I grew up amidst plenty, Depression-era
lack transformed into expensive Japanese
silk paintings hung above a cut glass table,
black lacquer chairs, raw silk seats reserved
for holidays unfit for seven children, dreams
of people I never really knew, though
they precipitated my life;
I might have preferred distressed plank flooring
and a wood-fired oven over cork and carpet
and all the confusion, byproducts of too much
striving and not enough stillness;
motivations well understood by me now,
having thrown myself into enough fires
to acknowledge and amend miscues, misdeeds;
Like Arjuna in the Baghavad Gita,
many have have beheld the face of divinity
as it exists in all creatures and life forms
everywhere, whether perceived as good or bad;
I, too, tremble at the feet of this knowing.
I love how what you write is real. Some people get lost in the process of trying to be poetic, whereas you just are. Like Esme.
Many thanks for appreciating my style, as it were. And since I love esme, grateful for the comparison 😉 I do think some of us are simply disposed to poetry, whereas others struggle. I’d love to see people simply fall into accord with whatever arises most naturally from one’s depths – like you with interior design (among other talents you possess). It’s a kind of harmony with one’s most exalted self. Aloha, Pink – enjoy your week! <3
I agree, and I think it’s such a shame these dispositions aren’t recognised and cultivated when we are children. Encouraged. It rarely happens, though I did win the Lord Mayor’s Essay competition when I was ten years old. I haven’t stopped going on about it since then either as I’ve won sod all anything else. Hahahahaha.
Great piece Bela, you transport me right into the heart of your words yet again.
– Esme keeping it real by cartwheeling and juggling sticky buns at the same time upon the Cloud
Thank you, sweet.
Agreed, though to be fair, if I’d been daft enough to pop out seven kidlets, I might not have had any wits left to hone in on them.
Cool you won that contest! I once won a turkey – no kidding. That’s it. Yet I do remember it, though ’tis been over 40 years since. Although I don’t tend to ‘win stuff,’ I am a lucky woman, and I never lose sight of that.
(Bela sitting on her haunches watching esme’s cartwheels and sticky buns until the sun sets low.)
<3 <3 <3
Pink’s got that candour thing going like you, Bela — I mean being so whilst public facing. You certainly do have a ‘style’, as you term it, an exceptionally gifted capacity with words, though it seems your sagacity and candour precedes it. So that’s a powerful combination. H <3
P.S. That Japanese girl in the pic’s got a natty iPhone cover . . .
Hahahahaha!!!! Thanks for the hearty laugh 😂
Not candour, candy. What I’ve got is candy. 😛
🤣
Alright sugar pop, put your lolly away now . . . 😉
Thank you, my friend. Always lavish with the praise, you are. It’s nice to feel deserving of it. Aloha and <3
Thank you Mr Pink, that comment makes for a happier Esme this morning, any comparison to Bela is also excellent news for me,and I agree with Hariod, you have the best candy on the web. Sweets for my sweet. – *nods smiling*
– Esme looking most pleased upon the Cloud
🍬🍭🍫
Reblogged this on Ben Naga.
Mahalo, BN! <3
Bela, an excellent adventure in thought. Tubularsock loves the way you weave your web. Thank you. Left Tubularsock lost in thought. Good thing Tubularsock carries a compass.
Mahalo, TS. I might have to borrow that compass in another day or three. Heading into the woods of Montana for retreat. Hope to catch a grizzly. On camera, that is 😉
Simply beautiful, Bela!
Many thanks, Betty! 😀
Wonderful reflection Bela. 💛🙏💛
Mahalo, Val 🙂
Maybe Bela you would not be who you are today were it not for those silks and black lacquer chairs, Which gave you your own flare to be unique.. I know from living within a large family.. Quiet time was something I only experienced when I took myself off out onto the hills surrounding our village. A bedroom shared with 3 other sisters, where privacy was something none of us got.
But if it were not for my origins, would I have had the patience, or inclination in searching out that piece of Peace.
” … many have have beheld the face of divinity
as it exists in all creatures and life forms
everywhere, whether perceived as good or bad;” So true.. and ‘Knowing’ that we grow from a place surrounded in Darkness as each reaches up to the light..
