WHERE ALL'S ACCUSTOMED, CEREMONIOUS
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| Thriving Decorative Trellis Cultivated by my brother & sister - in - law, Dave & Marion |
"In the mornings
I drank the dew that fell from the magnolia:
At evening
ate the petals that dropped from chrysanthemums.
If only my mind can be truly beautiful,
It matters nothing that I often faint for famine.
I pulled up roots to bind the valerian
And thread the fallen clusters of the castor plant;
I trimmed sprays of cassia for plaiting melilotus,
And knotted the lithe, light trails of ivy."
Excerpt from "Lament on Encountering Sorrow / Li Sao"
Found in the Songs of Ch'u / Qu Yuan (340 - 278 BC)
This eloquent nature lyric, from so many centuries ago, captures with poetic accuracy the concepts of contemporary mindfulness: cultivating awareness, observing the present moment, returning perpetually to moments of peace, approaching nature without judgment; and remaining curious, calm, and kind.
For many of us, gardening provides the one true path, for others, arranging flowers or merely picking them. Not much of a gardener myself, beyond raking and weeding, I was nevertheless delighted when my friend Len responded, upon reading the above - quoted lines:
"Thank your for sharing this, Kitti; it's beautiful and apt. Before I reached the source I thought it was your own first-person experience in the garden."How I wish! Yet, I can honestly say that it is my experience in the library, or sitting on a lawn chair, in the garden, re-reading my favorite notebooks of poetry. How fortunate I was, nearly 40 years ago, before I ever knew of "mindfulness" (well, I kind of did know), to jot down Qu Yuan's ancient "Lament." Though he speaks of "fainting for famine," his "lithe, light," lilting imagery is nearly mouth - watering, his flowery descriptions so delicate and delicious! His words remain true to the present day, re - minding the reader of the time - honored quest for peace and beauty of mind: "If only my mind can be truly beautiful . . . ."
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| Silver Carpet Lamb's Ear Once again, courtesy of Marion & Dave! |
Thanks to my friend Nikki for sharing
these wise words from the ever mindful Mary Oliver (1935 - 2019):
“Teach the children. We don’t matter so much, but the children do. Show them daisies and the pale hepatica. Teach them the taste of sassafras and wintergreen. The lives of the blue sailors, mallow, sunbursts, the moccasin-flowers. And the frisky ones–inkberry, lamb’s-quarters, blueberries. And the aromatic ones–rosemary, oregano. Give them peppermint to put in their pockets as they go to school. Give them the fields and the woods and the possibility of the world salvaged from the lords of profit. Stand them in the stream, head them upstream, rejoice as they learn to love this green space they live in, its sticks and leaves and then the silent, beautiful blossoms. Attention is the beginning of devotion.”
Mindful
Everyday
I see or hear
something
that more or less
kills me
with delight,
that leaves me
like a needle
in the haystack
of light.
It was what I was born for —
to look, to listen,
to lose myself
inside this soft world —
to instruct myself
over and over
in joy,
and acclamation.
Nor am I talking
about the exceptional,
the fearful, the dreadful,
the very extravagant —
but of the ordinary,
the common, the very drab,
the daily presentations.
Oh, good scholar,
I say to myself,
how can you help
but grow wise
with such teachings
as these —
the untrimmable light
of the world,
the ocean’s shine,
the prayers that are made
out of grass?
Next Fortnightly Post
Wednesday, April 28
Between now and then, read
THE QUOTIDIAN KIT
my shorter, almost daily blog posts
www.dailykitticarriker.blogspot.com
Looking for a good book? Try
KITTI'S LIST
my running list of recent reading
www.kittislist.blogsppot.com
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