Saturday, March 31, 2012
Friday, March 30, 2012
Hafiz ...
What
Do sad people have in
Common ???
It seems
They have all built a shrine
To the past
And often go there
And do a strange wail and
Worship ...
What is the beginning of
Happiness ???
It is to stop being
So religious
Like that ...
Monday, March 26, 2012
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Miranda July ...
Look at the sky ... That is for you ...
Look at each person’s face as you pass on the street ... Those faces are for you ...
And the street itself ... And the ground under the street ...
And the ball of fire underneath the ground ... All these things are for you ...
They are as much for you as they are for other people ...
Remember this when you wake up in the morning and think you have nothing ...
Monday, March 19, 2012
Afghanistan ...
I can lay no claim to Afghanistan through right of blood or right of soil ... But what about right of heart ??? ... I keep you in my heart #JafarAlamPoetry
Cesare Pavese ...
Traveling forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends ... You are constantly off balance ... Nothing is yours except the essential things: air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky ... All things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it ...
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Morihei Ueshiba ...
Budo is not a means of felling the opponent by force or by lethal weapons ... Neither is it intended to lead the world to destruction by arms and other illegitimate means ... True Budo calls for bringing the inner energy of the universe in order, protecting the peace of the world , as well as preserving, everything in nature in its right form ...
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Shabistari ...
Know that the whole world is a mirror ...
In each atom are found a hundred blazing suns ...
If you split the center of a single drop of water
A hundred pure oceans spring forth ...
If you examine each particle of dust
A thousand Adams can be seen ...
A universe lies hidden in a grain of millet
Everything is brought together at the point of the present ...
From each point along that circle
Thousands of forms are drawn ...
Each point, as it revolves in a circle, is at times a circle ...
At others, a turning circumference ...
Friday, March 2, 2012
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Hafez ...
Your love should never be offered to the mouth of a stranger ...
Only to someone who has the valor ...
And daring to cut pieces of their soul off with a knife ...
Then weave them into a blanket ...
To protect you ...
Then weave them into a blanket ...
To protect you ...
Monday, February 27, 2012
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Friday, February 24, 2012
Eckhart Tolle ...
Unease, Anxiety, Tension, Stress, Worry — all forms of fear — are caused by too much future, and not enough presence ...
Guilt, Regret, Resentment, Grievances, Sadness, Bitterness, and all forms of non-forgiveness are caused by too much past, and not enough presence ...
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Rumi ...
Study me as much as you like, you will not know me ...
For I differ in a hundred ways, from what you see me to be ...
Put yourself behind my eyes and see me as I see myself ...
For I have chosen to dwell in a place you cannot see ...
Rumi ...
A description of the heart is impossible with words ...
Even if every cell of your body had a tongue ...
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Letter Written By A Former Slave To His Old Master ...
Fascinating letter from 1865 written by a former slave to his old master ...
In August of 1865, a Colonel P.H. Anderson of Big Spring, Tennessee, wrote to his former slave, Jourdan Anderson, and requested that he come back to work on his farm. Jourdan — who, since being emancipated, had moved to Ohio, found paid work, and was now supporting his family — responded spectacularly by way of the letter seen below (a letter which, according to newspapers at the time, he dictated).
To My Old Master, Colonel P.H. Anderson, Big Spring, Tennessee
Sir: I got your letter, and was glad to find that you had not forgotten Jourdon, and that you wanted me to come back and live with you again, promising to do better for me than anybody else can. I have often felt uneasy about you. I thought the Yankees would have hung you long before this, for harboring Rebs they found at your house. I suppose they never heard about your going to Colonel Martin's to kill the Union soldier that was left by his company in their stable. Although you shot at me twice before I left you, I did not want to hear of your being hurt, and am glad you are still living. It would do me good to go back to the dear old home again, and see Miss Mary and Miss Martha and Allen, Esther, Green, and Lee. Give my love to them all, and tell them I hope we will meet in the better world, if not in this. I would have gone back to see you all when I was working in the Nashville Hospital, but one of the neighbors told me that Henry intended to shoot me if he ever got a chance.
