My Farewell

My Farewell

I sat around a fire and thought 
- of you. 

Take your greatest moment of pleasure,

and multiply that by a millionfold,

then you might barely 

conceive what I am talking about. 

Has your life been so restrained 

that you never collaspsed onto the floor

from ecstasy? 

As for me, nothing of me will survive,

so these poems are my farewell. 

To my readers, 

       What does it mean to lead a life in which you take this mantra to heart "nothing of me will survive"? Does it mean to use up every gift you have been given, to pass on every blessing you have received, to burn passionately the full width and breadth of yourself?
       When I graduated high school (June 2010), I asked my close family members and friends to write me letters for a “Time Capsule” that I would open upon my college graduation (May 2013). I asked them to reflect, to offer advice, and to emanate Love. The reason I have chosen to end with this post is because that is the poetry of Life, the hallowed words of the ones you love, the enriching spirits of those who love you. You won’t always feel connected to the words of Hafiz, though I hope within them you find gems and treasures and immeasurable worth. Conversely, you will often draw upon the encouragement of those near and dear to you. Hold close to these jewels, they are such gold to carry.

In closing, I would like to share some of the pertinent advice my father wrote to me in his letter:

“Dear Arden,

      As you start the next chapter of your life (or is it really a new road), it is appropriate to offer advice. As you know, I love poetry and I have often found wisdom to guide me in the short verse of poetry. We have both enjoyed reading the poems of Mary Oliver – “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” What will your answer be to this question? What will be your “credo”? – best translated as, “I have given my heart to”.

      You are an individual, trying to fit into this world. Treasure your achievements, find the joy of learning, and thrill in the discovery of not only new things, but also old things seen in a new way. You will meet many people and this is the best way to grow and change. Try to find something you love and you will never need a job. Try to find someone to love and you will experience all the emotions of joy, hurt, beauty – but it will make you have experiences that will fulfill your dreams.

     It is not important to measure the number of years that you complete in life. More importantly, you should measure the moments that make us human, that connect us to a spiritual place, or that enrich your soul.

So this is what I would like you to take with you into the future:

• Strength – to persevere against the mountains 
• Passion – to explore and question 
• Courage – to continue when hope seems to fail
• Honesty – to yourself
• Love – for your family 

You are a great person. You will probably do great things.

           Love always,
                           Dad

P.S. I am also including a diagram for an origami 5-point star. Who knows, one day, it may be all you need.”

       That's just it, who knows what you will need one day? It may be Love, it may be Courage, it may be Laughter, it may be a kind word, a soft touch, a caring smile, or it may be a 5-point origami star. I will leave you all with this final line from Hafiz: "Laughter is when the spirit, like an arrow, takes flight above the hour's concern." 

      Thank you for taking this journey with me, it's been a great year!

      Wishing you all a life full of laughter!

                                        Arden 

Fiddling With The Idiot

Fiddling With The Idiot

Once when I was fussing with my hair 
in front of a mirror, 
my master walked by and said: 

"Why are you always fiddling 
with the idiot? 
You should starve him a day or two
now and then."

Once a week I started abstaining 
then it turned into twice a week
then four times
then not at all
and I left each morning looking 
hopeful. 

                I love this poem, it brings up an extremely relevant point in life, which is what are you worshipping? Is it the mirror and how you look? Things that are obviously out of your control? Do you judge yourself by its standards? By its beauty, or lack thereof? Read again Hafiz's closing line...he abstained from the mirror and felt hopeful. Likely because he no longer thought of age stealing youth, of health conditions stealing complexion, of comparison to others, of comparison to his former self. Yes, avoiding the mirror can make one feel hopeful. 

We Wear the Mask

by Paul Laurence Dunbar 

We wear the mask that grins and lies, 

It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,— 

This debt we pay to human guile; 

With torn and bleeding hearts we smile, 

And mouth with myriad subtleties. 

Why should the world be over-wise, 

In counting all our tears and sighs? 

Nay, let them only see us, while 

We wear the mask. 

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries 

To thee from tortured souls arise. 

We sing, but oh the clay is vile 

Beneath our feet, and long the mile; 

But let the world dream otherwise, 

We wear the mask!

What You Really Want

What You Really Want

There is not a waking moment that you are
not trying to savior what you have,
or get closer to what will bring you pleasure. 

Being so preoccupied as we are with needing to be
satisfied, it seems we would be better at it by now: 

that happiness would be our norm, not a rare event. 

No heart can make love to its source
and then can turn its back on the Truth of your destiny
which is -

someday you will never know pain
you will never know loneliness
you will never know sorrow 

instead, you will be the very fountainhead
of all dance, all laughter,
all Light. 

