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From Conference of the Birds (1177 AD) by Farid al-din Attar, Islamic Saint and Mystic
“Come, you lost atoms, to your Centre draw, And be the Eternal Mirror that you saw: Rays that have wandered into darkness wide, Return, and back into your Sun subside.”
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From the unlocked cage of my heart White doves of love go winging Wild larks of sunrise singing The ice of my heart is broken, broken Joys fountain leaps in the air And all the while no word was spoken I only looked at something fair
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Haiku Unrhymed Japanese verse usually containing 5, 7, and 5 syllables respectively. Haiku often relies on natural images and themes. Believed to have originated in the 17th century founded on the Zen Buddhist philosophy of simplicity, and achieving perfection through omitting the superfluous.
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the v-shape
Katrina Larsen © 2008
Night shifts to day Sun rises over clouds A new beginning.
S.D. © 2008
God is the shortest axis From naught to infinity, Manifest to void.
S.D. © 2008
balmy night
Katrina Larsen © 2008
The old rice field;
Katrina Larsen © 2008
Without Warning Sappho |
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To contact |
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GMP Privacy Policy GMP does not sell, trade, or rent your personal information to others. |
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All poems are protected by copyright and should not be reprinted without permission. |
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Photograph by Barry Berger © 2009 |
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From One-Handed Basket Weaving by Rumi (1369-1420)
Too hot in summer and too cold in winter. But the body's desires, in another way, are like The beauty of careful sewing on a shirt
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Onward and Upward I pass the vale. I breast the steep. I bear the cross: the cross bears me Light leads me on to light. I weep For joy at what I hope to see When, scaled at last the arduous height, For every painful step I trod, I traverse worlds on worlds of light, And pierce some deeper depth of God
John Charles Earle 1917 |
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To view a Poet’s Profile - click the link on the Poet’s name. |
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THE STORY OF A PEARL excerpt from The Bustan of Sa’ di
A single drop of rain fell from a cloud in the sky, But was filled with shame when it saw the sea so wide.
‘Next to the sea then, who am I? If the sea exists, then how can I?’
While looking down on itself With the eyes of contempt, An oyster in its shell, Took it in for nourishment.
And so it was, that its fate was sealed by this event, And it became a famous pearl fit to adorn a king’s head.
Having descended to the depths, It was now exalted to the heights. On the portal of non-existence it went knocking, Until it finally was transformed into being.
Islamic (Sufi) Mystic and Poet Al-Din Sa’di (1175-1291)
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DRAGON OF THE CLOUDS By Lee Evans © 2008
Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further. Job 38:11
You have seen him in your wildest dreams, Flames shooting from his mouth Like lightning through the shuddering sky. Those talons! Those scales! That phantasmagorical tail, Vanishing into the Imagination! Have you ever stared into yourself As piercingly as he stares?
He descends to earth in an unknown form. The havoc that he wreaks with your norms Is the means of your salvation.
He contemplates the liquidity of things Till he becomes like a rotten taproot teeming with ants. He is the void itself, comprehending all, Intangible to all except his Chosen Ones.
He breaks the laws that criminals have made; He worships all Gods and denies their divinity; He covets and he steals his neighbors’ property, Bestowing it upon all those who are in need.
His brother’s blood cries out to him From the bowels of Mother Earth; He takes murderers lives in his own hands, And remodels them in his image like clay.
He heals the sick on the Sabbath, And yet whiles away the weekdays in Taoist repose.
His neighbor’s wives become disciples, And copulate with him in the embrace of yang and yin.
He bears false witness in a courtroom of liars, And violates all commandments carved in stone.
No being can reject him, Or guess his whereabouts, Or seize him in the act of his transgressions.
Look there! The heavens yawn, afire with his breathing! His eyes are the sun and moon, The stars his glittering fangs, His nostrils billow forth profundities that are his veil!
Indicted by the Saints for his crimes against morality, He is condemned to death, But escapes their righteous wrath by arising from the grave.
He mocks your realities, Surrendering to his own almighty will, Gliding among cerebral cumulous, lost to your conditions, But never losing sight of what you really are in him.
This Dragon of the Clouds: You can no more control him Than the Inner Light that casts you as its shadow. Those talons! Those scales! That phantasmagorical tail, Vanishing into the Imagination! Have you ever stared into yourself As piercingly as he stares? |
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“Learn to self-conquest, persevere thus for a time, and you will perceive very clearly the advantage which you gain from it. As soon you apply yourself to orison (prayer), you will at once feel your senses gather themselves together.“ - St Theresa |
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Let your life be that of a rose |
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Great Mystery Publishing |
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The Poetic Heart |
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Is there another life? Shall I awake and find all this a dream? There must be, we cannot be created for this sort of suffering.” - John Keats
What Zen does, is to delineate itself on the infinite canvas of time and space, the way flying wild geese cast their shadow on the water below without any idea of doing so, while the water reflects the geese just as naturally and unintentionally.” - D. T. Suzuki
“Zen makes a religion of tranquility. Zen is not a religion which arouses emotions, causing tears to race down the face from our eyes or stirring us to shout aloud the name of God.” - Sokei-an
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ZEN ANGELS By Lee Evans @ 2009
In the Third Heaven they laugh, naked, innocent-- as Master Suzuki holds up a spoon.