I want to know particularly what the good chance is you propose to give me. I am doing tolerably well here. I get twenty-five dollars a month, with victuals and clothing; have a comfortable home for Mandy,—the folks call her Mrs. Anderson,—and the children—Milly, Jane, and Grundy—go to school and are learning well. The teacher says Grundy has a head for a preacher. They go to Sunday school, and Mandy and me attend church regularly. We are kindly treated. Sometimes we overhear others saying, "Them colored people were slaves" down in Tennessee. The children feel hurt when they hear such remarks; but I tell them it was no disgrace in Tennessee to belong to Colonel Anderson. Many darkeys would have been proud, as I used to be, to call you master. Now if you will write and say what wages you will give me, I will be better able to decide whether it would be to my advantage to move back again.
As to my freedom, which you say I can have, there is nothing to be gained on that score, as I got my free papers in 1864 from the Provost-Marshal-General of the Department of Nashville. Mandy says she would be afraid to go back without some proof that you were disposed to treat us justly and kindly; and we have concluded to test your sincerity by asking you to send us our wages for the time we served you. This will make us forget and forgive old scores, and rely on your justice and friendship in the future. I served you faithfully for thirty-two years, and Mandy twenty years. At twenty-five dollars a month for me, and two dollars a week for Mandy, our earnings would amount to eleven thousand six hundred and eighty dollars. Add to this the interest for the time our wages have been kept back, and deduct what you paid for our clothing, and three doctor's visits to me, and pulling a tooth for Mandy, and the balance will show what we are in justice entitled to. Please send the money by Adams's Express, in care of V. Winters, Esq., Dayton, Ohio. If you fail to pay us for faithful labors in the past, we can have little faith in your promises in the future. We trust the good Maker has opened your eyes to the wrongs which you and your fathers have done to me and my fathers, in making us toil for you for generations without recompense. Here I draw my wages every Saturday night; but in Tennessee there was never any pay-day for the negroes any more than for the horses and cows. Surely there will be a day of reckoning for those who defraud the laborer of his hire.
In answering this letter, please state if there would be any safety for my Milly and Jane, who are now grown up, and both good-looking girls. You know how it was with poor Matilda and Catherine. I would rather stay here and starve—and die, if it come to that—than have my girls brought to shame by the violence and wickedness of their young masters. You will also please state if there has been any schools opened for the colored children in your neighborhood. The great desire of my life now is to give my children an education, and have them form virtuous habits.
Say howdy to George Carter, and thank him for taking the pistol from you when you were shooting at me.
From your old servant,
Jourdon Anderson.
To My Old Master
In August of 1865, a Colonel P.H. Anderson of Big Spring, Tennessee, wrote to his former slave, Jourdan Anderson, and requested that he come back to work on his farm. Jourdan — who, since being emancipated, had moved to Ohio, found paid work, and was now supporting his family — responded spectacularly by way of the letter seen below (a letter which, according to newspapers at the time, he dictated).
Rather than quote the numerous highlights in this letter, I'll simply leave you to enjoy it. Do make sure you read to the end.
(Source: The Freedmen's Book; Image: A group of escaped slaves in Virginia in 1862, courtesy of the Library of Congress.)
Dayton, Ohio
(Source: The Freedmen's Book; Image: A group of escaped slaves in Virginia in 1862, courtesy of the Library of Congress.)
Dayton, Ohio
August 7, 1865
To My Old Master, Colonel P.H. Anderson, Big Spring, Tennessee
Sir: I got your letter, and was glad to find that you had not forgotten Jourdon, and that you wanted me to come back and live with you again, promising to do better for me than anybody else can. I have often felt uneasy about you. I thought the Yankees would have hung you long before this, for harboring Rebs they found at your house. I suppose they never heard about your going to Colonel Martin's to kill the Union soldier that was left by his company in their stable. Although you shot at me twice before I left you, I did not want to hear of your being hurt, and am glad you are still living. It would do me good to go back to the dear old home again, and see Miss Mary and Miss Martha and Allen, Esther, Green, and Lee. Give my love to them all, and tell them I hope we will meet in the better world, if not in this. I would have gone back to see you all when I was working in the Nashville Hospital, but one of the neighbors told me that Henry intended to shoot me if he ever got a chance.
I want to know particularly what the good chance is you propose to give me. I am doing tolerably well here. I get twenty-five dollars a month, with victuals and clothing; have a comfortable home for Mandy,—the folks call her Mrs. Anderson,—and the children—Milly, Jane, and Grundy—go to school and are learning well. The teacher says Grundy has a head for a preacher. They go to Sunday school, and Mandy and me attend church regularly. We are kindly treated. Sometimes we overhear others saying, "Them colored people were slaves" down in Tennessee. The children feel hurt when they hear such remarks; but I tell them it was no disgrace in Tennessee to belong to Colonel Anderson. Many darkeys would have been proud, as I used to be, to call you master. Now if you will write and say what wages you will give me, I will be better able to decide whether it would be to my advantage to move back again.
