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Your Poem for July 24, 2010
How to Determine a Dog's Age in Human Years
 | eHow of the Day |
How to Determine a Dog's Age in Human Yearsby Melissa Maroff  It has always been commonly believed that each year of a dog's life is equivalent to seven in human years. However, this isn't exactly accurate, since a one-year-old dog can give birth, whereas a seven-year-old child cannot. And how would you explain the world's oldest living dog on record making it to 29? (That would be 203 in human years!) Then, of course, there's your 11-year-old dog that sure seems frisky for 77. That is why veterinarians have determined that 77 is the "new 60" and have come up with a more accurate way to calculate a dog's age in human years. The following steps will show you how. Read More »Related Articles | Advertisement Featured Member Julie eHow Community Manager's Articles On the Web |
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DarkPoetry Poem of the Day: Moonflower
Rose colored, frail,
Hanging her head in the night:
As if to hold onto the memories, the shadows on her wall;
The sun had revealed them to her,
The moonflower.
Clinging to the branch her vine so tightly twists around,
And gazing down,
Her desperate song her own light
Dripping, honey-like,
And just as sweet,
Though the wind blows deaf
And will not hear.
Hanging her head in the night:
As if to hold onto the memories, the shadows on her wall;
The sun had revealed them to her,
The moonflower.
Clinging to the branch her vine so tightly twists around,
And gazing down,
Her desperate song her own light
Dripping, honey-like,
And just as sweet,
Though the wind blows deaf
And will not hear.
A tendril reaching out –
A viny lock of hair,
Or a leafy finger –
But her stars are blind
And will not shine
For her,
The flower of the moon,
The daughter of the stars.
A petal and a leaf,
Curling up into herself.
She had blossomed in a night
Before her eyes had frozen in the ice
Of winter.
She had melted in the spring,
Summer drought then left her thirsting,
The leaf refusing to grow
And seeing only grey.
And the snow,
It came too early,
Autumn rains barely enough to lift her eyes
To the skies
That turned grey before their time.
But she knows the ground,
Her roots lie in that soil,
And she tells herself, the ground, at least, is constant.
Not the sky, that weeps,
And freezes and burns
In turn.
Nor the oceans, nor the streams,
Nor the trees
Or her own leaves,
That whither in the cold.
She takes her refuge in the earth,
And her rose-colored dreams.
She, the flower of moonlight,
The daughter of the stars,
And the child of her memory.
http://www.darkpoetry.com/node/work/79251
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[Poetry Chaikhana] Matsuo Basho - Crow's
Here's your Daily Poem from the Poetry Chaikhana --
 | Crow's By Matsuo Basho English version by Lucien Stryk and Takashi Ikemoto
Crow's
 / Photo by Nicki Verkevisser / |
| ============ Thought for the Day: When all else fails you, ============ | Here's your Daily Music selection --  Sacha Silva Susurro |
Hi Omss -
Basho was probably born in 1644 in Iga Province outside of Kyoto, Japan. His father was a poor samurai-farmer.
As a teenager, Basho entered the service of the local lord, acting as a page. The young lord was only a couple of years older than Basho, and the two became friends, enjoying the playful exchange of haiku verses.
When Basho was still a young man, his friend and lord died. In reaction, Basho left home, abandoned his samurai status, and took to a life of wandering.
After several years, he settled in Edo (Tokyo), continuing to write and publish poetry. His haiku began to attract attention. Students started to gather around him. At about this time, Basho also took up Zen meditation.
Basho remained restless, even in his fame. A neighborhood fire claimed his small house in Edo leaving him homeless, and Basho once again took up the itinerant life, visiting friends and disciples, taking up residence for brief periods only to begin another journey. It was during this time that Basho composed some of his greatest haiku.
Basho returned to Edo in 1691 and died there in 1694.
==
It's usually a mistake to try to explain a haiku's meaning, since its primary impact is not really comprehended by the logical mind at all. Most haiku aren't composed with intentioned metaphors; rather, the moment naturally resonates with nature's implied truths.
But, for the sake of play, let's dig into this one a bit anyway...
In this haiku by Basho, each line gives us a distinct element: a crow, an abandoned nest, and a plum tree. Basho ordered his lines so first we have the awareness of a crow, which can be understood as representing the busy mind, a bird that proclaims its presence by croaking in the winter sky. Like the mind, the crow is a carrion feeder, awkward in its movements but somehow suggestive of a hidden reality.
Next, Basho shows us that this crow has abandoned its nest. With the coming of spring, the crow has left, the mind has emptied itself, grown quiet, still.
An empty nest may be a curiosity for a moment, but its animating principle, the part that normally holds our attention has vanished, and so the vision widens and we finally see the plum tree that supports it. Watching the empty mind, we finally expand our perception and recognize the full awareness in flower. We witness the natural, unmodified awareness of the Buddha mind that upholds mind and all creation.
Crow -- empty nest -- plum tree.
Mind -- no mind -- Buddha mind.
Ivan
Share Your Thoughts on today's poem or my commentary...
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Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2010 by Ivan M. Granger.
All other material is copyrighted by the respective authors, translators and/or publishers.
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