Timely poems

[Baashi]

Words of wisdom in these poems. I thought I share them with you.

 

Slow Down

 

Have you ever watched kids

On a merry-go-round?

Or listened to the rain

Slapping on the ground?

Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight?

Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?

 

You better slow down.

Don't dance so fast.

Time is short.

The music won't last.

 

Do you run through each day

On the fly?

When you ask "How are you?"

Do you hear the reply?

When the day is done

Do you lie in your bed

With the next hundred chores

Running through your head?

 

You'd better slow down

Don't dance so fast.

Time is short.

The music won't last.

 

Ever told your child,

We'll do it tomorrow?

And in your haste,

Not see his sorrow?

Ever lost touch,

Let a good friendship die

Cause you never had time

To call and say "Hi"?

 

You'd better slow down.

Don't dance so fast.

Time is short.

The music won't last.

 

When you run so fast

to get somewhere

You miss half the fun

of getting there.

When you worry and

hurry through your day,

It is like an unopened gift

Thrown away.

 

Life is not a race.

Do take it slower

Hear the music

Before the song is over.

 

~ Author Unknown ~

[Baashi]

THE MAN IN THE GLASS

 

When you get what you want in

Your struggle for self

And the world makes you king for

A day

Just go to the mirror and look at

Yourself

And see what the man has to

Say.

 

For it isn’t your father or mother

Or wife

Whose judgment upon you must

Pass,

The fellow whose verdict counts

Most in your life

Is the one staring back from the

Glass.

 

Some people might think you’re a

Straight shootin’ chum

And call you a wonderful guy.

But the man in the glass says

You’re only a bum

If you can’t look look him straight in the

Eye.

 

He’s the fellow to please, never

Mind all the rest

For he’s with you clear to the end

And you passed your most

Dangerous test

If the guy in the glass is your

Friend.

 

You may fool the whole world

Down the pathways of years

And get pats on the back as you

Pass.

But your final reward will be heart-

Ache and tears

If you’ve cheated the man in the

Glass.

 

~Author unknown~

[Baashi]

The invitation

Oriah Mountain Dreamer, Indian Elder

 

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living.

I want to know what you ache for,

and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

 

It doesn’t interest me how old you are.

I want to know if you will risk looking a fool for love,

for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive.

 

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon,

I want to know if you have touched the center of your sorrow.

If you have been opened by life’s betrayals or

have become shriveled closed from fear of further pain!

 

I want to know if can sit with pain, mine and your own,

Without moving to hide it or fade it or fix it.

 

I want to know if you can be with joy, mine and your own;

If you can dance with wildness and let ecstasy fill you

To the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful,

Be realistic, or to remember the limitations of being human.

 

It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me is true,

I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself.

if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul.

I want to know if you can be faithful and therefore trustworthy.

 

I want to know if you can see beauty,

Even when it is not pretty every day,

and if you can source your life from God’s presence.

 

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine,

And still stand on the edge of a lake and shout to the silver moon, “YESâ€

 

It doesn’t interest me to know where you live or how much money you have.

I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair,

Weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done for the children.

 

It doesn’t interest me who you are, how you become here.

I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not

Shrink back.

 

It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom you have studied.

I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself,

And if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.