As to my freedom, which you say I can have, there is nothing to be gained on that score, as I got my free papers in 1864 from the Provost-Marshal-General of the Department of Nashville. Mandy says she would be afraid to go back without some proof that you were disposed to treat us justly and kindly; and we have concluded to test your sincerity by asking you to send us our wages for the time we served you. This will make us forget and forgive old scores, and rely on your justice and friendship in the future. I served you faithfully for thirty-two years, and Mandy twenty years. At twenty-five dollars a month for me, and two dollars a week for Mandy, our earnings would amount to eleven thousand six hundred and eighty dollars. Add to this the interest for the time our wages have been kept back, and deduct what you paid for our clothing, and three doctor's visits to me, and pulling a tooth for Mandy, and the balance will show what we are in justice entitled to. Please send the money by Adams's Express, in care of V. Winters, Esq., Dayton, Ohio. If you fail to pay us for faithful labors in the past, we can have little faith in your promises in the future. We trust the good Maker has opened your eyes to the wrongs which you and your fathers have done to me and my fathers, in making us toil for you for generations without recompense. Here I draw my wages every Saturday night; but in Tennessee there was never any pay-day for the negroes any more than for the horses and cows. Surely there will be a day of reckoning for those who defraud the laborer of his hire.
In answering this letter, please state if there would be any safety for my Milly and Jane, who are now grown up, and both good-looking girls. You know how it was with poor Matilda and Catherine. I would rather stay here and starve—and die, if it come to that—than have my girls brought to shame by the violence and wickedness of their young masters. You will also please state if there has been any schools opened for the colored children in your neighborhood. The great desire of my life now is to give my children an education, and have them form virtuous habits.
Say howdy to George Carter, and thank him for taking the pistol from you when you were shooting at me.
From your old servant,
Jourdon Anderson.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Don Miguel Ruiz ...
The only way to master love is to practice love ...
You don’t need to justify your love ...
You don’t need to explain your love ...
You just need to practice your love ...
Practice creates the master ...
Sherrilyn Kenyon ...
It’s easy to look at people and make quick judgments about them ...
Their present and their past ...
But you’d be amazed at the pain and tears a single smile hides ...
What a person shows to the world ...
Is only one tiny facet of the iceberg hidden from sight ...
And more often then not ...
It’s lined with cracks and scars ...
That go all the way to the foundation of their soul ...
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Buddhist Monk ...
Buddhist Monk prays for dead man at train station ...
The love, compassion and burden of the faithful ...
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Happy Birthday Muhammad Ali ...
Happy 70th Birthday Muhammad Ali ...
Champion ...
Lyricist ...
Redeemer ...
The Greatest ...
Monday, January 16, 2012
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Bruce Lee ...
Put every great teacher together in a room ...
And they'd agree about everything ...
Put their disciples in there ...
And they'd argue about everything ...
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Madonna ...
He was one of the few people I was truly envious of ...
But he didn’t know how good he was and he was plagued with insecurities ...
He used to say he was jealous of me ...
Because music is more accessible and it reached more people ...
He loathed the idea that art was appreciated by an elite group ...
When I heard that Jean-Michel had died, I was not surprised ...
He was too fragile for this world ...
He used to say he was jealous of me ...
Because music is more accessible and it reached more people ...
He loathed the idea that art was appreciated by an elite group ...
When I heard that Jean-Michel had died, I was not surprised ...
He was too fragile for this world ...
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Jafar Alam Poetry
Father your sons ... And don't EVA ... EVA EVA leave your daughters behind
Jafar Alam Poetry
If you don't know yourself before you get into it ... Chances are, you'll lose yourself in it
Jafar Alam Poetry
Tell her that you're a slave to her love ...
But you're still broke as a joke ...
Cause minimum wage replaced slavery
Jafar Alam Poetry
Opening your heart ...
Is a dangerous and liberating experience ...
At the same time
Jafar Alam Poetry
I know that I don't love you ...
I also know that I could love you
Jafar Alam Poetry
Some people don't realize ...
That we have lives and things to attend to ...
Outside of their requests
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