bachata!

“Although gold dust is precious, when it gets in your eyes it obstructs your vision”

Bob Marley II

"You may not be her first, her last, or her only. She's loved before she may love again. But if she loves you now, what else matters? She's not perfect, you aren't either and the two of you may never be perfect together. But if she can make you laugh, cause you to think twice, and admit to being human and making mistakes, hold onto her and give her the most you can. She may not be thinking of you every second of the day, but she will give you a part of her that she know's you can break: her heart. So don't hurt her, don't change her, don't analyze and don't expect more than she can give. Smile when she makes you happy, let her know when she makes you mad, and miss her when she's not there."

— Bob Marley

Bob Marley

"Only once in your life, I truly believe, you find someone who can completely turn your world around. You tell them things that you’ve never shared with another soul and they absorb everything you say and actually want to hear more. You share hopes for the future, dreams that will never come true, goals that were never achieved and the many disappointments life has thrown at you. When something wonderful happens, you can’t wait to tell them about it, knowing they will share in your excitement. They are not embarrassed to cry with you when you are hurting or laugh with you when you make a fool of yourself. Never do they hurt your feelings or make you feel like you are not good enough, but rather they build you up and show you the things about yourself that make you special and even beautiful. There is never any pressure, jealousy or competition but only a quiet calmness when they are around. You can be yourself and not worry about what they will think of you because they love you for who you are. The things that seem insignificant to most people such as a note, song or walk become invaluable treasures kept safe in your heart to cherish forever. Memories of your childhood come back and are so clear and vivid it’s like being young again. Colours seem brighter and more brilliant. Laughter seems part of daily life where before it was infrequent or didn’t exist at all. A phone call or two during the day helps to get you through a long day’s work and always brings a smile to your face. In their presence, there’s no need for continuous conversation, but you find you’re quite content in just having them nearby. Things that never interested you before become fascinating because you know they are important to this person who is so special to you. You think of this person on every occasion and in everything you do. Simple things bring them to mind like a pale blue sky, gentle wind or even a storm cloud on the horizon. You open your heart knowing that there’s a chance it may be broken one day and in opening your heart, you experience a love and joy that you never dreamed possible. You find that being vulnerable is the only way to allow your heart to feel true pleasure that’s so real it scares you. You find strength in knowing you have a true friend and possibly a soul mate who will remain loyal to the end. Life seems completely different, exciting and worthwhile. Your only hope and security is in knowing that they are a part of your life."

— Bob Marley

To know the road ahead, ask those coming back.

chinese proverb

Astrud Gilberto - It Might as Well Be Spring

...But I feel so gay in a melancholy way,
That it might as well be spring...

Death wants more death - Charles Bukowski

Death wants more death, and its webs are full:
I remember my father's garage, how child-like
I would brush the corpses of flies
from the windows they thought were escape-
their sticky, ugly, vibrant bodies
shouting like dumb crazy dogs against the glass
only to spin and flit
in that second larger than hell or heaven
onto the edge of the ledge,
and then the spider from his dank hole
nervous and exposed
the puff of body swelling
hanging there
not really quite knowing,
and then knowing-
something sending it down its string,
the wet web,
toward the weak shield of buzzing,
the pulsing;
a last desperate moving hair-leg
there against the glass
there alive in the sun,
spun in white;
and almost like love:
the closing over,
the first hushed spider-sucking:
filling its sack
upon this thing that lived;
crouching there upon its back
drawing its certain blood
as the world goes by outside
and my temples scream
and I hurl the broom against them:
the spider dull with spider-anger
still thinking of its prey
and waving an amazed broken leg;
the fly very still,
a dirty speck stranded to straw;
I shake the killer loose
and he walks lame and peeved
towards some dark corner
but I intercept his dawdling
his crawling like some broken hero,
and the straws smash his legs
now waving
above his head
and looking
looking for the enemy
and somewhat valiant,
dying without apparent pain
simply crawling backward
piece by piece
leaving nothing there
until at last the red gut sack
splashes
its secrets,
and I run child-like
with God's anger a step behind,
back to simple sunlight,
wondering
as the world goes by
with curled smile
if anyone else
saw or sensed my crime

Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted.

John Lennon

A bird does not sing because it has an answer It sings because it has a song

From the withered tree, a flower blooms.

Politiki Kouzina - Sta limania anapsane foties

Δεν υπάρχει στον κόσμο δύναμη σαν τον έρωτα. Κι' όταν τον έχει κάποιος μέσα του, όταν απλά και μόνο τον διαθέτει, έστω κι' αν δεν ξέρει πως να τον χρησιμοποιήσει, εκείνος θα επιδράσει και θα ακτινοβολήσει και θα βοηθήσει να βγει κανείς απ' το καβούκι του και να πάει παραπέρα. Ποτέ δεν πρέπει να χάνει κανείς την πίστη, απλά θα πρέπει ν' αντέξει διατηρώντας την (ακόμα κι' αν δεν είναι παρά μιά πίστη μονάχα!).

Ο οδηγός του ποιητή γιά την ζωή
Η σοφία του Ρίλκε - εκδόσεις Πατάκη
μετάφραση Αλεξάνδρα Νικολακοπούλου

Le seul alchimiste capable de tout changer en or est l'amour. L'unique sortilège contre la mort, la vieillesse, la vie routinière, c'est l'amour.

a birthday - Christina Rossetti

My heart is like a singing bird

Whose nest is in a water’d shoot;

My heart is like an apple-tree

Whose boughs are bent with thick-set fruit;

My heart is like a rainbow shell

That paddles in a halcyon sea;

My heart is gladder than all these,

Because my love is come to me.

Raise me a daïs of silk and down;

Hang it with vair and purple dyes;

Carve it in doves and pomegranates,

And peacocks with a hundred eyes;

Work it in gold and silver grapes,

In leaves and silver fleurs-de-lys;

Because the birthday of my life

Is come, my love is come to me.

If death is kind - Sara Teasdale

Perhaps if Death is kind, and there can be returning,
We will come back to earth some fragrant night,
And take these lanes to find the sea, and bending
Breathe the same honeysuckle, low and white.

We will come down at night to these resounding beaches
And the long gentle thunder of the sea,
Here for a single hour in the wide starlight
We shall be happy, for the dead are free

With the transformation of perception and correct awareness, it happens that members of family separate, friends are going apart, political views change, job becomes boring, money becomes tasteless, wordily goals insignificant. Some won’t resist and will flip back to balance, thinking that “ignorance is bliss”; few will understand, and pursue the true happiness, born out of pacified chaos.

ο φίλος μου Lama Shenpen Rinpoche

A flower falls even though we love it and a weed grows even though we do not love it.

The path of the enlightened one leaves no track, it is like the path of birds in the sky.