Posted in John Anstie, Poems/Poetry

Earth Prayer

[I cannot remember what it was that inspired this poem, but, when all is said and done, I think it and the photo from Max Mitrofanov speak for themselves]

Picture credit: Max Mitrofanov (via triumph.dev1antart.com)
Photo: Max Mitrofanov (via triumph.dev1antart.com)

Dear Earth,
mother of us all,
solar sister,
child of the Universe,
our common blood
was carbon, nitrogen,
oxygen and hydrogen,
in concert with the stars.

Astronomical forces
great voids imploding
then exploding in light
with dust and smell
of a thousand million
godless bombs
driven to extinction
by unlimited energy.

Facing the hideousness
of death at day’s end,
the weight of this life
seems so much lighter,
in the brightness
of our knowledge,
portending reunion
of the atoms we are.

Dear Earth,
mother of us all,
in your patience and
your tolerance of us,
breath a huge sigh
and remind us
who we are and
whence we came.

© 2013 John Anstie

Picture credit: Max Mitrofanov (via tr1umph.deviantart.com)

John_in_Pose_Half_Face351w-rH34dTL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_JOHN ANSTIE (My Poetry Library and 42) ~ is a British poet and writer, a contributing editor here at Bardo, and multi-talented gentleman self-described as a “Family man, Grandfather, Occasional Musician, Amateur photographer and Film-maker, Apple-MAC user, Implementation Manager, and Engineer. John participates in d’Verse Poet’s Pub and is a player in New World Creative Union. He’s been blogging since the beginning of 2011. John is also an active member of The Poetry Society (cover1UK).

John has been involved in the recent publication of two anthologies that are the result of online collaborations among two international groups of amateur and professional poets. One of these is The Grass Roots Poetry Group, for which he produced and edited their anthology, “Petrichor* Rising. The other group is d’Verse Poet Pub, in which John’s poetry also appears The d’Verse Anthology: Voices of Contemporary World Poetry, produced and edited by Frank Watson.

* Petrichor – from the Greek pɛtrɨkər, the scent of rain on the dry earth.

Posted in Buddhism, Jamie Dedes, Poems/Poetry

THE TRANSFORMATION OF THINGS

Zhuangzi Dreaming of a Butterfly by Lu Zhi (1496–1576), Ming dynasty, mid-16th century Ink on silk, 29.4 x 51.4 cm

THE TRANSFORMATION OF THINGS

by

Jamie Dedes

A Man sleeping … yes!

A Butterfly flitting… yes!

Zhuangzi, dreamer of Butterfly,

ponders what joy there might be

in that tiny Butterfly brain, so small

too small to be perceived by I or eye

Is it dreaming me? he asks

Or, am I dreaming it?

Imagine the Universe engaged,

he thinks to himself, inside that flutter

– thunder, a Cosmic Belly Laugh –  Ho! Ho! –

Then Zhuangzi knows: He is silent

flitting from flower to flower in eternal spring

coming and going, going and coming

This is called the Transformation of Things

·

© poem, 2012 Jamie Dedes, All rights reserved

Photograph courtesy of Gemeinfrei, in the U.S. public domain.

Posted in Jamie Dedes, Poems/Poetry

BELOW THE SKY

Don’t say that I will depart tomorrow

even today I am still arriving

Call Me by My True NamesThich Nhat Hahn

ABOVE THE RIVER, BELOW THE SKY

by

Jamie Dedes

We sat here some million years ago

on this hilltop below the sky.

Nudging one another,

questioning grandmother moon.

We sustained our bodies on sweet cumulus,

and sparked our spirits with starlight.

It’s many æons now since you left

to stand a tree on a tropic isle.

I have flitted there and back again,

finding our quirky queries still sage.

The golden moon is yet our intimate.

The wisdom today is the old wisdom:

no blame below boundless sky

nor above this resounding river.

·

Photo credit ~ Peter Griffin, Public Domain Pictures.net.