The Pleasures of a Simple Life with Nature ~ Poem by Li-Shang-Lin

The Pleasures of a Simple Life with Nature

By Li-Shang-Lin

On these pleasant hills residing,
Far from worldly din and strife,
Leisurely with nature living,
Here I pass a happy life.
Gently wave the bamboo copses,
Fanned by evening breezes light;
While the flowers and moon-beams mingle
In the ghostly hours of night.
Through ravines the waters gurgle,
Stemmed by scattered rock and stone;
Round the bends the footpath wanders—
By the mosses overgrown.
Here with friends and habits simple,
And a cup of generous wine,
Fingering lute and old songs singing—
For no other heaven I pine.

Gifts ~ Poem by Sara Teasdale

Gifts

  I gave my first love laughter,
   I gave my second tears,
  I gave my third love silence
   Through all the years.

  My first love gave me singing,
   My second eyes to see,
  But oh, it was my third love
   Who gave my soul to me.

Today’s Quote by Rasheed Ogunlaru on Living

“A few simple tips for life: feet on the ground, head to the skies, heart open-quiet mind.”

—Rasheed Ogunlaru

Something To Think About

“Where there is Faith there is Love,
Where there is Love there is Peace,
Where there is Peace there is God,
Where there is God there is no need.”

There is a divine voice within us which only speaks when every other voice is hushed,—only gives its message in the silence.

by Orison Swett Marden

Silence ~ A Poem by Hafiz

Silence

A day of Silence

Can be a pilgrimage in itself.

A day of Silence

Can help you listen

To the Soul play

Its marvellous lute and drum.

Is not most talking

A crazed defence of a crumbling fort?

I thought we came here

To surrender in Silence,

To yield to Light and Happiness,

To Dance within

In celebration of Love’s Victory!

On Nature ~ Poem by Basho

I am one
Who eats his breakfast,
Gazing at the morning-glories.

– Basho

Alone Looking at the Mountain ~ Poem by Li Po

All the birds have flown up and gone;
A lonely cloud floats leisurely by.
We never tire of looking at each other –
Only the mountain and I.

Li Po

Today’s Quote by Thomas Merton on the Pressures of Life

The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of contemporary violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything, is to succumb to violence. The frenzy of our activity neutralizes our work for peace. It destroys our own inner capacity for peace. It destroys the fruitfulness of our own work, because it kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful.

Thomas Merton

Silence by Hafiz

Silence

by Hafiz

A day of Silence

Can be a pilgrimage in itself.

A day of Silence

Can help you listen

To the Soul play

Its marvellous lute and drum.

Is not most talking

A crazed defence of a crumbling fort?

I thought we came here

To surrender in Silence,

To yield to Light and Happiness,

To Dance within

In celebration of Love’s Victory!

A Poem by Li Po

All the birds have flown up and gone;
A lonely cloud floats leisurely by.
We never tire of looking at each other –
Only the mountain and I.

– Li Po

Verified by MonsterInsights