Many times in life we come across stories, songs, poems, quotes and other unique items which we immediately identify or connect with deeply. Today, some of the quotes which I identify with -
Ota Dokan (1432-1486), a scholar of military arts and a poet. He was stabbed while bathing. Clutching the dagger that pierced his chest, he uttered the following tanka and died:
Had I not known
that I was dead
already
I would have mourned
my loss of life.
The Milton classic "Tis better to reign in Hell than to serve in Heaven."
"Love is the mist before my eye,
makes me long for the day I die,
easy to see, impossible to hold,
why must this game grow so old"
"The enemy," retorted Yossarian with weighted precision, "is anybody who's going to get you killed, no matter which side he's on." - Catch-22
African proverb - "Until the lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter."
Kozan Ichikyo (died 1360 at the age of 77) was a spiritual teacher and poet. A few days before his death, Kozan called his pupils together, ordered them to bury him without ceremony, and forbade them to hold services in his memory. He wrote this poem on the morning of his death, laid down his brush, and died sitting upright:
"Empty-handed I entered the world
Barefoot I leave it.
My coming, my going--
Two simple happenings
That got entangled."
Email me some of yours. Next post on some songs..
Current music - Gloria Estefan - I'm not giving you up
Ota Dokan (1432-1486), a scholar of military arts and a poet. He was stabbed while bathing. Clutching the dagger that pierced his chest, he uttered the following tanka and died:
Had I not known
that I was dead
already
I would have mourned
my loss of life.
The Milton classic "Tis better to reign in Hell than to serve in Heaven."
"Love is the mist before my eye,
makes me long for the day I die,
easy to see, impossible to hold,
why must this game grow so old"
"The enemy," retorted Yossarian with weighted precision, "is anybody who's going to get you killed, no matter which side he's on." - Catch-22
African proverb - "Until the lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter."
Kozan Ichikyo (died 1360 at the age of 77) was a spiritual teacher and poet. A few days before his death, Kozan called his pupils together, ordered them to bury him without ceremony, and forbade them to hold services in his memory. He wrote this poem on the morning of his death, laid down his brush, and died sitting upright:
"Empty-handed I entered the world
Barefoot I leave it.
My coming, my going--
Two simple happenings
That got entangled."
Email me some of yours. Next post on some songs..
2 comments:
"We grow accustomed to the Dark --
When light is put away --
As when the Neighbor holds the Lamp
To witness her Goodbye --
A Moment -- We uncertain step
For newness of the night --
Then -- fit our Vision to the Dark --
And meet the Road -- erect --
And so of larger -- Darkness --
Those Evenings of the Brain --
When not a Moon disclose a sign --
Or Star -- come out -- within --
The Bravest -- grope a little --
And sometimes hit a Tree
Directly in the Forehead --
But as they learn to see --
Either the Darkness alters --
Or something in the sight
Adjusts itself to Midnight --
And Life steps almost straight."
Thatz Emily Dickinson
nice ones!
I don't really have one.Mine changes as per the mood that I am in.
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