Posted on by solangesuri2015

Culture

I’ve often wondered about nakedness
Not just of the body
But also of the mind…
And how we’ve constructed
The meaning of virtue with so much nuance.

The human is a creature of meaning;
Of perception enhanced by learning.
We understand the extent of a day
By learning to ‘see’ the night.
Differences perceived make clear the definition.

The dressed body is intentional
It is a desire to be seen on one’s own terms
Not simply as a naked truth
But as a presence that is simultaneously
Human and divine; here and beyond.

We must dress up, not because we are vain
But because we are seeking who we are–
Not just naked bodies, but in our nakedness,
We are a vast cosmos of possibilities.
Through dress, we come to see newer versions of ourselves.

Posted on by solangesuri2015

To Sustain Life, Allow for Change

Time is the playground of life.
Do something daily, consistently
And it becomes a habit.
But a habit can, over time, become a prison.

Break the habit;
And you’ll create the new.
When you create the new
The old and the familiar starts slipping away.

The new must now be fixed.
To replace the old and the familiar
It must achieve a new rhythm
It must become ingrained as a habit.

But a habit can, over time, become a prison.
It can make you numb to experience
Keep playing then. Be the destroyer,
The sustainer and creator on the playground of time.

Posted on by solangesuri2015

The Lines And What Lies Between Them

What absences do you feel?
What do you feel
Is missing from your life?

What presences are you ignoring?
What are you refusing to see
That patiently awaits your attention?

While life must be lived
And its pains and pleasures experienced;
Life’s beauty lies in being read
In being noticed and beheld.

Posted on by solangesuri2015

What Do You Know?

Knowledge is a gain
That comes to those
Who sincerely seek it.

Books hold stories, theories
And philosophies.
On their own
They’re not knowledge.

Experiences too,
Are granted to all
But on their own
They don’t yield knowledge.

Knowledge is an invocation.
For knowledge to enlighten
There must first be
An awareness of darkness.
There must be acceptance
That one does not know.
There must be a question…
There must be wonder…

There must be the recognition
That Existence is the greatest teacher
But to Existence one must go.
She will not come to you
At a scheduled hour.

Have you ever wondered
What the trees know?
Or the wind?
Or waters that travel
Fearlessly across lands
To reach the vastness of the ocean?

What knowledge do they hold?
What knowledge holds them?
And do they ‘know’ about it?
Or is their knowledge of a different type?

Must knowledge be about mastery?
Does its value lie in its saleability?
What value does understanding have?
Must we know how to survive above all?
Or, must we know what it means to give
And how to sacrifice, and how to die
For the sake of something greater?

That is what is worthy of seeking
How the ordinary is so rich
With promise; seemingly simple
Yet so phenomenal.
So self-contained and yet so giving.
So weak, yet so strong.
Knowledge is important
So that you don’t waste your life becoming
That which you never were.

Posted on by solangesuri2015

When Will Wisdom Come?

When will wisdom come?
When you have lived a life
Of many detours…and many turns?
Or when unimpressed
With the map of the world
You reach for the stars?
Or when reality makes demands on you
But you leave to live your dream?

When will wisdom come?
When you walk the tried and tested path
Laid down by those who walked before?
Or when you seek recourse in religion
To be saved from a pervasive evil?
Or, as a pledge to the highest in humanity
You stay non-violent…
And hurt no one.

But is wisdom the child of intent?
Or the joy of escape?
Or the reward for resolve?
Or the unleashing of wild passions?
Or, is it a light that beams through you
When you have discovered
Along the way
How to be happy.

Posted on by solangesuri2015

Space in the City

Silence is a magnetic field
Created by a repulsion
To noise.

I have lived in city spaces
Where noisy roads
Are neighbours to islands of calm
Found in temples or parks…
Or in the little lane
That makes a quick exit
From a busy street.
Or in the silences held in homes
Where the sound of utensils in the kitchen
Or a pressure cooker whistling
Are the only sounds that tell you
That a family resides there.

The city with its speed and noise
Is ironically the providence you need
To cultivate your own field of silence.

Posted on by solangesuri2015

Life Experiences

There’s a breeze
That gently moves my curtain
Every afternoon.
The day is slower…
Calmer…
I think to myself–
Grateful for this solitude–
These are the experiences of being
That I wish to carry with me.

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Being Capable of Love

Child,
Not everyone you meet
Will do you good
Not everyone you meet
Will be sincere
Not everyone you meet
Will love you as perfection.
Your ideas of love
May not easily be fulfilled.

Love has many different faces
From the ugly to the sublime.
Love resists being contained
Within narrow definitions.
And yet it needs boundaries…
Otherwise, it remains doomed as hate.
Love must be understood
Through the instruments of love
Patience, attention, trust and faith.

Sometimes love is received.
At other times, often more challenging,
It needs to be given.

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When Fiction is Educated to Become Fact

Without the other

Would ‘I’ ever know myself?

Without sorrow

Would ‘I’ ever grow?

Without disillusionment

Would ‘I’ ever transcend desire?

Without love

Would ‘I’ have the wisdom to endure?

Without experience

Would ‘I’ know what it means to be?

Indviduality is fiction

Educated by longing, suffering and desire to become fact.

Posted on by solangesuri2015

The Existing Clock

There’s a clock in my home

That shows a different time.

It seems to have its own pace

It works on a different rhythm.

If I had to consult the other clocks

They’d say it does not work.

They would recommend repair

Or a replacement.

After all the job of a clock 

Is to work “round the clock”

And unfailingly show us the right time.

I don’t know why I haven’t done it yet…

Why I haven’t repaired or replaced it…

“There are better clocks out there,” they say.

I know. But my knowing 

Doesn’t want to act on its knowledge.

I like it being wrong.

I like that it shows me a different time.

I like that it is out of sync and free.

It makes me smile.

The clock does work

Just not in the way it’s supposed to.