Post your original poetry here!

[Benjamin]

Hey everyone,

I couldn't find any thing else like this on dhammawheel, but I have seen it on other forums, so I decided to start a place for members to post bits of original poetry or prose. I put it in the lounge due to the fact that not all poems may necessarily be dhamma related, but mods please move this wherever most appropriate.

I'd like to start with one that's a bit inspired by samsara.
-----------------------------
"Circles"

Floating lights up in the night,
a Heaven filled with Earth's delights.
We dine and die in aging fields,
dreams lit dim by sunshine.

The only sight one ever sees
a straight path through the rocks and trees
running still inside the wheel
the dancing thoughts of revelry.

Pulled into the lion's den
of mortal fears and mortal men
this beautiful impermanence
is just about to end.
------------------------------------

Post away!

Thanks,
Benjamin

[yawares]

Dear Benjamin,

I love your dhamma poems with nice message....mine will be about love

I love Buddhas the most
I truly love dhamma
Whatelse to love?
Oh I love super savakas, super savikas

I love Sirikanya I love Tep
I love flowers, animals and trees
Lakes, mountains, valleys, rivers
dhamma friends and the deep blue seas

My dad died first
My brother died years ago
My mom died last last November
Oh why I still love them so?

************
yawares

[Benjamin]

Thanks for posting! I hope more people have things they have written, I'd love to read them.

Another one:
---------------

Clouds part
screaming
into
painted frames
the
beggars veins
slowly losing
their grip with reality
in the
act of the
brush leaving the
canvas madly
draped over the eyes
masquerading as
colors
We spend our nights as actors
pretending to be others
all these
childish games inside raindrops falling
crawling onto embers
to silence the calling
of meeting the ground and preparing to scatter
a mess in a world where
humans don't matter.
-----------------------------

[yawares]

Dear Benjamin,

I like what you wrote ...is it poem or prose?? I don't know much..only silly poems ..I write most!!



I love these 2 cute parrots
I wish they live in my backyard
Like 'blue-jays', 'red-cardinals, 'grey-birds'
Eat my berries, wading in my big bird-bath

-------


I love blue roses in this picture
Don't know if they're real or not?
I used to dye white rose in blue color water
I think blue roses look.. not cool...but super hot!

------



These beautiful black/green butterflies...so cute
Never seen them before in my life!
There are multi-color butterflies during spring and summer
They love my flowers..oh their colors..so bright!

********
My silly Thai style poems!
yawares

[Jason]

"Samsara"

In the window of the cafe
I see
haunting eyes
as deep as the deepest ocean
staring back at me.
Their piercing gaze
unfolding into tomorrow,
reflecting back
beginningless time.
Portals revealing bits and pieces,
glimpses and hopes,
of things yet to come,
that have already happened before.
Peepholes into the tragic reality
of my existential ouroboros.
Drifting
ceaselessly,
like a wayward vessel
hoping to find the safety of the other shore,
I sail down the river of forgetfulness
and crash
over and over again
into the rocky shores of beauty:
the siren song of desire
forever leading me
astray.

[Benjamin]

Beautiful, Jason! Great imagery and ending.

By the way, I've really been enjoying your blog lately - much thanks for taking the time to put all that together.

[Jason]

Beautiful, Jason! Great imagery and ending.

By the way, I've really been enjoying your blog lately - much thanks for taking the time to put all that together.

Thanks.

[Jason]

saffron-coloured robes
amidst brilliant autumn leaves -
a welcoming sight

(This haiku was inspired by a picture of Ajahn Thanissaro and Phra Mike I took the last time they were in Portland. The picture is apparently too big to upload here, but you can check it out here if so inclined.)

[yawares]

Dear Members,

Tonight I'm in the mood to write silly poem to make you smile.

Didja Ever: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmbym5GD9SQ



Last week, my daughter's team was on 'secret mission'
Out of base, in a desert somewhere
Still find time to call me..not to be scared
About her adventure..exciting beyond compare

Went out in the desert..then sand stormy rain
Came back to Special Force Base ..inside
Black Hawk pilot flew them around at night
Wore night vision goggles..so cool..everyone excite!

[The mission went so smooth/successful]

Special Force commander asked them to stay 1 more week
Air Force commander said no no..no way
Air Force soldiers need surgeons badly.. everyday
Special Force commander could not find excuse.. to say

My daughter couldn't say much because.."top secret!"
Just wanted me to know she was fine
Said a few sentences..time to fly
I didn't cry when she said "bye bye"



She says Air Force Base is the best
Good food, nice room, modern gym, movie theatre.. is a plus
But riding bicycle around this big base.. is a 'must'
And that make her miss.. her Lexus

This mobile doctors-team loves to go out of base
Even they don't know where they'll go...so ok
They just get inside the helicoptor up up.. and away
And just keep working hard.. wherever they stay

The team asked to go tour out of the country
The commander said.. no no no!
Even go out shopping with dentists..oh oh!
The boss must give permission ...to go!!

Army doctors invited the team to tour Kuwait
The boss was so mad...no can do!
He said my daughter gave him headache..ooh ooh!
And annoyed him.. all the time too!

**********
yawares/tidathep

[Reductor]

Does it have to be good? Cause I have plenty of bad stuff to share.

