The Privileged Lovers

When two of my friends married each other. I gave them this Rumi's poem. Their wedding was beautifully organized in a mountain retreat center in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The resort has koi ponds, water fountains, and peaceful Buddha statues. They took their wedding vows under a big tree. The entire celebration was organic yet elegant. I was so happy that their romance first started at a dinner at my place.

The Privileged Lovers

The moon has become a dancer
at this festival of love
This dance of light,

This sacred blessing,
This divine love,
beckons us
to a world beyond
only lovers can see
with their eyes of fiery passion.

They are the chosen ones
who have surrendered.
Once they were particles of light
now they are the radiant sun.

They have left behind
the world of deceitful games.
They are the privileged lovers
who create a new world
with their eyes of fiery passion.

Rumi

Keeping Quiet

I came across this poem at a window of Kim Son Monastery in Watsonville, CA. My friend said that it calmed her to read it. Perhaps it is there for that very same purpose. Pablo Neruda's poetry is powerful.

Keeping Quiet

Now we will count to twelve
and we will all keep still.
For once on the face of the earth,
let’s not speak in any language,
let’s stop for a second,
and not move our arms so much.
It would be an exotic moment
without rush, without engines;
we would all be together
in a sudden strangeness…
If we were not so single-minded
about keeping our lives moving,
and for once could do nothing,
perhaps a huge silence
might interrupt this sadness
of never understanding ourselves
and of threatening ourselves
with death.
Perhaps the earth can teach us
as when everything seems dead in winter
and later proves to be alive.
Now I’ll count up to twelve
and you keep quiet and I will go.

~ Pablo Neruda, Extravagaria, translated by Alastair Reid

Inner beauty

I love to take pictures of flowers, nature scenes, old buildings, and people. As if I am afraid that if I don't do it, I can't describe it to others or remind of myself what I have seen or witnessed. But how can inner beauty be captured?

The other day I set up a meditation of sort to look into every face that I came across throughout my day and try to see some inner beauty in it. It was a fun excercise. I sat across a homeless man on Muni and thought of his life, his struggle/pain, his gentle smile though that may be a manifestation of his mental health problem, ...

Perhaps in many ways, I have been in his shoes before as well. The line between his life and those sitting around him are thinner than they realize.