"SUNBURST" © Leah C. Dancel 2020

Photo Credit:
Miemie Verdida
Sunshine Coast
Queensland 


"SUNBURST"



The light from above pricks through the clouds
A prism of truth that's what it spreads
A divine warning for all humanity
That all vicious cycle of stigma should cease.

The light of day from darkness of night prevails
And all secrets of evildoers must be revealed;
The earth has been subdued by devils more than men
How often tribulations from apocalypse they bring.

Hope, joy and peace are the means to the end
As grief, pain and sorrow become a passing trend
Sunburst is The LIGHT of Hope for all mankind
Let it shine through your heart and mind.

©Leah C. Dancel
Copyright©March 19, 2020
All rights reserved
SH-AUSTRALIA

⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⏬⏬⏬⏬⏬⏬⏬⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇

The above title is inspired from the photo SUNRISE AT ANGKOR WAT, CAMBODIA featured by BING
 
Photo Credit @Sergio Diaz/Getty Images

















1 February 2020

BE LOST IN THE CALL

By Rumi

Lord, said David, since you do not need us,

why did you create these two worlds?

Reality replied: O prisoner of time,

I was a secret treasure of kindness and generosity,

and I wished this treasure to be known,

so I created a mirror: its shining face, the heart;

its darkened back, the world;

The back would please you if you've never seen the face.

Has anyone ever produced a mirror out of mud and straw?

Yet clean away the mud and straw, 

and a mirror might be revealed.

Until the juice ferments a while in the cask,

it isn't wine. If you wish your heart to be bright,

you must do a little work.

My King addressed the soul of my flesh:

You return just as you left.

Where are the traces of my gifts?

We know that alchemy transforms copper into gold.

This Sun doesn't want a crown or robe from God's grace.

He is a hat to a hundred bald men,

a covering for ten who were naked.

Jesus sat humbly on the back of an ass, my child!

How could a zephyr ride an ass?

Spirit, find your way, in seeking lowness like a stream.

Reason, tread the path of selflessness into eternity.

Remember God so much that you are forgotten.

Let the caller and the called disappear;

be lost in the Call.

10 January 2020

SOMEPLACE WHERE THE SKY IS BLUE

The heart desires to go

Someplace where the sky is blue

Where the stars shine bright at night 

And I have nothing to do.

To sit upon a rolling green

And watch birds flying around,

Hear the sounds that nature makes

As I lay my body flat on the ground.

My heart yearns a place that's quiet

Where the whisper of trees is heard

And the touch of a breeze passing softly by,

The flapping wings of an in-flight bird.

To immerse my being in nature's womb

And feel the feelings of different lives,

Learn the wisdom they hide within

That makes the bees make their hives.

~Raj Yogi

8 January 2020

THE VOICE OF REASON

The voice of reason is soft,

Muted;

It’s drowned easily in the din

That emotions make.
The voice of reason 

Remains unheard

Until much later

When regret flowers like a lotus

In a pond of pain.
The voice of reason 

Is gentle;
It soothes more,

Admonishes little.
The voice of reason

Is easily strangled 

When madness rages

Drunk on power.
The voice of reason 

Is the tiny voice 

That is heard sometimes

In silence.

~Raj Yogi

WORDS FROM PEN

"Words from pen,
flowing smoothly
like the cold autumn breeze,
carrying emotions,
raw and deep,
with the ease of ships
sailing on waves
past lands in calm seas,
touchings and moving hearts,
of old, of young
with subtlety."

~Meishel Mei

1 January 2020

"ANGELS COME TO BRING THEM HOME"


Upon a December’s dawning light
I heard your mournful cry indict
The mood of mirth in merry play,
The day angels took her away.

I heard your dirges made of love
Stir for a while the sky above;
The song of your lamentation
Departing with the final moon.

How long can a butterfly stay
Over the field’s bloom and decay?
Til vibrant petals wither down 
And be part of a fertile ground.

Oh we thought all good and sublime
Would defy the imposing time!
But all roads lead to the Maker’s truth
Though all that’s good seems headed south.

The toil of day shall face the west;
Souls, old and tired shall take their rest;
Mortal passing may not their doom,
When angels come to bring them home.

--Bag-iw Lumpias Gil .................
(Cordillera)

Prologue
REST IN PEACE Lola Cristina Bua-ay Bongalos, younger sister of my grandfather Bag-iw. She passed away a day after Christmas, at age 96.

This poem goes out to the bereaved, especially to my Dad. I know he didn’t only lose an aunt, he too lost his 1st grade teacher.

"A PORTRAIT ON THE WALL"

It is like my shadow that does not follow me
It stares at your face and does not blink it’s eyes
It also smiles at you but does not move its lips
It will not answer you when you speak to it.

It seems like my shadow that just stands still
It stays where I left it and does not even mind
It sees when you smile and even when you cry
But that’s all it can do to look and watch at you.

It’s what I’ll leave behind that lasts longer than me
For all people I love and their children to be
To God I pray and beg to have someone I love
To keep my own portrait remembered and revered.

It is my own portrait that I hung on the wall

It is the real me only without my soul

To people I have known forgive the wrong I did

Those who love and help me to them I give my thanks.

CREATED by:
Emilio Laxamana Aguinaldo
10 December 2019