       Today I turned 22, it was great! I love this poem because it is sooooo positive and so hopeful. It transports you to another world, and that's exactly what good poetry, art, and literature should do. Poetry (and life for that matter) is about creating words (moments) that touch you, that challenge you, and that encourage you. I am so grateful for another year!
       I chose to go to Eastern State Penitentiary for my birthday and it was great! I highly recommend the "3D Experiment" section of the haunted house. It was fairly sunny out today, no rain, and I thought as we drove into Philadelphia of the e.e. cummings line: "peering from some high window; at the gold of November sunset (and feeling: that if day has to become night this is a beautiful way)".

Celebrating at Hickory Lane Bistro

Pure Divine Love

Pure Divine Love

What does pure divine love do?

It keeps you from the mud

frees you from living behind tormentors

lifts your heart on a rising,

making your soul hunger to reach

the roof of creation.

It offers what the whole world wants:

real knowledge and power. 

It offers what the wise crave: 

the priceless treasure of freedom. 

It will allow you to befriend Life 

and Light,

reveal the excitement of the present 

offer clarity and beauty

and finally all the heart can do 

is burst open and greet love back. 

       Gibran wrote on September 20, 1920: "The Prophet will come out early in October. It is a good month for books. I always feel that October is the beginning of something." Three years ago, today, October marked the beginning of my relationship with the guy I love and my best friend. We do not have a clear starting point (that's a long story), but we have a point at which we said, hey let's do something we're unlikely to do with anyone else. Ever. I had come home from college that weekend, being a bit disappointed that I had missed NYU's Naked Street run, because com'on, how many times do you have the opportunity to run a race naked?! Anyway, he told me his dad owned a Christmas tree farm and I could feel free to run naked through that instead. It was definitely a weird offer, but since I was very intent on having this experience (and because I LOVE Christmas...and anything to do with it) I said yes. So we ran naked through a Christmas tree farm with a German shepherd chasing us, and it was pure freedom and abandonment. The purpose? Literally to have a "once in a lifetime experience" together. And that's why the day serves as our celebration. And you know what? There probably aren't any other couples celebrating quite this way. We call it "our holiday" and named it 48 (the temperature out). We might be the only ones in the world celebrating this way and that makes it crazy cool. And now he describes our relationship as that once in a lifetime experience, so it all makes perfect sense. Mary Haskell (Gibran's love interest for over twenty years) wrote of him  in her journal entry of April 10, 1915: "We rode the bus to the museum. Every moment was joy." Three years later, every moment is joy.

This Sweet World

Have much desire to play in this sweet world. 

        There is probably no better poem than "Ode to Life" (Neruda) to illustrate the idea that this life is about taking chances, about recognizing the sweetness of this one opportunity, about loving every gift (because every day is one), and about soaking in as many treasured blessings as you can.

Ode To Life by Pablo Neruda

Slowly dies he who becomes a slave to habit, 

repeating the same journey every day, 

he who doesn't change his march, he who doesn't risk 

and change the color of his clothes, he who doesn't speak to he whom he doesn't know. 

Slowly dies he who makes of the television his guru, 

he who avoids a passion dies, he who prefers 

black on white and dots on i's rather than a togetherness of emotions 

exactly those that make the eyes shine, 

those that make the heart beat 

before error and feeling. 

Slowly dies he who doesn't overturn the table, 

he who is unhappy in his work, 

he who doesn't risk certainty for uncertainty 

to follow a dream, 

he who doesn't permit himself at least one time in his life 

to flee sensible counsels. 

Slowly dies he who doesn't travel, he who doesn't read, 

he who doesn't listen to music, 

he who doesn't find grace in himself. 

he who destroys his own love dies, 

he who doesn't allow himself to be helped. 

He who passes his days lamenting 

about his own misfortune or the incessant rain dies. 

Slowly dies he who abandons a project 

before beginning it, 

he who doesn't ask questions about topics he doesn't know, 

he who doesn't answer when he is asked something that he knows. 

Let's avoid death by small doses, 

remembering always that being alive requires a much larger effort 

than the simple act of breathing. 

Only burning patience will bring within reach a splendid happiness...

The Girl In The Sunset, Rani Bajaj

Keep Squeezing Drops Of The Sun

Keep Squeezing Drops Of The Sun

I know the voice of depression 
still calls to you.

I know that habits that can ruin 
still send their invitations. 

But keep squeezing drops of the Sun

from your prayers and work and music
and from your companions' beautiful laughter 

from the sacred hands and knowing glance
of your Beloved,

from actions of delight and freedom 
and Love,

from the most insignificant movements 
of your own holy body, 

keep squeezing drops of the Sun. 

