Writing with Gibran - Beggar - August 31, 2014

This is the last  haiku prompt dedicated to "Sea and Foam" offered by Carpe Diem Haiku Kai the month began with the following quote:

I am forever walking upon these shores,

Betwixt the sand and the foam,

The high tide will erase my foot-prints,

And the wind will blow away the foam.

But the sea and the shore will remain 

Forever.

Something to always keep in mind as we reflect upon life!  Here are the quotes that will inspire the beggar series:

[...] "We are all beggars at the gate of the temple, and each one of us receives his share of the bounty of the King when he enters the temple, and when he goes out. But we are all jealous of one another, which is another way of belittling the King". [...]

envy at the gate
among the rich and the poor
always wanting more

beggars at the gate
searching for recognition
the king showers gifts

jealous of others
the gates of heaven close
againt the anger

the here and now
 enjoying life's bounty
gateway to heaven

©  G.s.k. '14

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Now for a beautiful series from Kikaku and Issa:

the beggar!

he has Heaven and Earth,

for his summer clothes

© Kikaku

  Now a few haiku by Issa.

kimi ga yo wa kojiki no ie mo nobori kana

Great Japan!
even a beggar's house
has a summer banner

kiji naite ume ni kojiki no yo nari keri

pheasant crying--
it's a plum blossom-filled
beggar's world now!

hatsu yuki ya asaebisu suru kado kojiki

first snowfall--
early morning at my gate
a beggar

 

 

at the temple gate

I bow in front of beggars

honoring their spirit

© Chèvrefeuille

beggar's bowl,

chased by the autumn wind,

enters the temple

© Chèvrefeuille

 

Writing with Gibran - Dreams - August 31, 2014

We are nearing the end of the month of August and coming to the close of Carpe Diem Haiku Kai's daily meme dedicated to "Sea and Foam" .... This post is dedicated to dreams:

[...] "How can I lose faith in the justice of life, when the dreams of those who sleep upon feathers are not more beautiful than the dreams of those who sleep upon the earth?" [...]

[...] "The flowers of spring are winter’s dreams related at the breakfast table of the angels". [...]

[...] "I would not be the least among men with dreams and the desire to fulfill them, rather than the greatest with no dreams and no desires".[...]

Chevrefeuille's Haiku

breakfast with angels

as spring is starting after the cold -

flowering trees

© Chèvrefeuille

after the dark winter

cherry trees are blooming again

Ah! what a joy!

© Chèvrefeuille

§§§§§§§§§§§§§

a child's dream
on tarmack in colored chalk
a happy home

in feathered beds
the rich dream of their riches
dragons far away

the Earth's dreams
brightly colored spring flowers
a bee's reality

no dreams or desires
fulfilled in awakened void
zen monk happily walks

 © G.s.k. '14

Writing with Gibran -Traveller - 28 August, 2014

Today's post on Carpe Diem Haiku Kai dedicated to "Sea and Foam" by Khalil Gibran is a fascinating post on traveller par excellance, nomads.  I would really rccomend you take a look at Chèvrefeuille's creation. Magnificent!

[...] "A traveler am I and a navigator, and every day I discover a new region within my soul". [...] "Sea and Foam"

a new journey

along the roads of God's Creation

seeking the truth within

seeking the truth within

the road like the Honeysuckle (*) bush

a new journey

© Chèvrefeuille

I've waited too long
the road calls to me .. come home
 endless winding trails

one step at a time
the road leads the traveller
unto herself

time to pack her bags
her nomadic soul calls
the trail - her home

an illusion
the traveller never remains
no roots to hold her down

©  G.s.k. '14

Writing With Gibran - Flame . August 26, 2014

From Sea and Foam ... Carpe Diem Haiku Kai inspires us with this quote:

[...] "I am the flame and I am the dry bush, and one part of me consumes the other part". [...]

