You have not danced so badly, my dear,
trying to hold hands with the Beautiful One,
You have waltzed with great style my sweet,
crushed angel,
to have even neared God’s heart at all.
Our Partner is notoriously hard to follow,
and even His best musicians
are not always easy to hear.
So what, if the music has stopped for awhile.
So what, if the price of admission
to the Divine is out of reach tonight.
So what my sweetheart,
if you lack the ante to gamble for real love.
The mind and the body are famous
for holding the heart ransom,
but Hafiz knows the Beloved’s
eternal habits. Have patience,
for He will not be able to resist your longings
and charms for long.
You have not danced so badly, my dear,
trying to kiss the Magnificent
One.
You have actually waltzed
with tremendous style,
my sweet, O sweet,
crushed angel.
…..Hafiz
we are so hard on ourselves…….the beauty of life moving on lies in our deeper perspective…..a knowing that allows for all of the twists and turns….maybe we can look back without regrets and say, ‘I did my best’…….sweeten your memories with the understanding that things are the way they are…..a simplicity, a paradox, and a little comfort…..
The life cycle is, as its name implies, a cycle. At fifteen years of age, life stretches straight ahead of us, a highway to riches and fame. But as we mature, so does our understanding. Sooner or later, it dawns upon us that our trajectory is anything but a straight line. We zig and zag, double back upon ourselves, tie ourselves in knots, branch out in new directions. And as we approach death, we may discover that life’s two ends meet. Moreover, each stage along the way recycles its material into the next; an adult doesn’t emerge full-born, like Athena out of the head of Zeus, but unfolds naturally from the lengthening limbs and thickening muscles of adolescence. Our life is a coming-into-being, a gradual disclosure of our true self…….P. Zaleski & P. Kaufman
down the twisted & twining memory lane
Naw, nobody taught me nothing.
I just watched and picked it up.
That’s how you used to learn everything;
you watched and figured it out
and went ahead and did it.
Nobody taught you.
…….elderly Yurok canoe maker
Make Believe Boutique 
I saw some films about the Prussian School and today’s rebellion, or movement away from its institutionalized, compliance based learning style, towards what some call unschooling, guiding children’s natural curiosity toward the multitude of things around them that they learn the same lessons from. I now realize that my own private rebellion from the institution has allowed me to become the creative person I am. I did comply until 19. Once the draft lottery was over, I left school and never looked back … Read more in the year after that than I did in the 14 in school, read more since then than I would have for an several advanced degrees. I can build a house, fix a car, program a computer, discuss advanced physics, write poetry and drama, none of which I learned in school. They barely taught me how to read, and when we learned geometry it was euclidean not the sacred geometry that drives the universe. They don’t teach secrets in school … The don’t even teach us how to learn …
you came into your own…..and I know that a calling to deeper reflection moved you to learn….a Renaissance man I’d say……isn’t it a gift to be a bibliophile? I share that intuitive drive to learn…..an ode to no regrets g.f.s…..
A new renaissance indeed … May words bring you joy today …
from the cedar, I learned of memory
from the dove, I need to grieve
from the moon, I night will waiting
from the lark, a time to leave
might I lean into
this learning –
with remembrance of the flight
awake within the sleeping
to stars I knew too bright
should have said –
from the cedar, I learned of memory
from the dove, a need to grieve
from the moon, a night will waiting
from the lark, a time to leave
might I lean into
this learning –
with remembrance of the flight
awake within the sleeping
to stars I knew too bright
from the heart, I learned of kindred spirits
from the wind, a flow of grace
…….this is quite a revelatory honoring of the nourishment of life’s lessons given through beauty and light and spirit…..thank you for you inspire a new calling to learn from the sun and moon…..blessings Bobbie….