Beach at Asilomar, Monterey
| Osprey: Maybe you cannot fly As I do, but you can try. Let the wind lift you higher, But then land when you tire. At least you will have been free For a moment, just like me. Salmon: Maybe you cannot swim As I do, but you can try. Into calm waters dive, When at the Falls you arrive, Stay behind in the cool Waters of the still pool. Chamois: Maybe you cannot climb As I do, the steep alp. But you can find a trail A smaller peak to scale, To see the same alpine view And blue sky that I do. Mockingbird: Maybe you cannot sing, Many songs borrowing, But you can sing your own song, And even strum along, In your very own sweet voice You can justly rejoice. Be content just to be you And you will receive just due. You may not be the best, But as human you are blessed, For you can try it all, To succeed or sometimes fall. That's Life Black crow Protecting Swoops back and forth Over treetop Calling in distress Over and over Until with one Last plaintive call She flies off. That's life. Tan hawk Sits on wire Calmly watching. Mockingbird attacks Over and over Until the hawk With a wing shrug Flies elsewhere. That's life too. -MW Piccola chimes in:  I just take life as it comes. I don't wonder or worry about what might be. | The Far and the Near Goethe once wisely intoned: Willst du immer weiter schweifen? Sieh, das gute liegt so nah, Lerne nur das Glück ergreifen, Denn das Glück ist immer da. This I, in turn, have duly rendered: Do you ever yearn to roam? Please note the good so near at home, Learn but good fortune to embrace, For good fortune's ever in your face. Malaise Gloomy shades once held at bay By obsessive work and will, Are yowling loudly at my heels And coming ever closer. Stiffening limbs and faltering mind And spirits flagging in their wake Have left me easy prey to gloom, To an all-enveloping pall. To have all be as all once was, To have all expectations met, Is but to want the quite impossible, And to invite inevitable gloom. The fault's within, the fault's without. The without is beyond my reach, I'm but left with one sole recourse, It's I who must adjust within. The changing self must be accepted And expectations duly moderated, If I'm to shed my weight of gloom, If malaise is to take wing. In Time In time Everything changes Beyond recognition. In time Nothing remains To witness what was. In time All will return To the nothing that is. In time We may be able To accept the given. Such It Is The past is fading, The present's ailing, And future holds no promise. Such are the lives, And such the woes Of almost all the old. There's nought can change, And nothing end This agony of being. Accept we must, Accept we can, And smiling go our way. Acceptance The past is fading, The present is paling, The future holds no promise. Such sentiment Is but lament, Tells more of self than life. Best to embrace And not deface, And be the richer for it. -JM Succinct Thoughts from JM Don't squeeze a lemon to get orange juice. Discontent is fertile soil for anger and foment. If not at peace with the self, peace with the other is unlikely. Contentment is a coat of many colors. |