But I'll add another quote:

 Pvt. Jack Bell:
Love. Where does it come from? Who lit this flame in us? No war can put it out, conquer it. I was a prisoner. You set me free.    "The Thin Red Line"

ardent heartbeats
consume hatred leaving love
flaming sunrise

the flame of knowledge
burining in a young man's heart
a cawing crow

innocence consumed
the flames of reality
on the soldiers tomb

bells ringing
the flame of faith
the doves flutter skywards

©  G.s.k. '14

Writing with Gibran - Silence - August 26, 2014

From "Sea and Foam" on Carpe Diem Haiku Kai:

[...] "A great singer is he who sings our silences". [...]

[...] "I have learned silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers". [...]

[...] "The silence of the envious is too noisy". [...]

 the silence deepens
as the night falls like a blanket
upon a white world

© Chèvrefeuille

Last night I watched  "Thin Red Line" once again with my son here below a scene from the film with Hans Zimmer's fantastic soundtrack ...

 Japanese Soldier:
Are you righteous? Kind? Does your confidence lie in this? Are you loved by all? Know that I was, too. Do you imagine your suffering will be any less because you loved goodness and truth?  "The Thin Red Line"

in the winter of life
the silence of tolerance
a blade of grass

sparkling water
a river now polluted
lies silent

unloved teachers
hatred, intolerance, war
blight the silence

green ferns in the woods
a single drop of  water
disturbs the silence

 © G.s.k. '14

Writing with Gibran - Tolerance - August 25, 2014

Strange how things coincide sometimes.  This morning I wrote a quatrain wordle  on my WordPress blog about "intolerance" through the voice of a Morisco after the Spanish final conquest of all of Spain under King Philip.

So today I write this post for Carpe Diem Haiku Kai inspired by the quote chosen by Chèvrefeuille from "Sea and Foam":

[...] " Tolerance is love sick with the sickness of haughtiness". [...]

Now on first reading this I stopped up short .. haughtiness?  And then I reflected a little and had to agree that even tolerance can at times be taken too far.  I think for example of the terrible things that happen in the world ... the killing,  religious fanaticism or just tolerating someone mistreating us in our life.

Just think of this haiku by Chèvrefeuille:

melting snow
the tears of a child
crystal truth

© Chèvrefeuille

a woman lies broken
beaten by her drunk husband
a family affair

bombs over Gaza
a child's broken body
blow flies swarm

they shout from pulpits
egging their followers
in the name of God
to bear arms and burn enemies
throughout the entire globe

we tolerate hate
and call this "love thy neighbor"
haughty ignorance

 

Writing with Gibran - Masks - August 22, 2014

Here is yesterday's Carpe Diem Haiku Kai quote of the day from Gibran's "Sea and Foam":

 [...] "Even the masks of life are masks of deeper mystery". [...]

 unmasking
look into the world -
tears flow

© Chèvrefeuille

******************

I know you little mask
the lover said and laughed
in his illusion

me behind the mask
sometimes laughing sometimes not
facing daily life

taking off the mask
standing nude before the world
the wounded child

the mask's ornaments
tells a story of its own
a chameleon

 

 ©  G.s.k. '14

Writing with Gibran - Walls - August 21, 2014

This is the quote from Khalil Gibran found on Carpe Diem Haiku Kai that inspires today's post:

[...] "After all this is not a bad prison; but I do not like this wall between my cell and the next prisoner’s cell; Yet I assure you that I do not wish to reproach the warder not the Builder of the prison".[...]

[...] "Sadness is but a wall between two gardens". [...]

From "Sea and Foam"

This is Chèvrefeuille's inspired haiku:

tearing down the walls

giving room to wild flowers

to color the earth

© Chèvrefeuille

surrounding walls
one bright tiny window
reality beyond

carefully built walls
inside the prisoner waits
light beckons

beacon of light
window in a dark room
looking beyond walls

experience
 massive impregnable walls
swallows fly freely

©  G.s.k. '14

Writing With Gibran - Solitude (Inner Self) - August 18, 2014

 

Chevrèfeuille writes on Carpe Diem Haiku Kai:

For today's prompt I have chosen a nice quote from "Sand & Foam":

[...] "Solitude is a silent storm that breaks down all our dead branches; Yet it sends our living roots deeper into the living heart of the living earth". [...]

