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 

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

Be Not Grieved

Be Not Grieved

Although you have not 
received Love's true guerdon
one day your dessert will become a garden,
so be not grieved.

Do not turn your heart away,
nor speak against your Beloved,
but bear your present state,
and be not grieved. 

Let your tender body 
and troubled mind be stilled,
one day desire will be fulfilled,
so be not grieved. 

Behind the curtain, 
a secret wonder is happening,
a plan that you do not know of,
is unfolding,
so be not grieved. 

Suffer gladly 
Love's paradox, rules, 
trials and conditions.
You will reach 
a safe harbor,
so be not grieved.  

       I love learning new words through poetry. If you look at the second line, you will see the word "guerdon", which means "a reward or recompense".
       The last stanza of this poem is so powerful, "Suffer gladly Love's paradox, rules, trials, and conditions. You will reach a safe harbor, so be not grieved." Do you think there is any truth in believing that you have to endure pain or disappointment on the road to finding your safe harbor, aka your forever love? Sometimes I think it is necessary that we let Love do something to us, whatever that something is. It should cause us to have a "before and after picture", it should cause us to see the world differently - not because we have been asked to change, but because our outlook is that much better, that much brighter, that much more optimistically hopeful and radiant.
       A wonderful example of Love's paradox if the book (and now movie), If I Stay by Gayle Forman.  Take a listen to the amazing song featured in the film.

I Never Wanted to Go, Willamette Stone

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.

Because Of Our Wisdom

Because Of Our Wisdom

Because of our wisdom 
we will travel far for love. 

All movement is a sign of thirst,

Most speaking really says, 
"I am hungry to know you."

Every desire of your body is holy;
every desire of your body is holy. 

Dear one, why wait until you are dying
to discover that divine truth? 

                I think in this poem Hafiz is trying to say any passion of your body, any thing that makes you stir, that puts your spirit into seeking mode is worth purusing. All action in our life is chasing what we love, and that's a good thing, as Hafiz puts it, because it is a "divine truth". 

Let it Be Love, Family Force 5

Out of Great Need, We Are Holding Hands

As we climb the mountain of life, out of great need, we are holding hands. Loving is never letting go.

        I think this is such a beautiful sentiment, "out of great need". Sure, love and loving, are elective gestures in our life, but they are so necessary. We need someone to walk through the raging waters of life with, just as we need someone to celebrate with on the mountaintop. We need someone through the valleys and the peaks, we need someone. And it is this simple truth that is so universal, the act of holding hands. The act of claiming someone as your own. Culturally, we will not grasp the hand of a stranger. We will not reach out and say "come walk with me". But to those we love, our hands are there, never letting go.
         Tim Keller spoke about this need well: "To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God. It is what we need more than anything. It liberates us from pretense, humbles us out of our self-righteousness, and fortifies us for any difficulty life can throw at us."

A Thousand Shapes, Colors, and Forms

The divine manna of Love is disguised in a thousand shapes, colors, and forms. 

        I really love this quote...the fulfilment and nourishment that comes from Love can be disguised in a thousand shapes, colors, forms, sizes, professions, education levels, genders, sexualities, countries, languages, religions, etc. Wed your heart to anything that calls only to your own. 

        Another wonderful poem by Pablo Neruda is "Tie Your Heart At Night To Mine, Love": 

Tie Your Heart At Night To Mine, Love 

Tie your heart at night to mine, love,

and both will defeat the darkness

like twin drums beating in the forest

against the heavy wall of wet leaves.

Night crossing: black coal of dream

that cuts the thread of earthly orbs

with the punctuality of a headlong train

that pulls cold stone and shadow endlessly.

Love, because of it, tie me to a purer movement,

to the grip on life that beats in your breast,

with the wings of a submerged swan,

So that our dream might reply

to the sky's questioning stars

with one key, one door closed to shadow.

           I've Always Loved You, Third Day 

Maybe Even Propose To

Whatever or whoever might help you say, "Things aren't so bad..." keep around, maybe even propose to. 

