Love & Suffering

When we enter the holy covenant of love
We are vouchsafed ineffable joy
Which, if we live long enough
Will terminate by suffering
The ineffable pain of loss;
The four pillars that hold
The  holy temple of love
Are Joy and suffering,
Commitment and sacrifice.
10.30.2015

Honorable & Dishonorable

Those whom we deem dishonorable
Do still possess some honorable traits;
It is up to us to excavate these noble traits
Buried behind the obvious, deep in their souls.
10.29.2015

Living & Well

To avoid troubles is to lose
       
To be alive is to be involved
       
To confront troubles is to win
       
To do one’s best is to live well
To submit to melancholy is to surrender
To submit to anger is to relinquish control
To insist on joy is to find the good in every bad.
10.28.2015

Emotion & Others

Good emotions
Help others when expressed
Whereas bad emotions hurt others;
Expressing emotions is not only about us
But about others who are within range.
10.27.2015

Coincidence & Tragedies

Instead of blaming God
For our senseless tragedies
Let’s blame coincidence instead:
Coincidence,
She wears green shadows intertwined with dreams
Lurks unforeseen, in silence plots and schemes
At times, she hurries matters to profound extremes
Delights in rolling fortunes in reverse
Coincidence,
She sways the universe.
10.26.2015

Details & Distortions

When we don’t examine
The larger picture
Before examining the details
We will fail to notice distortions
Produced by our squint.
10.25.2015

Good & Expectations

We are good to others
Without expectations
Because we are good
And hold ourselves
To higher standards.
10.24.2015

Positive & Negative

Spending our time
On the positive side of life
Or on the negative side
Is our choice;
Insisting on joy
Is our prerogative
And costs much less effort
Than insisting on anger and hate.
10.23.2015

Worst & Best

Sometimes
Our thoughts
Think the worst
Sometimes, the best;
But worst and best
Are seldom right
And we can’t think in between.
10.22.2015

Fear & LIfe

Those who are afraid of death
Will not know how to die;
Fear distances us from peace
And distorts our love of life.
10.21.2015

Upset & Views

When someone is upset
Listen carefully to see his point
Show him that you understand it
And don’t share your own view
Until he has calmed down
And is ready to see it.
10.20.2015

Love & Surprise

If you surprise
Someone you do not know
With a show of kind love
That someone, unaware
Will turn and do the same
Which increases love on earth.
10.19.2015

Equalized & Life

We are thrice equalized in life
Once, when we are born
Once, when we die
And everyday, when we sleep.
10.18.2015

Love & Hate

It is better to love the wrong person
Than to hate the right person;
Love can be right and wrong
Both at the same time
But hate is always wrong.
10.17.2015

Freedom & Trust

Freedom is a lovely maiden
If entrusted to the honorable
She will be adored and respected;
If entrusted to the ignoramuses
She will be raped.
10.16.2015

Regression & Rebellion

Going back to the old
Means we do not like the new;
Regression is a tacit rebellion
Against a harsh present.
10.15.2015

Expectations & Success

When we accept
Less than we deserve
We only have to wait a while
To be rewarded with more;
Tempered expectations
Are hidden avenues to success.
10.14.15

Individuals & Groups

Individuals are smarter than groups;
It is difficult to find smart groups
Easy to find smart individuals
And heart rending to see
Groups dragging individuals down
In stead of individuals pulling groups up.
10.13.2015

Time & Busyness

To best appreciate time
And utilize it most efficiently
We must have less and less of it;
Idleness causes time wasting
And busyness, time saving.
10.12.2015

Love & Ethics

When love feels strong but wrong
As love can often be
We need to pray
Not to be swept away;
When love and conscience collide
It is better to endure the pain of ethics
Than the shame of unethical love.
10.11.2015

Vigilence & Carelessness

The river of life
Flows between the banks
Of vigilance and carelessness;
Depending on our experiences
We spend our time vacillating
From one bank to the other
Because it’s harder to sail
Exactly in the middle.
10.10.2015

Secrets & Safe

Holding a secret
Is like holding one’s breath;
Sooner or later, one will have to exhale.
It is illusional to believe
That once shared
Secrets are ever safe.
10.09.2015

Heard & Seen

911
Can mean nine-one-one
Or nine-eleven;
Languages are two dimensional
The uttered and the written
And meanings vacillate
Between the heard and seen.
10.08.2015

Success & Failure

Before we believe success
We should wait a while
And before we believe failure
We should wait a while;
Time often reverses fortunes
Turning success into failure
And failure into success.
10.07.2015

Ignorance & Hazard

When in conflict
The enlightened debate
And learn from one another,
The unenlightened argue
And cling to their opinions,
The primitive fight
And kill one another;
Ignorance is hazardous.
10.06.2015

Travel & Mind

We can travel with our minds
Travel with the our bodies
Or travel with both;
When traveling with our bodies
Circumstances arrange our travels,
But when traveling with our minds
We rearrange all circumstances;
Glorious are the vistas of imagination.
10.05.2015

Opinions & Errors

Holding our opinions
To take time to reconsider
Reduces faux pas and regrets;
Extemporaneous speech
Is fraught with errors.
10.04.2015

Love & Learning

With study, effort, and observation
We learn most, but not all essentials;
Love, we learn when we are well loved
Kindness, when loved and well treated
Ethics, when loved and well mentored
Generosity, when loved and well fed
Confidence, when loved and trusted;
When love does not provide the base
Our characters turn out distorted.
10.03.2015

Pleasure & Passion

Pleasures that endure
Are passion dependent;
Pleasures without passion
End abruptly upon satiation
Leaving us in somber anticlimax.
10.02.2015