This post was particularly interesting and revealing to me ... I can so sympathize with the author and curator of Carpe Diem through this post more than I ever have before.  I really think you should drop by to read the post.
In the meantime, this is Chèvrefeuille's haiku:

 deep down inside
hiding in the deeper layers of the soul
divine inspiration

© Chèvrefeuille

Another haiku/senryu ispired on this post:

scent of incense
guiding me through the depths of my soul -
showing the light

© Chèvrefeuille

 through the lonely mist
walking solitary paths
seeking connection

the human journey
through the meanders of soul
enlightened nature

together with nature
united spirit and soul
the lonely voyage

the pitter patter
rain falls on the tarmack
a heartbeat

solitude
silence of inner self
reaching out for nature

 © G.s.k. '14

Writing With Gibran - Trees . August 16, 2014

Here's todays quote from "Sea and Foam" on Carpe Diem Haiku Kai:

 

[...] "Trees are poems that the earth writes upon the sky. We fell them down and turn them into paper that we may record our emptiness". [...]

[...] "If you reveal your secrets to the wind you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees". [...]

rustling leaves
the trees gossip with the wind
at lake Garda

tall sentinels
guarding the park's entrance
except for the wind

towering cypress
all along the shaded lane
a Tuscan farm house

a wooded garden
in the centre a fountain
wood nymph's paradise

G.s.k. '14

Writing with Gibran - Paradise - August 15, 2014

 

Today for Carpe Diem Haiku Kai  I'm going to look at paradise through the eyes of Khalil Gibran's "Sea and Foam":

 [...] "Paradise is there, behind that door, in the next room; but I have lost the key. Perhaps I have only mislaid it". [...]

[...] "He who would share your pleasure but not your pain shall lose the key to one of the seven gates of Paradise". [...]

Thinking about Paradise whilst reading these two lines brings to mind Dante's great Divine Comedy.  From the bowels of Hell through Purgatory reaching finally the circles of Paradise until he contemplates at a distance The Empyrean where the essence of God dwelled, Dante takes a journey into the after-life.  This epic poem was written in between 1308 until Dante's death in 1321 in Terza Rima his opera omnia consists of 100 "cantos":

 "But then my mind was struck by light that flashed and, with this light, received what it had asked.  Here force failed my high fantasy; but my desire and will were moved already-like a wheel revolving uniformly-by the Love that moves the sun and the other stars." [Dante's conclusion of The Divine Comedy .  Canto XXXIII, Paradiso]

The influence of Muslim culture that Chèvrefeuille mentions in his piece on Khalil Gibran is not missing in the Divine Comedy either... though his contempt for Islam was also evident as well as inevitable  - and neither could this be any other way  in that time of early rivalry between the two faiths ... the greatest translations of classical Greek philosophers were being percolated into Christendom through the Venetian merchants all translations by Islamic philosophers and thinkers.  In point of fact, we are much more influenced by Islamic culture then is commonly known.

Rings of Glowing Souls
Creator: Doré, Gustave - 1868

Another literary memory that comes to my mind is a movie entitled "What Dreams may Come" based on the book with the same title written in 1978 by Richard Matheson:

“Not only did I rediscover every experience of my life, I had to live each unfulfilled desire as well—as though they’d been fulfilled. I saw that what transpires in the mind is just as real as any flesh and blood occurrence. What had only been imagination in life, now became tangible, each fantasy a full reality. I lived them all—while, at the same time, standing to the side, a witness to their, often, intimate squalor. A witness cursed with total objectivity.”

 “Each memory was brought to life before me and within me. I could not avoid them. Neither could I rationalize, explain away. I could only re-experience with total cognizance, unprotected by pretense. Self delusion was impossible, truth exposed in this blinding light. Nothing as I thought it had been. Nothing as I hoped it had been. Only as it had been.”