              I really love this line about whoever in your life reminds you of your blessings, keep around. In Yeats' poem, featured below, he pens "I bring you with reverent hands the books of my numberless dreams". That's what a lover should do, remind you of the infinite pages and chapters on which you will write the story of your life.
                 If you are looking for a very romantic trip and live near the Philadelphia area, I recommend checking out this incredible tour the Love Letter Train Tour. You can watch an NBC commentary on it here.

A Poet to his Beloved 

(1899) by W.B. Yeats 

I bring you with reverent hands 

The books of my numberless dreams; 

White woman that passion has worn 

As the tide wears the dove-gray sands, 

And with heart more old than the horn 5

That is brimmed from the pale fire of time: 

White woman with numberless dreams 

I bring you my passionate rhyme. 

Love Letter Train Tour by Mural Arts and Stephen Powers

A Royal Event: Existence

We all help to host a royal event: Existence. 

            Today I took a liking to the song, "Testimony of Grace", it's a song about the stories of those who have come to know God. Since it's Sunday, take a listen.

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Heard Your Heart Say

Tell me all I need to know, I think I heard your heart say. 

       Read this wonderful poem by Rilke and let it speak to your heart. Yet everything that touches us, me and you, takes us together like a violin's bow, which draws one voice out of two separate strings.

Love Song By Rainer Maria Rilke

How can I keep my soul in me, 

so that it doesn't touch your soul? 

How can I raise it high enough, 

past you, to other things?

I would like to shelter it, among remote

lost objects, in some dark and silent place

that doesn't resonate when your depths resound.

Yet everything that touches us, me and you,

takes us together like a violin's bow,

which draws one voice out of two separate strings.

Upon what instrument are we two spanned?

And what musician holds us in his hand?

Oh sweetest song.

Two People Fell In Love, Brad Paisley

Plugged Into The Infinite

Being plugged into the Infinite helps. 

       Does love help you to soar above this world? To find the beauty in things beyond whatever your circumstances, shortcomings, and failures are? I think it does. The last two lines of this poem are beautiful, fear, weariness, worry, shadows, etc. will not win the loved and the lover. Aren't we all covered from darkness then?

Love Is Enough 

by William Morris

Love is enough: though the World be a-waning, 

And the woods have no voice but the voice of complaining, 

Though the sky be too dark for dim eyes to discover 

The gold-cups and daisies fair blooming thereunder, 

Though the hills be held shadows, and the sea a dark wonder, 5

And this day draw a veil over all deeds pass'd over, 

Yet their hands shall not tremble, their feet shall not falter; 

The void shall not weary, the fear shall not alter 

These lips and these eyes of the loved and the lover. 

Remind Me, Brad Paisley

There Is A Face Here

There Is A Face Here

Don't you know you could bring an end
to so much suffering,

if you just walked through the streets,
looking at everyone, 
as you do your Beloved? 

There is an enchanting face here, 
if you can slow down,
and behold in an extraordinary way. 

        How do you look at your Beloved? At others? At yourself?

"I would describe myself

like a landscape I've studied

at length, in detail;

like a word I'm coming to understand;

like a pitcher I pour from at mealtime;

like my mother's face;

like a ship that carried me

when the waters raged." 

Rainer Maria Rilke, The Book of Hours I, 13

When God Made You, Newsong

Everyone Should Be Honored Like This

Everyone Should Be Honored Like This

When people come to my house for the first time,
I will kneel before them and ask for their hand,
and place the back of it against my forehead. 

Everyone should be honored like this.
What else can make you grow? 

I am one of God's pillars in this world,
I must extend His Love, carry out His Wish. 

And what of those for whom it would be best 
if they did not see me humbly before them - 
on my knees, until they are ready? 

Well, at night in my prayers, 
I place my head upon their feet. 

        Yesterday I head a truly inspiring story, and am proud to call this man my friend. You can read it here: Kidney Donation. After an amazing act of grace, kindness, selflessness, and brotherly love, Michael was still willing to give up the glory to God. How many of us would donate a kidney to man we just met? How many of us would eagerly defer the gratitude away from ourselves? It literally leaves me speechless.

One Thing Remains (2010), Jesus Culture 

When You Have Not Had A Drink of Love

When You Have Not Had A Drink of Love

I know the way you can get when you 
have not had a drink of Love;

your face hardens, your muscles cramp, 
a strange look appears in your eyes.

