Altar

Wherever you go

or wherever you stay

your heart, an altar of gratitude.

note: My one moment today is finding this mixed media art work in the school office of our parish church while I was waiting to talk to the school principal.

Meaning of life

“We often struggle with the question of our own life:does it have a purpose? Is there meaning to it? All through our life Christ is calling us. God works through our natural faculties and circumstances of life. If our course of life is to be changed, it must be from within.”-John Henry Newman

Silence

A moment of each day:

My special moment today is reading the blog of GretchenJoanna about her reading-challenge of Japanese literature. I learned about Makoto Fujimura, artist and writer.Link to her blog:literature  

Fujimura wrote a book, Silence and Beauty, based on the writings of Shusaku Endo especially his book, Silence.

I have read Endo’s Silence many years ago and saw the movie adaptation, Silence by Martin Sorcese, recently. I have to thank you for bringing Makato Fujimura and his works. I watched the 7 videos by Fujimura talking about his book, Silence and Beauty. Here is the link:silence

 

 

A moment of each day

Thud, thud, the thudding sound 

of a luggage sliding Inside the car’s  trunk, 

a car driving fast the curves

that’s how my head spins

when I clean the sink of unfulfilled writing promises

I will try again

a new concept of a New Year

to tell a moment of each day

a gathered thought, an instant click of a camera 

not a memorized notion of what a day should be,

maybe a spark of enchantment.

Will it make the day meaningful?

Or trivial?

But questions do not meant to be answered

only understood.

I will begin today.

Note: Like a mantra I walk to the river today. The day is spring-like low 60’s, blue sky, flowers and acacia trees are blooming.

The photos from my mobile phone capture the moment. 

Waiting all day

“I think we’re creative all day long. And we have to have an appointment to have that work out on the page.” 

-Mary Oliver

Stories to tell

The girl runs alone on the beach

waves arrive from the other side of the world

I have stories to tell

The Last Word

A word of praise

For a blandest day

Can catapult self confidence

 

Can you have souvenirs

Without going anywhere?

Dimples show when she smiles.

 

The rain comes in January

Do not put you fingers 

In the opening of sea anemones.

 

Lots to remember

She layers them.

One can bleed to death.

 

On the death bed

The most common is regret

All the postponements.

 

In lost conversations

She finds the missing pieces

How the bridges are formed.

 

One can read the sadness

The hardship of reconciling the past

The last word can be God.

note: The day is sunny, cool, and pleasant with blue skies. I started the day joining the other volunteers to pick up trash on the bike trail and along the railroad tracks of the Wine Train to celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. About 2 hours later after I got home I walked to the river.

 

A Cup of Tea

Studies show health benefits of tea

Blessings to the heart and mind

The little cakes and finger sandwiches

Adorned the tastes and elegant hour.

The particularities heal the blemishes

Of the day. The conversations float

 

While minutes pass hurdles and eddying currents

There two varieties of tea. They grow well

On high elevations and warm climate 

Holding a cup of tea is an acquiescence

To its fragrant flowers and seed bearing fruits

 Harvested with care not to damage the leaves

 

Sometimes we venture beyond our boundaries,

Beyond the branches and buried roots

Like breaking away from intimacy and uttering

The first word. Shadows climb up stairways

And do not return. But ideas return, loiter around

To solve the first equation ushering more ideas.

 

Optimism can lead a way of learning

A sip here, a sip there and ready to fill 

The cup again, hot, vibrant and healthy taste,

Green, black, yellow, rich in flavonoids

And polyphenols, sovereign with its own species

And millions of followers: honest, loyal, calm.

The day as it happens

My day starts late with a walk to the river

Counting the black birds on the tree

They come down to feed on feeders

Thrown by a woman on the sidewalk.

Our activity continues to the downtown

Where children and adults parade their lanterns,

Light attires, jellyfish lighted parasols, costumes. 

Their route passes along where lgihted arts

Are projected on buildings complete with music and narrations.

We end the evening under the huge moon

As if it falls down from the sky

Which is what one child asks her mother about.

Oneness

The headache leaves, you download

Everything in a new folder.

The illusion of memory intrudes

Thinking separated parts can be put together

Again. Theory and performance clash

Ego comes between and hard to beat but ways 

Are present, deep inside are instructions:

You can achieve oneness.