 ― Richard Matheson, What Dreams May Come

§§§§§§§§§§§§§

there inside our soul
the doors to heaven and hell
vie for attention
consequences of actions
projections of our thoughts

one short step
and as in life also in death
there is paradise

what is paradise
this stream, lake and dawning sky
harmony and peace

inside our soul
the doors to heaven and hell
as close as your breath
as distant as a quasar
each one a moment's choice

©  G.s.k. '14

Writing with Gibran - Truth - August 12, 2014

Today, as you can see in the title for Carpe Diem Haiku Kai we read quotes by Khalil Gibran about truth:

[...] "I am ignorant of absolute truth, but I am humble before my ignorance, and therein lies my honor and my reward". [...]

[...] "Many a doctrine is like a window pane. We see truth through it, but it divides us from truth". [...]

[...] "Should you care to write (and only the saints know why you should) you need to have knowledge of the art and magic of the music of words, the art of being artless and the magic of loving your readers". [...]

[...] "When you reach the heart of life you shall find beauty in all things, even in the eyes that are blind to beauty". [...]

From "Sand and Foam" 

American Sentence

The moon in the pond,  an illusion,  like truth in ideology.

Misty education sometimes dims pure unadultereated truth.

 © G.s.k. '14

American Haiku 

 

one man's vision
truth or illusion
often beautiful lies

truth
elusive commodity
 illusory world

the honest man
wary of inner truth
seeks out his ignorance

© G.s.k. '14

Writing with Gibran - Pebbles . August 10, 2014

Today's Gibran quote on Carpe Diem Haiku Kai is:

[...] “When God threw me, a pebble, into this wondrous lake, I disturbed its surface with countless circles. But when I reached the depths, I became very still." [...]

Tanka

pebbles on the trail

witnessed generations pass
lives we'll never know

young lovers and soldiers walked
this gravelled country foot-path

(c) G.s.k. '14

Haiku

that single pebble
left blooming concentric waves
in Walden's pond

(c) G.s.k. '14

Writing With Gibran - Pearls . August 9, 2014

Todays quote on Carpe Diem Haiku Kai from Khalil Gibran is:

[...] "Perhaps the sea's definition of a shell is the pearl. Perhaps time's definition of coal is the diamond." [...]

[...] "A pearl is a temple built by pain around a grain of sand." [...]

 Here are two haiku written by Chèvrefueille:

catching oysters

to serve to my beloved wife -

pearl necklace

© Chèvrefeuille

wandering along the sea
in the footprints left an oyster
shimmering of a pearl

© Chèvrefeuille

§§§§

 The second verse struck me more than the first ...

pearls of wisdom
gleaned from the pain of living
mother fox runs

© G.s.k. '14

old monk walking
gifting his pearls to the youth
under evening rain

© G.s.k. '14

an oyster opened
inside a resplendent pearl
on an empty beach

© G.s.k '14

Writing with Gibran - Ancestors - August 8, 2014

For today's Carpe Diem Haiku Kai Gibran prompt ....

[...] "Remembrance is a form of meeting". [...]

[...] "My house says to me, "Do not leave me, for here dwells your past." And the road says to me, "Come and follow me, for I am your future." And I say to both my house and the road, "I have no past, nor have I a future. If I stay here, there is a going in my staying; and if I go there is a staying in my going. Only love and death will change all things." [...]

nameless faces
echoes down an empty street
the past moves on

contemplating
roads never taken
falling leaves

old photographs
people long dead but living
ageless in time

ancient seeds
ready to blossom
in warm soil

Writing With Gibran - "Forest" - August 7, 2014

Today for Carpe Diem Haiku Kai's month of Gibran, I'm going to be inspired by the following lines Whilst reflecting on Managua Qunn's Ghost Writer Post:

[...] "We were fluttering, wandering, longing creatures a thousand thousand years before the sea and the wind in the forest gave us words. Now how can we express the ancient of days in us with only the sounds of our yesterdays?" [...]

