I have tried all my life

but no wisdom did I find

half-way I'd to turn back

still with a doubtful and empty mind

Tree's resplendent pink

'neath bright sunny sky--bursting-

nature in her best dress

Too hard I did struggle

so miserably I did fail

I let go and lightly I treaded

lo and behold, I did prevail

Time will tell on me

  myself I can't hide

  not blessed by any beauty

  only in simplicity abide--



  I won't write my life-story

that would merely be pride

what would make me truly happy

is to set all my life's trivia aside

I don't have time....I have too much to do and most of my work has just begun......judging others will distract me from my work--

it belongs to those who don't know what to do with themselves or their time--the idle leisure-class?

Mind as volcano

erupting in wild colours

only artists know

This is my problem --verily-

sometimes I choose to be lazy

and wonder: why are others in such hurry?

perhaps, something's dreadfully wrong with me!

Last week

I thought I was on

to something novel

and felt exhilarated



yesterday

I was in deep doubt



today

I gave up on the idea-

felt quite relieved really



tomorrow

I have to start all over again

The problem with the world

is that most people are out

to teach or preach rather than to learn

Every morning, I have to remind myself

not to speak too much during the day,

not to stand in anyone's way,

listen well to what others have to say

and, last, but not least,

keep my judgement of others at bay

This is the greatest problem with hate

your mental and emotional resources it drains

leaving little of life for you to celebrate

at the end there's no victory but grievous pains

The good can sometimes do bad

the bad can sometimes do good

definitions are vague

nothing is absolute

Please

please take my seat

you've stood a long time

I've been too long on it

..by which time

the river has run its course



by which time

winter has smothered

the last autumn rose



by which time

all leaves have turned grey

the barren garden has nothing to pose



by which time

the stars have grown weary

not a single light-beam glows



by which time

love has its farewell bade

all feelings wither and tearfully close

The day beckons

its steps I follow

with my heart in passions

I breathe and I grow-



never mind whatever the seasons

be every moment's gentle glow

warm up to life's unfailing beacons

the greatest joy and beauty will greet on the morrow

Belief could spell danger

disbelief might incur others' anger

relationships are such an immense bother

I step back hence to become my life's own author

People here, people there

people all over--everywhere-

it matters not what they say or wear

I quietly observe---I don't compare

You ask me:

what mode I am

in today- my reply:

in just human-- amen!

I am but should never stay the same

to be stagnant is to default on life's challenging game

I should add more to what I can--only then

could I achieve my long-desired end

We each have a story to share

      but sadly most are not keen to hear

      I keep a diary everywhere

      I record my every joy or fear

To succeed

we don't think of it

in excelling in our deed

the peg will fit

At the end of each day

     add up the number of words spoken

     how many you'd  wish to wipe away

     now you realise the wisdom of being silent

Life the ephemeral

as flowers that bloom and vanish

art the eternal

it will never ever perish-



here, love, joy and beauty

with sorrow and tears intermingle

find their voices in ecstasy or pity

all arts touch or hearts and ennoble



1.15 pm Melb time, Sun 18th April

Don't dream

           act

           the former is intangible

           the latter is a fact

May I say the 1st sentence has a small lacuna?

..acceptance of what is (by Eckhart Tolle), is an externality
but he did not mention the more vital  and intrinsic---interiority i.e.  acceptance of your inner self which is the starting point of insight and wisdom.

Perhaps he wrote in a hurry.

The next 2 sentences put the 'fully conscious person' to test in any discussion but it would be more generous for such a person to listen to what others have to say if the speakers were genuine and desirous of a meaningful dialogue--an enlightened person should not presume that the speakers were out for an argument.

There's a sense of smugness in these 2 sentences.

ET is much admired worldwide and has a huge following but has critics too as some have said that he merely synthesises Eastern thinking and much of what he wrote was unoriginal.

I leave to others to comment. I am a curious observer and learner

Neither sadness nor happiness lasts forever.
Happiness knows its ups and downs as everything is impermanent.

We should never supplicate or hope for happiness to stay with us all the time--it's in knowing its wax and wane that we appreciate it more.

It's true that a temporary loss of happiness does not obliterate it as, with time, it bounces back on its own somehow--and this makes it more precious and endearing.  

There's so much sorrow in life, yet the saddest among us do have some uplifting moments when some joy sets in. This somehow brings some comfort.

Buddhism has a lot to say on this. As a Zen and Taoist-influenced person, I learn to acquire a non-choosing mind such that it can accept what life metes out at any point of time--the good or the bad, the pleasant and unpleasant, the safe or the threatening....
This is equanimous acceptance and has given both peace and joy

Quite often the day's budding roses I overlook

turning to brown falling leaves instead

it seems I've closed my youth's coloured-book

as upon the remaining years my weary heart has fed

I might give myself a pinch
when I do something stupid
I'd merely pause to think
never hit myself with a big stick!

