A Japanese Shrine

i am immortal said the sky said the waterwheel said the fly bury me not with your tender hands songs i sing my bones already yellow with age Lovely poem, thank you for allowing me this dance. ~A "There are very few human beings who receive the truth, complete and staggering, by instant illumination. Most of them acquire it fragment by fragment, on a small scale, by successive developments, cellularly, like a laborious mosaic." Anais Nin

Keith so lovely the smoothness of your works, just the most soothing dreams in words. The recent crap here on Neo has me scared to acknowledge works without adding some negatively critical element, but I find none to add here... I do HATE that bullying that occurs occassionally. Why should I not be free to read & find the beauty of what I read & feed it back, that is also critique, surely... this is so beautiful, it adds so much good to the world even if it has a sadness about it. You are a beautiful writer Keith, lovely to see one of your here. Hope all is well for you. Anni xxWe dont believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch. Once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveal

A beautiful reminder of beauty and what we can share culturally. Cheers, Jess

Simply profound and beautiful my friend ... you leave a lasting memory along with your words, -------- Locked in every screen, and crafted pagoda, with polished wood and gilded tile, Immortality is set in a tableau of ornamental greenery, water and sculpted sand. These words made me think of recent things and maybe inspiration come close to home from this one ? lol Brillant write but arent they always *Big Smile* Oh and your naughty for not telling me when I asked had you writen anything new... lol ... still the naughty Professor Love Jayne (hugz)

The beauty and peacefulness of this piece really comes through. I've not been to Japan, but I know of the hallowed grounds you speak of. The closest I've come is my own study of martial arts, semi-formally. I can't begin to explain the flow behind each fluid movement - it all intertwines: mind, body, and spirit. Your poem took me back to those instances of flowing fluid energies, and it's a peace that I hope to revisit some day. ~Jess K. ----------------------- "Why worry? There should be laughter after pain. There should be sunshine after rain. These things have always been the same. So why worry now?" - Dire Straits

Though I haven't been to the land of the rising sun, or lived the life of austerity and silence, I have been a contemplative ~ the essence of monastery life, and I live the life of Zen ~ the essence of meditative life. Your poem, dear Keith shows you live in both worlds... the life of a scientist and the heart of a mystic, a poet. ~A "It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err." Mahatma Gandhi

Re-reading through, I found myself replacing "filling the air..." with "insulating the air..." For me, it sort of brings about the image of the peace you speak of forming a protective aura around the shrine - seems somewhat appropriate. Just a food for thought - would love to know your opinion of it, and whether I'm on the right track? Black belt in martial arts, huh? There are 12 belts (that I know of) in the Tae Kwon Do form: 10th Kup: white belt 9th Kup: white w/ yellow stripe 8th Kup: yellow 7th Kup: yellow with green stripe 6th Kup: green 5th Kup: green with blue stripe 4th Kup: blue 3rd Kup: blue with brown stripe 2nd Kup: brown 1st Kup: brown with black stripe black belt 1st Dan: black belt with white stripe I'd say with my informal training, I'd probably fall on the level of maybe a 7th or 6th Kup. I'm not sure what form your ex studies, but a black belt in anything is serious business! Sorry for the digression in thought... it's just that this piece very much reminded me of simple peace, oneness within yourself, and oneness with the world - something that I had been able to experience just with a basic Kuk Mu Chodan routine. Thankyou again, friend, for posting something so peaceful and lovely. ~Jess K. ----------------------- "Why worry? There should be laughter after pain. There should be sunshine after rain. These things have always been the same. So why worry now?" - Dire Straits

Hi Jess, yup my brother qualified for a black belt in Karate as a teenager... my boyfriend at the time had one and was his mentor. I prefer Tai Chi... As far as 'insulating' vs. 'filling', imo the Eastern philosophy is of emptiness, negation... like art which is defined by the negative (empty) space around an object... Dunno Prof, what you think? ~A "It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err." Mahatma Gandhi