This is Chèvrefeuille's Haiku

 listen to the wind
that moves through the forests -
buzzing mosquitos

© Chèvrefeuille

oneiric forest
wind whispering through the trees
cicada concert

raindrops glistening
oneiric morning light
the forest whispers

sea and forests
 shadows of existence
meditation

Writing with Gibran - "movement" - August 4, 2014

Today at Carpe Diem, with a Gibran's quote we contemplate time and its movement:

[...] "We measure time according to the movement of countless suns; and they measure time by little machines in their little pockets. Now tell me, how could we ever meet at the same place at the same time?" [...]

Time is one of those aspects of life that we all tend to meditate upon at least once in a while.  Sometimes we feel we don't have enough time ... and that's an aspect of a society that tends to project itself into a constant race to "do" and to "have" rather than a society that promotes "being" ... Then there's the relativity of time, the philosophical aspects of time ... but since we live in the finite it's maybe logical that  we tend to want to understand infinity and endless time.

I was thinking about the film, "Blade Runner" ... the biological androids had 4 years to live, it was incorporated into their DNA.  We like the Nexus 6 also have limits imposed upon our DNA so that one day we too will "terminate" ... like them it can happen by accident or illness but even without these no human can go beyond a certain age. Our body slowly stops working and stops repairing the normal everyday damage caused just by living.  So, I think in the end tolive running after something, consuming, working towards an ephemeral gain is kind of silly ... we should try to live in the "BE"  not the "DO or HAVE".

movements of the clock
minutes becoming hours
the cricket chirps

another sunrise
summer tends towards autumn
cycles in cycles

(C) G.s.k. '14

Writing With Gibran - "sweetness" - August 4, 2014

Today's Carpe Diem's quote from Khalil Gibran is the following:

[...] "It was but yesterday I thought myself a fragment quivering without rhythm in the sphere of life. Now I know that I am the sphere, and all life in rhythmic fragments moves within me'''. [...]

resplendent nature
beauty surrounds this valley
sunrise in Arco

bells ringing the hour
breaking the morning silence
first rays of sun light

(C) G.s.k. 14

Writing with Gibran - Mist - August 2, 2014

 

 

Today again we look at "Sea and Foam" at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai please follow the link to read the interesting prompt!

Here's the verse by Gibran for today:

[ ...] Once I filled my hand with mist. Then I opened it, and look, the mist was a worm. And I closed and opened my hand again, and behold there was a bird. And again I closed and opened my hand, and in its hollow stood a man with a sad face turned upward. And again I closed my hand, and when I opened it, there was nothing but mist. But I heard a song of exceeding sweetness.[...]

A lovely verse, which reminds me of  Zen - I'll paraphrase it here: Before satori, the mountains were the mountains and the lakes were lakes ... After satori, the mountains were  mountains and the lake was a lake ...

the mist hiding life
from worm to bird to man
the song was sweet

walking in the woods
mist hides life's reality
sweet nature's song

©  G.s.k. '14

Haiku Special - Writing with Khalil Gibran - August 1, 2014

This is the first of a series of inspirational posts from Carpe Diem Haiku Kai dedicated to Khalil Gibran.

This is the opening poem from "Sand and Foam":

I am forever walking upon these shores,

Betwixt the sand and the foam,

The high tide will erase my foot-prints,

And the wind will blow away the foam.

But the sea and the shore will remain

Forever.

© Khalil Gibran

These lines speak to me in many ways .. I've lived a nomad's life and often have had the feeling that I've never left a trace anywhere.  Of course I suppose most people have this same sensation without being a wanderer.  Our individual life is like the sand on a beach, our passage ephemeral, but existence continues.

the plane is ready

another beach to visit
more people to meet

footprints in the sand
a moment in time
seagulls cry

cycle complete
 footprints erased
high tide is in

sunset and high tide
wind whispering - tomorrow
Venus in the sky

© G.s.k. 14