Be unafraid to be regarded a fool for your idea-

it's infinitely better than being a copy of another

Our doubts multiply
the more we believe what others say
we have to step back constantly
and keep others' thinking at bay

All set for breakfast

facing the morning's calm sea

the day's poetry

I am neither macro nor micro

nor in between-- so little do I know

yet others I should not mindlessly follow

lest my life were to end in sorrow

I am neither macro nor micro

nor in between-- so little do I know

yet others I should not mindlessly follow

lest my life were to end in sorrow

To please myself I don't need

it arrives in what I regard as a worthy deed

Not that I should ask for more

rather it shall be this:

for nothing further should I implore

what else is there for me to miss?

I don't think I know enough
at least, not yet
there's no reason to rush
nor for the slightest regret

On personal cultivation and development, also on duty, responsibility, altruism, service to the community/society/country, leadership and governance,  none in the world, even now, can match the wisdom of Confucius 600 BCE as expounded in his immortal classic THE ANALECTS.  



Book 4

Virtue attracts others and never stands alone


Book 7:

These things cause me concern-

if I fail

1. to probe deeper into what I have learnt

2. to reform myself when I have defects, etc

Give me a few years more so that I might still study when I am fifty

and as such free myself from my major errors.

Book 13

If a person has succeeded in making himself correct,

what difficulty would he face in governing?



There's a short chapter on this in THE GENTLE ART OF TAO LEADERSHIP-- A 21ST CENTURY PERSPECTIVE, Nov 2020, distributed by Simon & Schuster, published in Melb, to be republished in US this year.


At a Nobel Prize Writers' Conference held in Paris in 1988,

the following statement was declared:

' If mankind is to survive, it must go back 2,500 years to tap the wisdom of Confucius'

We are not our age

only to happily embrace time

and do what we love best

life is still the inviting stage

count not the years ahead

those who live well will never be dead!

We need details but quite often we are trapped
as knowing the individual parts tends to make us forget the whole
and, as a result, the essence of what we are seeking to achieve
is lost.

The way out is to concentrate on the relevant ones
and discard the rest that do not lend any value to the decision-making process.

But how many can have such insight and circumspection?

No wonder, success is such a tortuous task for so many.

Ah, life is over-much

in its excess

both love and hate

joy and pain

what's happiness

is that which but shivers

in the coldness

of my doubting heart-



in two worlds I dwell

the living and seemingly dead

the former indeed

gives me much more dread



what's fidelity?

that of little

I've known or read

poor poets

they should lament

over love's self-exultation

the virulence

of the words they said



ah, the open sea

how majestic

how restful

how serene

how welcoming

as the last sunset

embraces its waters

in perfect peace

and acceptance

this is silent perfection

more than words

which are but imperfection



this, this sacred moment

my heart is in harmony

like every note of the symphony

over is the introduction

then the exposition

I'd need no recapitulation

I have chosen

not in doubt nor fear

but in gladsome resignation

only the waters will remember

what I have lived for

what I have written

....but for you

life would be a mere vacuum

   every day I'd wither in thirst-

happiness would have no room-



   in the wasteland of my heart

  flowers would gladly bloom

  as its sterile surface you generously water

and a new life I'd miraculously assume

Artist's shapes and forms

vertical buildings in light

city life captured

Her heart in longing
past scenes they return to haunt
the moon feels her tears

When I am gone
do not remember me
nor be forlorn
be happy I am free

Yesterday,

I was

today,

I am



tomorrow,

I will be

the sum total

of the two before

White slender flowers

dancing in light summer breeze

against purple sky

Guy, thanks for reading my posts but I am learning, even as such an old man.  I feel, I reflect, I question, I observe, I doubt, I fall back on my experience, I take in the wisdom of others, humbly, sincerely and gratefully,  I challenge myself,  I take blame for my wrong perceptions, my unkind acts and my unfair judgement of others, I accept my fallibility, my faults and my weaknesses, I adapt, I modify, I change when such is called for, and last, but not least, I accept my mortality and I prepare myself for this eventuality, with the utmost humility.

'Yesterday' is a word used in regret

for what one did not get

Every relationship is a conversation and, with regard to a couple in a deep relationship, the greater need for such....

they get to understand each other better and with this,  doubts, prejudices and misgivings are removed but what is said must be honest and without reservation, or the relationship would fail.

It is true that marriage is a daily and endless conversation and, in the finest sense, borders on the sacred.

The earth is deeply choked

it's dying, dying for air

beauty is gone in smoke

but so few do feel or care-



man is no angel but rogue

his ambition has turned the fair forest bare

the backbone of nature it callously broke

the carnage it brought is felt now everywhere