[Oe List ...] ST Op Ed for Tuesday Jan. 3

[Nancy Lanphear]

Beautifully appropriated Jaime.

Be well,

nancy

2012/1/1 Jaime R Vergara <svesjaime at aol.com>

> Appropriated Nancy's thread and made it my own.
>
> The usual caveat: if you hear a beat, welcome; not, see you at the next
> bend.
>
>      *MY 2012 BOWL – j’aime la vie*
>
> The shaven head with the smiling face
> confident in the gloomy side of shadow,
> sandaled feet, sun saffron-robed body,
> walks out with a begging bowl, empty.
> Whatever is gathered each day
> makes for nourishment, his way.
>
> My head remains unshaven,
> but my soul wears saffron.
> My gait is not so steady,
> but my sandals are strong.
> And I, too, am out begging,
> to have my bowl filled full.
>
> What does my bowl gather?
> Does what comes along
> adds to what I already know?
> Does the mendicant on his knee
> ever does anything new?
> My bowl holds my knowing and doing,
> which maintain and sustain my being.
>
> I gather memories, for sure.
> They come fully accompanied
> by atmospheric bewildering,
> on loud and fine canvasses,
> wild and angelic rendering,
> of romantic misting rain,
> of tears of joy and pain,
> from smiling faces,
> smell of earthen places,
> of sounds of laughter,
> brothers and sisters all.
>
> In Zhongguo’s earth, the taste of dust
> delivered in amazing and assuring hugs.
>
> When my day is done,
> my bowl is filled, my soul is full,
> a mortal flesh chimes on a goal.
>
> And what is in your bowl?
> * *
> In my mendicant wandering last year,
> my heart awe struck and shaken,
> my hopes and dreams forsaken,
> my body gave way to aging,
> set fleshly sashay to sagging;
> while folks endured their suffering,
> voices throve in melodious singing,
> families had fun, kindred spirits ran.
>
> New friends in old familiar places,
> old friends emerged in new embraces,
> painful political systems in decay,
> save us from uncles, we pray,
> diverse people choosing to OCCUPY,
> new models of sociality to try,
> classmates disremembered re-connected,
> victims’ lamentations and stories heard
> flagrant fragrances of atrocities aired.
>
> Ah, I’ve got experiences to describe,
> expressed feelings, decibels for the night,
> articulated thoughts complex and simple,
> in awe and wonder of common encounters,
> at once, devastating and full of life,
> I am pretty nourished, humbled and gratified.
>
> We heard of a manger 2000 years ago,
> truthfully imagined, inspired, or so,
> now we herald echoes of a distant flaring,
> our universe some 14 billion years old,
> truth sanctifies factual imagining,
> reality embodied, plainly yet boldly told.
>
> Light, love, life comes through
> in the discordant sound of the *erku*,
> accompanies the *gugong* in trance,
> life’s energy incarnates in dance.
>
> Again,
> empty 2012 bowl is out to gain
> in another chosen time of turning,
> the substance of life ever churning,
> and the causes of our lives, we partake,
> chances transformed, to undertake,
> add the daily choices we will make,
> a year-full begging bowl to contemplate,
> life’s being, we willfully celebrate.
> Let’s.
>
> *Jaime R. Vergara (jrvergarajr2031 at aol.com) previously taught at San
> Vicente Elementary School in Saipan and is currently a guest lecturer at
> Shenyang Aerospace University in China.*
>
>
>  Jaime R Vergara
>
>  *All of yesterday, thanks; all of tomorrow, yes; all of today, let it be!
> *
>
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>
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