Noticings

Yesterday, I found myself admiring a small flower garden that is growing in front of a house I really have never paid much attention to, partly because when the neighborhood school is in session, I tend to walk in another direction to avoid the traffic.  As I took in the beautiful shapes and colors, I noticed that this modest grey house has a very nice front porch. I found the simplicity of this one story house quite inviting.  Later that morning I drove down a street lined with high density housing after taking over an hour and a half to make my way through about 36 miles of high density traffic.  I could see no flowers. The cost of living and working in this area is very high indeed.  

   

I found this poem in my drafts this morning.  Always good to have a poem around, waiting to be shared.  Always good to notice and remember what brings us peace.      

 

To Look at Any Thing
 
To look at any thing,
If you would know that thing,
You must look at it long:
To look at this green and say,
"I have seen spring in these woods,"
Will not do - you must
Be the thing you see:
You must be the dark snakes of
Stems and ferny plumes of leaves,
You must enter in
To the small silences between
The leaves,
You must take your time
And touch the very peace
They issue from.
 
~ John Moffitt ~
 
(Teaching With Fire, edited by S. M. Intrator and M. Scribner)   

shared by Panhala  

 

photographs:  San Leandro, July 2019 

#keepingamericagood