Brief pre-winter days:
a noon sun perched just
centimetres above
the jackpine’s crest.
Giving little warmth,
the sun seems
merely a spark,
an ember in the primitive pipe
of the shaman,
as he dreams
reality
and fantasy,
and all combined.
The dog, the jays, the old man
all knew
winter was coming,
but, here... now...
the feeble sun
traces shadows,
and summer glories
echo echo echo
in the autumn air.
I am a part of a collective meme.
That sort of meme: you are not really conscious
of being part of it
until suddenly
it's there.
And you are not
really
sure
if it ever wasn’t,
or was/is it
only the dream
of a meme.
~James D. Fanning 27 November 2013
Before we get into our annual "taking the Christ out of Christmas" thing, I just want to say this:
If you are Christian and celebrate Christmas, I will wish you Happy (or Merry) Christmas;
If you are Jewish and celebrate Hanukkah, I will wish you Happy Hanukkah;
If you are just a crazed consumer that gets swept up in the buy-buy-buy of the season, I will wish you happy and easy repayment terms;
If you are Afro-American or -Canadian, I will wish you Happy Kwanza;
If you have a special holiday around this time of year called Boukshaba Nidwind, I will wish you Happy Boukshaba Nidwind;
and what I am really saying to all of you is:
have a happy holiday season, try to put aside your archaic tribal differences for a couple of weeks, and enjoy the company of family and friends, and make a sincere effort to love your neighbour, and to help those less fortunate.
When it is all over again for another year we can all get back to being our greedy, selfish, egocentric selves.
Happy Holidays, everyone! Make an effort to be greater than the pettiness that your tribe normally requires, and let a bit of love and understanding illuminate our brief time in the sun.
Go well, love, and enjoy. Peace on earth and good will to all.
Warm summer days and ice-cold beer;
northern lights that you can hear;
babies chuckling through a drool;
that sixties sound from Liverpool;
the spirituality of the stars at night;
that orange and brassy autumn light;
these are things that brighten our way,
miracles that happen every day.
The soul connection lovers know;
the absolute quiet of fresh falling snow;
the unabashed love in the eyes of your dog;
memories brought by a walk in the fog;
the warmth of family, near and far;
the colour and smell of an Asian bazaar;
this magic happens constantly:
just open your eyes and you will see.
Whenever life would weigh you down,
just take a breath, and look around.
Positivity will clear your frown,
enhancing those wonders that abound.
It’s not all gloom, death, and despair;
don’t give credence to the night,
beacons of beauty are everywhere,
ensuring you shall walk in light.
When the cosmos at last recalls
components it had loaned me,
and the pull on inner quantum space
of dark matter's gravity
becomes far too compelling,
I must make the final journey.
Stay the requiem for those who care,
don’t chant your prayers for me:
my Heaven has been here and now,
with reason my Holy See.
I’ve savoured life with gusto,
proud, and superstition-free.
I’ve drunk of life’s heady wine,
through seasons glad and tragic,
but dealt with it all in my own way,
reasoned, but idiosyncratic.
I pass, having fully lived
this moment of wonder and magic.
Bits of bright cerulean sky
from summers of our youth:
jagged purple hurtful shards
when lies are passed as truth:
yellow warmth of family,
comfort of friends and home:
dread scarlet of betrayal,
the grey of being alone:
indigo dagger of bereavement:
royal blue square of loss:
patchy greens of wet spring days,
and Autumn’s orange/brown gloss:
the glowing pink of a baby’s love:
dark green of love gone bad:
the amazing orange of growing old:
lucent yellow of all things glad:
together these fragments colour our lives,
and slowly form a picture
of who we were, and what we are
in kaleidoscopic mixture.
We journey through our lives with
this colourful maelstrom flashing,
as we stumble and triumph day to day,
crying, singing, crawling, crashing.
We cannot see the picture:
just too busy keeping on,
until one older morning
we awake-confusion gone.
Standing back, a little shaky now,
with Autumn sun shining through,
we see splendid magnificence
in the lives of me and you.
Welcome, and Namaste
Greetings fellow travellers,
For you American friends visiting, you will notice that this old Canadian uses Canadian English in this blog: kindly bear with me. As I blog primarily on subjects that are vitally interesting to me, I appreciate all feedback.
As I tend to be a bit of a language usage freak, I will, as required, edit obscenity and rude comments. That said, I welcome your opinions and discussion.
May your Dharma be clear
Peace
"If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended:
That you have but slumb'red here,
While these visions did appear."
Puck’s epilogue to A Midsummer Night’s Dream
