You Call These Leftovers?
Sometimes, I feel like a photo quote de jour factory. I churn them out by the boat load with extras you might call leftovers. Some stay banished forever in the cold,dark archives, but a few spill into the sunshine of your computer screen.
My yoga (hi Deb!) teacher reads us inspiring nuggets from books before and after class. One of her favorite poets (and mine) is Hafiz, a mystic poet from 14th.century Persia. Here's the rest of the poem which I hope will make you re-think leftovers.
The Sabaa wind arrives;
and in deep resonance, the flower
passionately rips open its garments,
thrusting itself from itself.
The Way of Truth, learn from the clarity of water,
Learn freedom from the spreading grass.
Pay close attention to the artistry of the Sabaa wind,
that wafts in pollen from afar,
And ripples the beautiful tresses
of the fields of hyacinth flowers.
From the privacy of the harem, the virgin bud slips out,
revealing herself under the morning star,
branding your heart and your faith
with beauty.
And frenzied bulbul flies madly out of the House of Sadness
to unite with the flowers;
its love-crazed cry like a thousand-trumpet blast.
Hafiz says, and the experienced old ones concur:
All you really need
is to tell those Stories
of the Fair Ones and the Goblet of Wine.
~~~
I'll be doing just that with my yoga pals out at dinner tonight.
The wisteria above were photographed at their prime, but yesterday all that remained were a few dried wisps and petal strewn ground. Did I feel sad? No, because in the musical chairs of blooming, the irises replaced them. Life goes on.
Celebrate!
Categories: Nature, Westchester County, Photography, Spirituality
Tags: Hafiz spring and all its flowers Wisteria
I'll take these leftovers any day!
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There's more where these came from
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Something similar happened to me. My student cut a lovely bouquet of Lilacs on Monday from her tree and I had them in the sink (Mao protection).
The looked lovely until this morning.
Death comes quickly. But new flowers are outside.
I did take pictures.
And the scent of real flowers was wonderful. I usually rely on candles. I have melon, lilac, apple and pumpkin and will buy vanilla, linen, balsam fir, orange, mulled cider at the store soon.
Driving around the other day looking for water to buy on Sat with hubs, I noticed some lovely wisteria and pointed it out to him. I asked if he liked it and knew what it was.
Yes. No. He answered. Wisteria, I said.
Oh, that's what that is.
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Mystery solved. Lilacs have a shelf life of three seconds. Post some pics!
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I love Wisteria and the pics. are gorgeous...I planted one a few years ago, so I know it's going to take a while for me to see it bloom like yours.
Speaking of blooming, Hafiz and Rumi are two of my fave. poets...and Rilke of course.
Have a delicious dinner tonight w/ your friends.
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Wendy, it takes at least six years and sometimes as long as seven or eight. Thanks, I'll be blogging about the resto next week.
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I love the green green with the contrasting red red toenails! Great pic. Lovely words.
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Missy, thanks, it felt good too!
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I love the nature imagery in these poems. It makes me swoon. Nothing abstract. Spirituality grows right out of the roots and soil.
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Swoon works. Tx ,NP.
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