Sunday 27 May 2012

MY RELIGION IS KINDNESS - RE : KWAN YIN'S BLOSSOMS IN WEYMOUTH

Yesterday, leaving the harbour area, walking towards North Quay, i bump into the "soft-slippered" lady from my "KWAN YIN" poem, posted here on 23 / 02 /2012. Not unusual, of itself, as i see her quite often, and usually stop to chat. We go back 27 years. Until recently, she was always accompanied by her giant of a husband.....ANYWAY, she had just come out of an establishment, where the fish nibble at ones feet in tanks of water ! i ask her if this is what she has been up to, just to amuse her. No, she has just had her hair done. After a little banter with the young hairdresser and myself...Churchill speeches!! etc. she begins to worry as to how she will get home on her "bad feet". The hairdresser had agreed to see her home, but i say i will, as i am going in that direction myself -towards ASDA - near where she lives. i am happy to do this. We walk arm-in-arm, VERY SLOWLY..like walking meditation - very mindfully. All the while, she is saying "hello" , left and right. Most people, she knows...some she does not. There is no differentiation. Especially, she likes to greet children. She is only a child-like 4-foot-nine, or thereabouts, herself. A very little thing.

As we near ASDA, she says she has shopping to do. I'm hoping there will be a shop assistant to help her, as i've seen happening often in recent weeks. No one about !!....Come-on, i say, Let's be doing it, i know where everything is. She is pleased that i am helping her...still arm-in-arm. We put some items in the basket - 2 JAM SWISS ROLLS -  6 ORANGES - BAG OF MINT HUMBUGS - BAG OF LICORICE ALLSORTS & 1 BOTTLE LOW CALORIE  FIZZY BITTER LEMON. (How is she still alive on this diet ? !...She has obviously, at about 80 years of age, not done too much wrong !)
How she manages, without regular help, is beyond me. No one, i believe, helped her, for many years, as she struggled to keep her "needy" husband in "order". So, where is/was the much heralded Care-in-the Community that MRS THATCHER brought-in, as she closed mental hospitals to give the "dignity" to patients, now no longer "needing" to be in an institution. They were now, sometimes, on the street instead !

  *

AT HOME, i reflected on my day : my day of chats and ART EXHIBITIONS (Dorset Art Weeks), walking in a summer breeze on the Esplanade...pretty girls....BUT THE BEST OF IT,was being with "my" "soft-slippered little-lady", of lending my arm, hands and heart to someone who required them. My only regret is that I KNOW I COULD HAVE HELPED HER MORE. IT ONLY REQUIRED SOME TIME AND A MORE OPEN, LOVING HEART AND NATURE. As THICH NHAT HANH says = we are all connected = "WE INTER-ARE". YOUR sadness makes ME unhappy. YOUR happiness = MY happiness. WE ARE ALL CONNECTED. THIS IS INTERBEING. This is why the DALAI LAMA says = "MY RELIGION IS KINDNESS."

                                                 (Sunday 27th MAY 2012)


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Sunday 20 May 2012

A CUE FROM CYRANO DE B.

YESTERDAY,
somewhere up
a street
in falling rain
and blossoms
tears
had not
been bargained for.

TODAY,
somewhere in
this world
love smiled
and played
with all
the warmth
the sun
could summon.

& TOMORROW ?
tomorrow we'll
gather the fruits
and flowers
&
lay them
at the altar
of a harvest
moon.

*

20 / may / 2012 - golden goji hermitage

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Tuesday 15 May 2012

FEBRUARY POEM

EYES SKIMMING STARS
SOMETIME SOON
FULL MOON
BRIMMING WITH MYSTERY
WILL SPRINKLE
SNOWDROPS FROM ABOVE.
AND SOME 
LITTLE MIRACLE
CALLED PLUM BLOSSOM
REMINISCENT OF HEAVEN'S
COUNTLESS TREASURES
WILL SHOWER DOWN....
WILL SHOWER DOWN.

*

(february 2012)

Friday 11 May 2012

IN THE CHAPEL'S WHITE ROOM - for Jon Scott

IN CHAPEL'S
WHITE ROOM
A BIRD
IS HEARD.
NO NEED TO
FEND-OFF TRILLS
FROM GARDEN - &
RUNNING WATERS
OR FOOTSTEPS
& STIRRINGS
ARE THE SIDESHOW - 
BUT AWARE OF
DEEP SILENCE NOW.

& MR. PUNCH
OF WEYMOUTH'S
SEA-SIDE FAME
LIABLE TO
JUMP-OUT WITH
PUNISHING-STICK
ZEN-MASTERLY FASHION
TO KNOCK US FROM
WHATEVER HEIGHT
WE CLING TO.

WE ARE ALL
MERELY TOURISTS
ON A ROAD-TRIP -
THE SCENERY
ALWAYS CHANGING -
WE COME
WE GO.

*
(written after, or was it "DURING" ? , zazen @ THE CHAPEL IN THE GARDEN)
bernard hemensley - 11 / may / 2012.

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Saturday 5 May 2012

THRU FLESH, BONE & DREAMS

i)
clouds
high above
heart plays
in
flowered fields
of music.

ii)
minute follows
minute
pleasured mouths
& voices
concoct a life.

iii)
sleep-ridden
sun below sill
calm thoughts
now in autumn
kiss and make up?

iv)
morning hours
shadows playing
with her eyes
giving rise
to tears.

v)
in middle of night
buddha's stillness
between these walls.

*
(AUTUMN 2011 / SPRING 2012 - BERNARD HEMENSLEY)

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