Cottonwood Trees

Credit: The Furry Gnome

The cottonwoods are
flinging themselves outward,
filling the air with spiraling flurries,
covering lawns in deepening drifts.
You could not call this generosity.
Like any being, they
let loose what they have
in order to survive,
in order that their lives might continue
in a new year's growth.
The more seeds they send out
on their lofted journeys
the greater the chance
for their kind to flourish.
There is no hesitation.
No one asks how much
they will give. Without words
they know so clearly
that everything depends
on what we call giving,
that which the world knows only as creation.

~ Lynn Ungar

Cottonwood Trees

Credit: The Furry Gnome

The cottonwoods are
flinging themselves outward,
filling the air with spiraling flurries,
covering lawns in deepening drifts.
You could not call this generosity.
Like any being, they
let loose what they have
in order to survive,
in order that their lives might continue
in a new year's growth.
The more seeds they send out
on their lofted journeys
the greater the chance
for their kind to flourish.
There is no hesitation.
No one asks how much
they will give. Without words
they know so clearly
that everything depends
on what we call giving,
that which the world knows only as creation.

~ Lynn Ungar

Dios

Credit: emilyharriet

I feel God travel with me,
when the sun sets and on the sea,
together we walk as it grows dark.
We are all together but walk like orphans.

But I feel God and he gives color
to my life.  He is kind and sad,
like those who attend the sick and dying;
He whispers like a lover in distress.
His heart must hurt for his creation.

Oh, my God, though I have just come to you,
I love so much as it grows dark,
and in the balance within the heart,
I weigh and weep for frail Creation.

And you, what do you weep for … you who love
with your immense and whirling heart?
I consecrate you, God, because you love so much;
because you never smile; because your heart
must ache as Time continues.

~ Cesar Vallejo
(translated by Robert Bly)

Dios

Credit: emilyharriet

I feel God travel with me,
when the sun sets and on the sea,
together we walk as it grows dark.
We are all together but walk like orphans.

But I feel God and he gives color
to my life.  He is kind and sad,
like those who attend the sick and dying;
He whispers like a lover in distress.
His heart must hurt for his creation.

Oh, my God, though I have just come to you,
I love so much as it grows dark,
and in the balance within the heart,
I weigh and weep for frail Creation.

And you, what do you weep for … you who love
with your immense and whirling heart?
I consecrate you, God, because you love so much;
because you never smile; because your heart
must ache as Time continues.

~ Cesar Vallejo
(translated by Robert Bly)

Quote on pain

Source: Unknown/Favim.com

"Good God, how much reverence can you have for a Supreme Being who finds it necessary to include tooth decay in His divine system of creation? Why in the world did He ever create pain?"
"Pain?" Lieutenant Shiesskopf's wife pounced upon the word victoriously. "Pain is a warning to us of bodily dangers."
"And who created the dangers?" Yossarian demanded. "Why couldn't He have used a doorbell to notify us, or one of His celestial choirs? Or a system of blue-and-red neon tubes right in the middle of each person's forehead?"
"'People would certainly look silly walking around with red neon tubes right in the middle of their foreheads."
"They certainly look beautiful now writhing in agony, don't they?"

~ Joseph Heller

Quote on pain

Source: Unknown/Favim.com

"Good God, how much reverence can you have for a Supreme Being who finds it necessary to include tooth decay in His divine system of creation? Why in the world did He ever create pain?"
"Pain?" Lieutenant Shiesskopf's wife pounced upon the word victoriously. "Pain is a warning to us of bodily dangers."
"And who created the dangers?" Yossarian demanded. "Why couldn't He have used a doorbell to notify us, or one of His celestial choirs? Or a system of blue-and-red neon tubes right in the middle of each person's forehead?"
"'People would certainly look silly walking around with red neon tubes right in the middle of their foreheads."
"They certainly look beautiful now writhing in agony, don't they?"

~ Joseph Heller

Quote on creativity

Image: Sign making by Ariana Sanjar

The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this: a human creature born abnormally, inhumanly sensitive. To him a touch is a blow, a sound is a noise, a misfortune is a tragedy, a joy is an ecstasy, a friend is a lover, a lover is a god, and failure is death.
Add to this cruelly delicate organism the overpowering necessity to create, create, create—so that without the creating of music or  poetry or books or buildings or something of meaning, his very breath is cut off from him.
He must create, must pour out his creation. By some strange, unknown, inward urgency, he is not really alive unless he is creating.

~ Pearl S. Buck

Quote on creativity

Image: Sign making by Ariana Sanjar

The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this: a human creature born abnormally, inhumanly sensitive. To him a touch is a blow, a sound is a noise, a misfortune is a tragedy, a joy is an ecstasy, a friend is a lover, a lover is a god, and failure is death.
Add to this cruelly delicate organism the overpowering necessity to create, create, create—so that without the creating of music or  poetry or books or buildings or something of meaning, his very breath is cut off from him.
He must create, must pour out his creation. By some strange, unknown, inward urgency, he is not really alive unless he is creating.

~ Pearl S. Buck