Canvas 926 — Teachers and Learners
How many of us realize we are teachers by our actions? How many of us know we are learners by grace? How many of us rejoice in the infinite and give thanks? June 15, 2021 Canvas 926 June 13, 2017 . [ 1136 ]
Tag Archive for ‘Gratitude’
Service
There is no denying the personal benefits derived from living a quiet, aware, meditative life rooted in gratitude. But such a life is incomplete if it is lived only as a selfish or shortsighted means to that end. Ultimately, awareness must be cultivated for the benefit of all, and of everything there is. However busy one is with work, family, and other involvements, there needs to be in one’s daily […]
In Simplest Terms
A little before four this morning, it was cloudy with only one star briefly visible; then, a few minutes later, between the birches and firs, through a break in the clouds just above the neighbor’s second-story roof, we caught a sustained glimpse of the full lunar eclipse, as the shadow passed and the moon began to emerge. Now there is a robin singing from the chimney-top. It comes to mind […]
Now You Know
Ingratitude — pull that thread, and the whole fabric will come undone. Pain, strife, loss; the birth of our children and my very first poem; all of the sad and glad decisions, and the reasons behind them, unremembered, unfathomed, unknown; embarrassment and fear; compulsiveness and anger; pride, arrogance, guilt, shame — I am grateful for them all. I have learned from each, and am learning still. And so, this I […]
All of Us
Adults, intent on fences, wishing their backyards were bigger. Children, on swings and trampolines, as light and free as birds. May 16, 2021 . All of Us I climb the corner pine, my cousin ahead on the branch above. It’s our birthday month. Higher and higher. Needles and bark. When we come down, we’re sixty-five. Some say age. I say luck. We run a race. We hide. We throw clods. […]
Lovers’ Waltz
There’s not one thing in this wide world that’s shunned by life or overlooked — no blade of grass, no grain of sand, no rock or shell, no ocean wave, no gull, no tree, no sun, no moon, no snail. Each, in its given way and time, trembles and is known; each sways and nods and bows; each is part of a timeless dance, even in its temporary death and […]
Inside and Out
It’s our very good fortune that every window of this house looks out on lush green growth: the maples, pine, and cedar; the birches and firs; the garden, vine, apricot, and blueberry; the juniper and the dense, tall arborvitae; the fig, the lilacs, the rhododendrons; the ferns, moss, grass, and volunteer oak and hazelnut seedlings; and in the distance, the trees of the neighborhood. Each view changes from hour to […]
Out There the Daylight
At one point or another, all of the problems in the world — the homelessness, the poverty, the hunger, the injustice, the inequality, the nationalism, the environmental degradation, the violence, the war — I have helped to cause. Now, even though the cause was here before I arrived, it is time for me to be the uncause, to root out the cause in myself, and see that it is not […]
Almost Never Was
The water in your glass is ageless and timeless. It has been around the world. It has filled the ocean, washed over rocks, sustained life, and quenched the thirst of saints and madmen. It has memory, and it responds to gratitude, love, reverence. It responds to melody. It responds to bitterness and anger. Experiments have been performed that show this is true. Its structure changes. Water that is loved and […]
Melting
. . . after the storm / birds on fallen limbs / as if they have always been / here . . . February 18, 2021 . [ 1025 ]
William Michaelian 