Sending love Bela.. Welcome back.. 💛
Thanks, dear Sue – though I’m not quite back, as evidenced by some very short comments (though at least they are comments!) to others’ posts. Back home Tuesday next 😉
I, too shared a bedroom with 3 sisters until, one by one, they left home as soon as they could. And I agree and have said it many times: I chose the very best teachers on earth so that I could learn most quickly what I needed to in order to progress as rapidly as I was able.
Love to you <3
🙂 you know Bela, I am a great believer in the more obstacles we have had to overcome, then the quicker our lessons are being delivered for us to progress faster here upon this Earth Plane.. May we keep climbing and overcoming. I know I too have grown stronger for the climb xx
Super glad that I came across your blog and followed it.
This poem is brilliance-personified. Very deep. Your selection of words is so apt to the world you’re creating.
“…byproducts of too much striving and not enough stillness; motivations well understood by me now, having thrown myself into enough fires to acknowledge and amend miscues, misdeeds…” Wow!!! Striving, Stillness, Motivations, Fires, Miscues, Misdeeds.
Aapko bahut saari shubkaamnayein!!! Best! 🙂
Haha, you’re going to have to help me on that last line 😉
I’m happy to have connected with you as well, and love what I’ve engaged in thus far. I am doubly impressed that you do so in a language that is not your mother tongue. I could only ever aspire to accomplish such a thing, but I doubt I would ever succeed. The nuances would be lost. So kudos to You, Mahesh! Hope your week is going smoothly 😉
Somebody who writes with so much depth can learn and master any foreign language. Where there’s a will there’s a way. You know it 🙂
Thanks for your kind words, Bela. I was born in Kerala (South India) so my mother tongue is Malayalam (a regional language), was raised and educated in New Delhi (the capital) where Hindi (our national language) is most spoken. I studied in an English-medium school so we learned everything in English, except for Malayalam and Hindi (were optional subjects after a certain grade). We speak British English in India.
That last line: “A lot of good wishes.” 🙂
Yes, Kerala – my friend Manesh Chandra, an ayurvedic physician in CA, takes people down that way for panchakarma treatments. I was thinking of doing that sometime, but it seems a bit extreme – I’m pretty healthy and my diet is super vegan clean – we eat much of what I grow organically on our 1/2 acre here. There’s an older documentary we have in our library “Ayurveda, The Art of Being” that is so well presented. Makes it look very intriguing. 😉
I will take your compliment in return, but I doubt it’s within my grasp to master another language the way some have done in this lifetime. I just find it so admirable in others. I had not heard of Malayalam, strangely enough – of course Hindi, more common. I love hearing all languages spoken or sung. I don’t even need to know the words to appreciate what they convey. Aloha 🌺🏝🌈🙃
Super vegan clean + organic + positivity + happiness = five therapies of panchakarma 🙂 Yes, Kerala specializes in panchakarma and there’s a growing demand. If you ever plan a trip to India, do visit Kerala, which is also called god’s own country. India has 29 states and 22 official languages. The word “Malayalam” is a palindrome, meaning it reads the same backward or forward 🙂
I haven’t watched Ayurveda: The Art of Being. Will do. Thanks, B 🙂
Yes, I have heard that Kerala is just stunning. Though to be fair, we do live on the north shore of the Big Island of Hawaii. So there’s that 😉
Cool on the palindrome – didn’t pick that up, but I think Indian dialects have more than their share of them, do they not? Making for fascinating reading when words are thrown in, here and there. Aloha, Mahesh.
Agreed 🙂 Speaking of Malayalam, it has thirteen dialect areas in Kerala.
Hawaii – it’s on our bucket list. We’d love to be there some day. And I have no doubt that it is another Kerala – or Kerala is another Hawaii 🙂
Well if ever your plans bring you to the Big Island – the one with the live volcano – do let me know! I’d love to meet up with you and your sweet family. We live in a place rich with natural beauty and far from anything else 😉 But you might come ziplining or hiking one of the valleys. 😉
That’s very sweet and kind of you, Bela. Thanks a lot. Will certainly let you know. Live volcano, ziplining, hiking – I’m already impressed 🙂 🙂 Aloha 🙂
I mean it! Yes, I’m one of those strange people who means what they say. 😉 xo
I so know you mean it 🙂 You remind me of something called “life” and I’m so proud to be a co-blogger. Thank “you” 🙂 xo
So glad we are connected! 😀