        Below are selections from William Wordsworth's Ode on Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood, I think the paint a tremendous picture of the astonishment that can be lost as we transition from child to adult. Sometimes, this unknown loss adds to our perceived misfortune. 

THERE was a time when meadow, grove, and stream, 

The earth, and every common sight, 

To me did seem 

Apparell'd in celestial light, 

The glory and the freshness of a dream. 

It is not now as it hath been of yore;— 

Turn wheresoe'er I may, 

By night or day, 

The things which I have seen I now can see no more. 

The rainbow comes and goes, 

And lovely is the rose; 

The moon doth with delight 

Look round her when the heavens are bare; 

Waters on a starry night 

Are beautiful and fair; 

The sunshine is a glorious birth; 

But yet I know, where'er I go, 

That there hath pass'd away a glory from the earth. 

Ye blessèd creatures, I have heard the call 

Ye to each other make; I see 

The heavens laugh with you in your jubilee; 

My heart is at your festival, 

My head hath its coronal, 

The fullness of your bliss, I feel—I feel it all. 

O evil day! if I were sullen 

While Earth herself is adorning, 

This sweet May-morning, 

And the children are culling 

On every side, 

In a thousand valleys far and wide, 

Fresh flowers; while the sun shines warm, 

And the babe leaps up on his mother's arm:— 

I hear, I hear, with joy I hear! 

—But there's a tree, of many, one, 

A single field which I have look'd upon, 

Both of them speak of something that is gone: 

The pansy at my feet 

Doth the same tale repeat:

Whither is fled the visionary gleam? 

Where is it now, the glory and the dream?

Eternal Rain Drop from Warrior of Light Blog

Hearing Someone Laugh

Hearing Someone Laugh

Have you ever felt jealous hearing someone laugh? 
And then began to think to yourself,

"Why am I so caught in the world's snare? 
Why don't I know right now the freedom
in other voices when their spirit like an
arrow takes flight above the hour's concern?"

But the heart's laughter is never there to taunt,
real laughter is a waving, a beckoning, a message,
a willing call to all that says,

"Come here, we're having fun!" 

        I absolutely love the idea that laughter is when "the spirit, like an arrow, takes flight above the hour's concern". It's such a peaceful verse to meditate on, the comfort that we can rise above our troubles for a few seconds and forget as our soul takes delight. It's also uplifting to hear that laughter is "an invitation to others".
        Take a listen to this uplifting tune:

You Put This Love In My Heart (1977), Keith Green

Recognition

Recognition

Word spread about something her eyes whispered

and many gathered to receive her great gifts

when her gaze turned their way.

And it did, that gift they did receive.

For she looked upon all who came close to her

as if she were seeing God.

What the sun in the sky does for the earth

giving life as it does

so can the eye bestow to the heart

when it caresses a face out of recognition.

Who then does not know a moment of happiness

that they can share with another?

And more than that

because of gratitude.

            This poem is multifaceted and I will not be able to outline every interpretation I am considering here. Mainly because hundreds more interpretations might exist seeing as this poem is so intricately beautiful (and because finals week is looming and I don’t have as much time for my entries).  That being said, my first question would be does this woman know us? I believe the answer is “yes”, but not in the way one would think. She does not know us a friend or acquaintance or even from an old passing glance. She knows as a brother or sister of mankind and she greets us as she does God. Why don’t we practice the recognition she is bestowing in our own lives? Hafiz is urging us to do so, saying that surely we have experienced happiness and with that we must be grateful enough to share it with any human that passes our way in the web of existence. It is in this “sharing” that we can come to recognize anyone, for who is a stranger to the gift of happiness (a smile)?

I Saw You Dancing

I Saw You Dancing

I saw you dancing last night on the roof

of your house all alone.

I felt your heart longing for the

Friend.

I saw you whirling

beneath the soft bright rose

that hung from an invisible stem

in the sky,

So I began to change into my best clothes

in hopes of joining you.

Even though

I live a thousand miles away.

And if

you had spun like an immaculate sphere

just two more times,

Then bowed again so sweetly to

the east,

You would have found God and me

standing so near

and lifting you

into our arms.

I saw you dancing last night near the roof

of this world.

I want this yearning and intimacy that Hafiz speaks of. This entire poem is so beautiful. What a wonderful idea that two people can be so close, despite the distance of one thousand miles. There has never been an easy way to describe love, in part because it can astound you. Hafiz feels for the object of his affection so strongly despite the distance. That is incredibly astounding. 

The last line of this poem gets me every time: I saw you dancing near the roof of this world. That could mean so many things. Moreover, would you join him/her?