The answer lies not

  in the sunshine hours of daylight

  its true dwelling is in  the silent sacredness

of the heart's deepest night

Twilight descending

on silent pond and grey trees

frozen snow on ground

Do not look outside
there's no healing
you can mend yourself
only by looking within

Nature is haiku

no word does she need to speak

silent majesty

Trees embraced by snow

Hyde Park turned to fairyland

poetry in white

Life is mainly

about the in-between

the past is history

the future is unseen

Ancient Greek maxim:

            Know thyself

            Central Zen dictum:

            Untie thyself

..yet beauty alone does not make a woman attractive or desirable--
she must also have tenderness, warmth and charm.  
Her physicality has to be complemented by the whole personality she exudes---her inner self must fuse with her look.

I wrote: we don't need knowledge to be happy but he disagrees:

Robert,  I leave to others to comment.

What I have said applies to my life....I am a Zen person who lives by FEELING and NOT PURSUING KNOWLEDGE which tends to muddle and confuse...
even wisdom falls short of personal experience, insight and intuition.  

I can quote many cases of great people of the past who were geniuses and the most intellectual whose lives were lived in suffering and tragedy---I think you knew such people.

Simplicity, humility, contentment, compassion, being childlike in innocence, wonder and appreciation of beauty, of grace, of gratitude.....this doesn't not require knowledge--
it springs from the pure fountain of the heart,
it is all we ever need for a happy and fulfilling life.  

Kindly share your thoughts--many thanks.

Peter from Melbourne

Horse drinks from river

rider asleep under tree

in winds leaves quiver

I prefer the unexamined life

            lesser I cogitate-- suffer little from strife

Phantasmagoria

expressed through splash of colours

imprint on psyche

Forgotten old home

facing cool autumn water

reflection of trees

When you are about to burst into anger

view the situation from another angle

Be brief

    a long speech

    is a verbal screech

Go forth into the day

         in unheard prayer

         pave kindness on your way

         be the unseen sorrow-healer

Age might not be the splendour of beauty

     there's grace and charm still to be cherished

     proud youth dwelt in self-absorbed  folly

     only in the ruins of time to be sadly banished

One doesn't live

to be understood

even the dearest love

could not its fingers put



on the pulse of the beloved

whose heart has too often wavered

each life is lived in the singular

layer upon layer so deeply covered

.......I'm dying

though not my wish

     death is waiting

none of my songs will perish



     I'm dying

every last moment I'll cherish

    farewell to living

beauty nothing can  ever vanquish.     (1828)

How many moments of life

how many?  too many?

fixing broken pieces to survive

to rescue the fragmented heart from misery



for there's one, only one, life

to be cherished and to be lived fully

even with the strongest will to thrive

the final outcome is but in the hands of destiny.

Every word, thought, feeling
and emotion is a colour
love, pain, beauty and living
each holds its mystery for us to uncover

White sail o'er river
in winter's descending dusk
sombre weeping trees

Art in abstraction

metaphor of subconscious

colours' collision

People dread the day

thinking it's the same as yesterday

all they do is to tolerate

its opportunities they don't celebrate

Fishing boat sails out

in silence of moonlit night

tall reeds gently sway

Cottage faraway

fourth generation dwells there

forgotten couple

Dawn peeps through my bedroom window

   from a strange dream I've just awoken

   my heart is heavy with a deep sorrow

  no words could be spoken-



  she sent me a letter:

  I don't love you-- farewell

   I've found someone who's better

  no further words I need tell

Dreams to remember

colours that speak beyond words

blue lines dominate

Violin in hand
her lips lean to kiss a rose
moment magical

Many paths of pain
we each have tread
future ones that visit again
we would no longer dread

love is suffering in verity
but pure light shines ahead
faith and grace let's keep company
there's healing after every tear that's shed

This I uphold deeply-- honesty

is 1,000 times stronger than bravery

White sail o'er river
in winter's descending dusk
sombre weeping trees

Dawn yawns o'er river

faint winter morning sunshine

quiet sailing boats

Lone figure by shore

tides are gently drifting in

who's that in waiting?

The world can be healed only by kindness and compassion.
All this springs from the fountain of the heart--let its water be pure which will wash away all the dirt and uncleanness. We are not doomed if we make the right choices and this is never as urgent as now as the mantra of success and getting rich is holding sway over most lives. If values are lost, human civilisation collapses.

To step back is to renew, to rediscover, to reawaken to a new cosmic consciousness and to re-connect in our common humanity.

Brown rocks and blue sea

beneath benign summer sky

new crop of flowers

I never tried to outshine
that talent was never mine

Many paths of pain

we each have tread

future ones that visit again

we would no longer dread



love is suffering in verity

but pure light shines ahead

faith and grace let's keep company

there's healing after every tear that's shed

Gentle bird, fly, oh fly
   with your tiny wings, soar, oh soar
   to the bright waiting sky
  
   gentle bird, sing, oh sing on high
   a song of peace, joy and hope evermore
   dispel the Covid  that makes the world so sadly cry

Flowers, land and sky

mosaic of brilliant colours

feast for artist's eyes

Flowers, land and sky

mosaic of brilliant colours

feast for artist's eyes

No one can run away from hurt

        such bruises have to be in silence borne

        how often is the heart found in such girt

       when love has failed and forever gone

I have nothing to prove

no one I need to move

Wings I need not

I've no desire to fly

enough joy is brought

by all simple things nearby

Secrets does night hold
its mysteries can't be ever told
the heart in melancholy weeps
lovers find it hard to sleep--

these dark hours are long
there's no comfort in verse or song
what's in store at the dawn
when tonight's shadows are gone?

I will not be anyone's favourite

enslavement that would be

my silent and humble self I will celebrate

there's no other way to be happy

...but what could be missing
  when I am seeking nothing?

My words are few

they dwell in parsimony

but my heart is true

would you but accept me?



Silent is my love--its very beauty

I would blemish --it won't do-

to describe even in sweetest poetry

here I am, blessed, prayerful.

We talk too much

few people do we touch

and most rush away as such!

In reply to a Linkedin member

I don't have a religion being a humanist

but it doesn't mean that it's not important.

Indeed, those with faith tend to cope better than those without.



Yet, the latter group are still able to find peace, consolation and meaning as they have their set beliefs and value systems above secular matters and are 'spiritual'

I'm a  transcendentalist and feel there's a larger PRESENCE/ESSENCE when I am touched, inspired or 'wakened' by/in some mysterious heightened moments, as when I am in solitude with nature or in quiet contemplation
or when I am in doubt or despair,
or when life seems so burdensome and incomprehensible ...
or when I have to step out of my chained-self to seek my liberation.

These transcendental moments make me feel I somehow belong to a larger COSMOS and that I am not alone----that SOMETHING that speaks without words but Its message is so consoling, comforting and healing.

I then feel that life is no longer painful and that it ultimately has meaning and purpose despite tragedies faced in the course of each life which have not embittered them or caused them to
fall apart but made them larger than themselves--
they become more kind and compassionate

It's our fragility and vulnerability that shall save us,
not our might nor strength.

My best wishes to you--be happy and celebrate life