"I’ve been miserable so long. Years of my life wasted. Been a long time coming here to meet you. A long time on a crooked road."
"My father says that almost the whole world is asleep. Everybody you know, everybody you see, everybody you talk to. He says that only a few people are awake and live in a state of constant total amazement."
The sun does not set when you are a child
Oh, the sky goes dark and the sun descends
But that glow on the horizon,
Sun shining after the orb of it dips below the horizon
Never fades
The sun does not set
It shines on in the birthday candle
You lit in the house you made of bricks
For the teddy bears
Who live under the lilacs next to the chicken coop
That little candle you leave lit,
Glowing through the open window
Through the branches of the lilac
to the horizon to touch the light of the sun
that does not disappear.
The life of a child is a year of summer solstices
And Popsicles and eighty-degree weather
And dogs who don’t want to go in either when they hear
The mother calling
And cats who crap in the sandbox but you still play there
And with the cats
Who follow you to the ditches across the street as you look for pretty flowers
To dig up and plant in the bears’ garden
To grow in the garden
Where the sun never sets
The sun never sets
It shines on in the stars you see
As you lie on the blanket on the trampoline
After they let you sleep outside
In the sweet twilight where the spectacle of a thousand suns
That continue to shine on other houses made for other teddy bears
Under other lilac bushes
On planets you don’t see but you know they’re there
Because yours is there
With the sunlight clinging to the horizon
Like burrs stuck to your socks
And never lets go.
Maybe you see bats flying in the stars above
And you pray to God you’ll see a meteor
Or a satellite
And you see them both
One a tiny dot moving among the other dots
Moving toward the sun to reignite the splendor of the day
The other a streak a scratch on the record of the sky
Falling away from the setting sun to the opposite horizon
Pointing the way
For the sun to rise.
Slight correction: "He says that only a few people are awake and _they_ live in a state of constant total amazement."
Her father was clearly a Buddhist. This not only reflects Buddhist belief, it actually describes the few devout Buddhists I've associated with. The title Buddha means, "Awakened One."
One of his students asked Buddha, "Are you the messiah?" "No", answered Buddha. "Then are you a healer?" "No", Buddha replied. "Then are you a teacher?" the student persisted. "No, I am not a teacher." "Then what are you?" asked the student, exasperated. "I am awake", Buddha replied.
When I taught world religions a number of years ago, I made my students read selections from various sacred texts. They hated it, and frankly, I myself find it more challenging than enjoyable. I enjoy reading about Islam, Buddhism, etc., but not reading the Quran, the Pali canon, etc. Sacred texts aren't sacred because they're interesting; people find them interesting because they're sacred.
Indy and Harry
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The Best Part
Kerplunk! by Patrick F. McManus
Admittedly, I myself was getting a little tired of the advances in technology. It used to be that all the different kinds of wackos sat out in their little isolated cabins or apartments somewhere. Each went through an entire lifetime without seeing another wacko of his particular ilk. Now a wacko can get on the Internet and find the other nine wackos in the world who are just like him.
McManus goes on to say they get to gether to decide what to blow up, but given the Unabomer lived in an isolated cabin as a Luddite and still managed to blow things up, there's a little flaw in McManus' logic. Nevertheless, I see where he's going with this.
4 comments:
Slight correction: "He says that only a few people are awake and _they_ live in a state of constant total amazement."
Her father was clearly a Buddhist. This not only reflects Buddhist belief, it actually describes the few devout Buddhists I've associated with. The title Buddha means, "Awakened One."
One of his students asked Buddha, "Are you the messiah?"
"No", answered Buddha.
"Then are you a healer?"
"No", Buddha replied.
"Then are you a teacher?" the student persisted.
"No, I am not a teacher."
"Then what are you?" asked the student, exasperated.
"I am awake", Buddha replied.
Thanks for the correction.
I've not read much about Buddhism. I'm trying to read the Koran right now, maybe I'll survive that . . .
When I taught world religions a number of years ago, I made my students read selections from various sacred texts. They hated it, and frankly, I myself find it more challenging than enjoyable. I enjoy reading about Islam, Buddhism, etc., but not reading the Quran, the Pali canon, etc. Sacred texts aren't sacred because they're interesting; people find them interesting because they're sacred.
I'll admit at this point it's more of a "tally" thing, as in, hey, I have read the Koran. I'm reading it out of curiosity.
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