The child dances,
but doesn’t know,
that as he ages
-- as he grows --
so his vitality,
withers -- and slows.


My kids were bounding about, and I don't think it possible that they'll ever be as alive as they are now. Kind of a sobering thought for me.

[Benjamin]

Does it have to be good? Cause I have plenty of bad stuff to share.

The child dances,
but doesn’t know,
that as he ages
-- as he grows --
so his vitality,
withers -- and slows.


My kids were bounding about, and I don't think it possible that they'll ever be as alive as they are now. Kind of a sobering thought for me.

Beautiful, Reductor.

Brings an oft quoted passage to mind:

And the Blessed One addressed the bhikkhus, saying: "Behold now, bhikkhus, I exhort you: All compounded things are subject to vanish. Strive with earnestness!"

This was the last word of the Tathagata.

[befriend]

this is a new song from my social activism punk band

i love you bug i wish we could hug
watch your step there everywhere
they love life cause they get scared

check your bathtub for these creatures
patience for them, they are teachers
protecting happiness for all things that blink
even if you think they stink

potato bugs knocked off logs
now my minds not in a fog

[Reductor]

Thanks for starting this thread, Benjamin. I've long found poem writing to be therapeutic.

When our hearts,
cease to beat,
out the time,
of this chase,
for the unseen
-- it is then,
when all light goes dim --
that all we saw
-- is unseen.

[Jason]

"Coffee at Bare Bones"

Sitting at Bare Bones
alone, in the brisk, winter afternoon.
Coffee to my right,
Dostoyevsky lurking around somewhere in my bag
resting comfortably in the other chair.
Ginger makes an occasional appearance from the back,
chatting up the customers
and intimidating them
with her tattoos and handsome features.
Short, black hair
matching her black, button-up shirt.
Less goth and more post-punk culinary, if you can imagine that.
Thoughts turn to daggers
like the tattoos on her arm,
piercing through the melancholy of the moment
and into the unknown future.
Hope and fear, love and loss;
life is such a holy and tragic thing.
Souls forming and taking shape,
like Fiddler Crab larvae
carried upon the currents of choices,
mistakes,
and circumstances beyond their control.
Washed far out to sea
to sink or swim,
or be eaten;
the lucky ones being washed back into shore.
Sometimes I feel like a leaf
caught in the wake
of souls bigger and more important than I.
I rise and fall
and am pushed aside by their passing.
Always in a hurry
with no place to go.
But at least they'll get there on time.

[tidathep]

Dear Members,

Sala Flowers


About meditation:

Meditation is a state of peaceful mind
When one's breath is the focus in order to unwind

Meditation is a practice of ones who cherish liberty
From the cycle of life due to utmost integrity

Meditation is what allows humans to strive beyond ordinary living
And to let go of worldly emotions, sensations, and belongings

Meditation is the door to nirvana and enlightenment
In which we can see beyond the angels who are heavensent

Meditation is the best gift my parents have shared with me
So that I can become closer to entering nirvana, the Buddhas' city

**********
tidathep

[Reductor]

Destitution

Beneath his brow, a boney mantle,
behind which hid his pride.
But when his mind did turn within,
from this it could not hide:
That where it had expected wealth
it found instead that pride had lied;
amassed were not the gems of virtue,
but many panes of polished glass.
And not having any wealth to take,
he now lies beneath the grass.

[Benjamin]

^^ I like that one.


"Dining With Delight"

Growing vines upon the wall
spreading fire's wild bloom,
the children never fearing shadows
dancing in the corner room.

Awake he yawns his crooked smile
cutting tightropes in the vines,
hid twisting fingers in the dial
stepping in and out of time.

We wear the masks
the Devils face,
dining here now in their place
a flicker of the candle sings and
gives us warmth till morning.

[yawares]

Dear Members,

Maitreya ..“loving-kindness.”


The Buddha Gautama said that there are one thousand and one buddhas that will come into our world during the superior aeon. Among those, three buddhas have already come, so Gautama Buddha is the fourth. The next, or the fifth buddha, is known as Maitreya in Sanskrit, which means “loving-kindness.” Buddha Gautama spoke a lot about this future buddha in the Mahayana Maitreya Sutra. He said that Maitreya would realize buddhahood solely through the practice of loving-kindness.

******

Loving-kindness comes from the heart
Nobody forces it to flow
Just like rain from heaven
Pretty much like beautiful white snow

Hatred is like poison
Anger ruins your mind
If you collect hatred and anger
You'll be alone when you die

Jealousy, envy, grudge are not good
Metta, karuna, mudita..much better
Conceit, compete, compare..not very nice
Vanity, greed, delusion, arrogance..next to never!!

Metta, medicine for curing.. 'Aversion & Anger'
Kayagatasati, antidote for curing..'Attraction'
Anapanasati, complete..' Concentration Method'
4 Satipatthanas, 'Purification of Insight'.. for the wise ones!!

*********
yawares/tidathep

[Reductor]

Look up

Gizmos and gadgets and do-dads abound
to give you more time on this side of ground.
But soon do you see that all that you have
has cost you so much that Death does but laugh.

Or, so you would see, if you did look around;
but its hard to look up when your toiling the ground.

[Reductor]

Shattered

You’re too pale, Moon,
and appear to be shattered.
You’re hemorrhaging blue,
to the sky.