Others sense your sadness,
you rip apart the sentences of friends,
weigh every word, judge many, 

and then when you meet Love,
you pull out a ruler to measure 
from every angle in your darkness,
the beautiful dimensions of this heart
that has greeted yours. 

Stop, just drink, 
just drink Love,
and give Love,
give. 

       I love how Hafiz writes this, just allow Love to greet you. Stop thinking, stop wondering, stop contemplating. Love is irrational, love is without reason, that's what makes it pure, that's what makes it emanate from the soul.

       In Letter's To A Young Poet, Rilke beautifully describes this mystery that is without words, that is beyond words: "Whoever takes it seriously, discovers that, as with death which is real, so with real love, there are no easy recipes. For both these undertakings, there are no universally agreed-upon rules. But in the same measure that we begin as individuals to explore life's meaning for us, these great things come toward us to be met and known. The claims made upon us by the hard work of love are bigger than life and essential to our unfolding, and we are seldom up to them at the outset. But if we hold steady and take this love upon us as a task and a teaching, instead of losing ourselves in an easy and frivolous game behind which to hide the most honest questions of our existence—this may be felt as a small illumination and step forward by those who come long after us. That in itself would be a lot." O, to write like that!
       Listen to the lyrics of Paul Stookey's song Wedding Song (There Is Love): "You believe in something you never did before." 

Wedding Song (There Is Love), Paul Stookey 

Everything I Have Is Also Yours

Everything I Have Is Also Yours

There are so many gifts still unopened from your soul's birthday.
There are so many hand-crafted presents 
that have been sent into your life by God. 

The Beloved does not mind repeating: 
"Everything I have is also yours." 

A lover is a vital performance, 
a sweet breath in one of Creation's favorite songs. 

       There’s something to be said about gifts from our Beloved, and how much they can mean to us. The transient gifts, the new shirt, the better shoes, will fade with time. But what about love letters? About sweet nothings whispered to our soul? About moonlight and sunrises shared in deep embrace? These things have enduring power, they make us feel wanted, needed even. Is it because they take more effort than a glance? An offer for a drink? A quick drop of cash at the local store? With letters, is it because we can revisit their words as many times as we want and treasure the creases we form in our favorite spots? Or is it just because a letter about someone’s love for us touches us in the innermost part, where we are deeply human? Where we yearn to be touched by all souls who find common ground with our own?
        Take a listen to this incredibly beautiful love song.

Love, Me (1991), Collin Raye

Listen To This Music

Listen To This Music

I am a hole in a flute that the Christ’s breath

moves through –

listen to this music.

I am the concert from the movement

of every creature singing

in myriad chords.

And every dancer, their foot I know and lift.

And every brush and hand, well,

that is me too,

who caresses any canvas or cheek.

How did I become all these things,

and beyond all things?

It was my destiny

as it is yours.

            Hafiz’s “music” is about destining towards the peak of life. Become who you are through every person or passion that has touched your life and added a fiber to your being; undoubtedly then you will harbor the orchestra he describes inside your soul. The following Billy Joel song, For The Longest Time, seems to reflect on the joy of finding someone who makes you very happy. This is a “truth” many people have experienced. Conversely, sometimes they forget that even though such encounters may end, if they’ve struck a chord within you, there will “still be music left to write”. As Billy Joel sings: “If you said goodbye to me tonight/There would still be music left to write/What else could I do/I’m so inspired by you”.

The Stairway of Existence

The Stairway of Existence

We are not in pursuit of formalities

or fake religious laws,

for through the stairway of existence

we have come to God’s door.

We are people who need love,

because love is the soul’s life,

love is creation’s greatest joy.

            Perhaps Hafiz is saying you can find God through Love. I’ve always believed that a life conducted with morals and led with the pursuit of love is a “good” one. I think all religions have this as their chief aim, belief in love the verb, not the noun. Go out and spread love, go out and be love. This gives life to the soul.

            Moreover, the greatest joy you will ever experience will be tied to this emotion, this action. If you are very lucky, when the fields of your life turn gray, you will have left a lasting legacy to the world. Conversely, for most of us, the legacy we leave will be through the people we loved and the people who loved us.

San Giorgio Maggiore at Dusk (1908-1912)

Claude Monet

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)?