When The Sea Speaks

I want first of all, to be at peace with myself.

I want a singleness of eye, a purity of intention, a central core to my life

that will enable me to carry out….obligations and activities as well as I can.

I want in fact – to borrow from the language of the Saints – to live “in grace”

as much of the time as possible.

-Anne Morrow Lindbergh

I must admit, the name of her husband Charles A. Lindbergh, Jr. was more familiar to me  than she was. She was the first licensed woman glider pilot in the US. And I didn’t know  that she writes until I encountered her  inspirational and probably her best-known work,  The Gift From The Sea, a small and hardbound volume  which I enjoyed reading tremendously. It’s a book of essays which was first published in 1955.  I was born a year after its publication and yet her book speaks for women of all ages – about life, love and marriage, peaceful solitude,  and  soul-searching.  She writes with a poetic style that makes you savor every page because she is telling the world what you can’t verbalize yourself,  that sort that gets into you and you can relate to  it like it was your story too.  And you wish that you would be brave enough to do the same, just waiting, waiting for a gift from the sea.

 

 

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Good Morning

I received this photo yesterday morning from  a former classmate in high school.  Sharing it with your for what it conveys.

Good morning everyone. I wish you a bountiful and lovely Wednesday  morning.

The Solitary Man

He walks –

And his feet lead to the green door

He sees familiar sites

The rose arbor, the trellis he made before

He knocks –

And waits patiently

He asks himself

When did I  come here last?

He feels that sudden knot of fear

Regrets come late

Remorse is  an even bitter pill to swallow

Am I late, he asks?

The door opens

And he sees a stranger.

I am…..he says

Come in, the stranger answers.

The decor has changed

And the pictures are gone

Is this…..he could not go on

She died a year ago.

The stranger says.

She could have waited.

If you said you were coming back.

She could have told you.

She has never forgotten.

A decade –

Days and months of waiting

Even a loving heart

Sometimes feel tired

Even a  happy soul

Slowly dies….

And love, long after it’s neglected

Dies a natural death too.

He retraces his steps

And becomes

A solitary man

Once more.

 

One More Day

Every time I see cloud formations like these, I am reminded of this wonderful quote from Rabindranath Tagore:

“Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.”

Then I begin to sing;

♫♪♫♪See the clouds adrift so far below
Ever changing as they come and go;
Makes me wonder why I’m up so high
When really I am down so low
Of all the wonders I was one allowed
I think that I would always choose a cloud,
Always bring my feelings right out loud,
Whether I’m ashamed or proud.♪♫♫♫

It makes me wonder what life is all about. Took this shot in front of our house. You can view it in large format.

 

The Art Of Flying

“Don’t believe what your eyes are telling you. All they show is limitation. Look with your understanding. Find out what you already know and you will see the way to fly.” – Richard Bach

 

A friend said that this is one of my best shots.  And I thought the composition was not good, I was only trying to capture the clouds rapidly changing course  while passing through my lens. Then came this bird gliding rapidly, making itself framed inside the tie wires which we used as trellis  at the back of the house. This is a raw shot and it reminds me of  how it is to be free, unhampered by any extra baggage, reaching one’s destination by sheer determination and grace. It is the art of flying.

Gifts Of The Morning (Chasing Raindrops)

What could be more inspiring than waking up to the morning seeing nature at its best? Then you wish life could be this simple – seeing the beauty of a water droplet and deeper  thoughts come to mind. And there is silence all around.

I love the freshness of  an early morning after the rain.  Although I hate the heavy downpour, it is always amazing to see greens all around.  The tears of heaven cleanse the soul and it wash away the pain of feeling sad  and alone.

Finding Meaning In Other People’s Thoughts

A few years ago, a photographer  friend introduced me to another writer, Naomi Shihab Nye. She was born  to a Palestinian father and an American mother.

Let me quote some of her poems that really touched me:

“Kindness

Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out the window forever.

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
how he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive.

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing
inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.

Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to mail letters and
purchase bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
It is I  you have been looking for,
and then goes with you everywhere
like a shadow or a friend. “

And here’s her thought on reading:

“I love the solitude of reading. I love the deep dive into someone else’s story, the delicious ache of a last page.”

I really could relate to her because  when I  read, I am transported to  another world –  a world of fantasy or make-belief, a world of triumph or defeat, a world of happiness or loneliness but despite all these, I am mesmerized, feeling as if I were there in one particular place, feeling as if the pain and hurts are my  own and the triumphs are a joyous celebration of life.

And here’s another line  I like:

“It is really hard to be lonely very long in a world of words. Even if you don’t have friends somewhere, you still have language, and it will find you and wrap its little syllables around you and suddenly there will be a story to live in. ”  

I agree.

Words.

Meanings.

A jumble of lovely thoughts that fills one’s  mind and feeds one’s  soul. Again I wish I could find some of her book of poems, one I could read again and again, one I could be friends with when I feel alone.

Step No, Step Yes

In life, we always have choices – when you are brave enough to say yes and firm enough to say no.

 

Jack Be Nimble, Jack Be Quick

That moment where you almost tripped because you wanted to catch this lovely creature in your garden. I have lovely memories of dragonflies.  When I was young, I so loved watching them take flight, stay for a while then move on. I asked myself, “don’t they get tired of flying?”

What Happiness Is

–  Waking up to the song of a sparrow

outside your  window

– Feeling  the cold breeze that gently bites

your cheeks

–  A cup of hot black coffee

–  Freshly baked pandesal

–  A visit to the garden

– Discovering new blooms

– Raindrops lingering on the bright

green leaves

– The fresh look of the garden

on a cold morning

–  Watching the day unfolds

–  Seeing a patch of blue

in a cloudy sky

– Turning the pages of a favorite book

You see,  life is simple

And happiness could be just within your reach.