To intellectuals they remain enigmas, maybe heretics-- unconscious in the Godhead, their desert cemetery.
You who are only partially dead cannot enjoy the Resurrection: Slain in Christ, they have attained to Nothing.
For all you know, they could be your next door neighbors! Why not invite them over for a cup of tea? |
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“The only Zen you find on the top of mountains is the Zen you bring up there.” - Robert M. Pirsig
“Zen is a way of liberation, concerned not with good or bad or advantageous, but what is.” - Alan Watts |
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THE DIVINE IMAGE By William Blake
To Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love All pray in their distress; And to these virtues of delight Return their thankfulness.
For Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love Is God, our father dear, And Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love Is Man, his child and care.
For Mercy has a human heart, Pity, a human face, And Love, the human form divine, And Peace, the human dress.
Then every man of every clime That prays to the human form divine: Love, Mercy, Pity, Peace.
And all must love the human form In heathen, turk or jew. Where Mercy, Love & Pity dwell There God is dwelling too. |
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TO THE EVENING STAR By William Blake
Thou fair-hair’d angel of the evening, Now, whilst the sun rests on the mountains, light Thy bright torch of love; they radiant crown Put on, and smile upon our evening bed! Smile on our loves, and while thou drawest the Blue curtains of the sky, scatter they silver dew On every flower that shuts its sweet eyes In timely sleep. Let thy west wind sleep on The lake; speak silence with thy glimmering eyes, And wash the dusk with silver. Soon, full soon, Dost thou withdraw; then the wolf rages wide, And the lion glares thro’ the dun forest: The fleeces of our flocks are cover’d with Thy sacred dew: protect them with thine influence. |
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THE DREAM
A man lay on his bed at the end of his life waiting to die. His dream came to pay his last respects and bid farewell to the man who had never used it.
As it entered the room, the man looked down in shame. “Why did you not realise me?” the dream asked. “Because I was afraid,” the man said. “Afraid of what?” said the dream. “I was afraid I would fail.”
“But haven’t you failed by not attempting to use me?”. “Yes I did, but I always thought there would be tomorrow.” “You Fool!” said the dream. “Did it never occur to you that there was only ever today? The moment that you are in right now?
Do you think that now that death is here that you can put it off until tomorrow?”. “No”, said the man, a tear gently rolling down his cheek. The dream was softer now, because it knew that there were two types of pain, the pain of discipline and the pain of regret, and while discipline weighs ounces, regret weighs pounds.
Then the dream leant forward to gently wipe away the tear and said, “You need only have taken the first step and I would have taken one to meet you, for the only thing that ever separated us was the belief in your mind that you couldn’t have me”.
Then they said goodbye and they both died.
Mark Baker©2008 |
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Excerpt from a poem on diversity and unity by Rumi—Islamic Mystic and Poet
Come again, please, come again,
The whole universe spreads out in front of you. And anything is possible in this very moment. Make this day a beautiful and memorable one. Then repeat the process, again and again, for each new day that comes your way." -- Ralph Marston
Excerpt from poem by Michelangelo I'm envious, Love, I swear
The marble not yet carved can hold the form of every thought the greatest artist has. - Michelangelo
Make your work to be in keeping with your purpose.—Leonardo Da Vinci
Obstacles cannot crush me. Every obstacle yields to stern resolve. He who is fixed to a star does not change his mind. —Leonardo Da Vinci
NATIVE AFRICAN PRAYER FOR PEACE
JAINIST PRAYER FOR PEACE
ZOROASTRIAN PRAYER FOR PEACE
MUSLIM PRAYER FOR PEACE
JEWISH PRAYER FOR PEACE |
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By Edgar A. Guest
I have to live with myself, and so I want to be fit for myself to know. Whatever happens, I want to be Self-respecting and conscience free.
All things must come to the soul from its roots, from where it is planted. —St Teresa of Avila —St Teresa of Avila —St Teresa of Avila There are more tears shed over answered prayers than over unanswered prayers. —St Teresa of Avila |
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SHINTO PRAYER FOR PEACE
MAYAN PRAYER TO THE SEVEN DIRECTIONS From the North, House of Night From the West, House of Transformation From the South, House of the Eternal Sun From above, House of Heaven. From below, House of Earth From the Centre, Galactic Source, which is everywhere at once, Oh Yum Hunab Ku Evam Maya E Ma Ho
SIKH PRAYER FOR PEACE |
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NATIVE AMERICAN PRAYER FOR PEACE |
