Grant Me The Courage To Change.

(I look at change and whether I'm changing.)



"Lord grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

- Saint Francis of Assisi


I don't know which of the two is the more difficult to attain - the serenity or the courage. But I know which of the three is the most illusive - the wisdom to tell the difference.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

"Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me."

- Carol Burnett


And no one would either.

- Ghostwise

Be On Guard Against Silent Dog & Still Water.

(Today I tried to enter a heavily guarded building.)

“Be on your guard against a silent dog and still water”

- Latin Proverb


Misfortune and malice strikes silently.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

“It is wrong to think that misfortunes come from the east or from the west; they originate within one's own mind. Therefore, it is foolish to guard against misfortunes from the external world and leave the inner mind uncontrolled.”

- Buddha


In the safety of our mind, we let down the guard on our thoughts.

- Ghostwise

On Earth There Is No Heaven.

(I went to the hills, and I came back down to earth.)

The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance,
the wise grows it under his feet.

- James Oppenheim


I went to the hill to seek peace,
I came down from the hill to live peace.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

On earth there is no heaven, but there are pieces of it.

- Jules Renard


When I have picked up enough of the shattered glasses,
I'll make my own mirror.

- Ghostwise

I Seek Wisdom And Foolishness In Equal Measure.

(I just came down from a Zen retreat - a little wiser, a litter more foolish.)

Spring has its hundred flowers,
Autumn its moon,
Summer has its cooling breezes,
Winter its snow.
If you allow no idle concerns
To weight on your heart,
Your whole life will be one
Perennial good season.

- The Golden Age of Zen, p. 286


I found that it was one season -
In the green of the tropical jungle.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

A little foolishess, enough to enjoy life
and a little wisdom to avoid the errors,
that will do.

- Osho


I went up the hill,
To seek a little more wisdom
And a little more foolishness
In equal measure.

- Ghostwise

A Balloon Steals My Worries.

"Swishing on by" by JancyLi

(Today I thought of balloons after seeing this picture goes swishing on by...)

The Balloon

I went to the park

And I bought a balloon.

It sailed through the sky

Like a large orange moon.

It bumped and it fluttered

And swam with the clouds.

Small birds flew around it

In high chirping crowds.

It bounced and it balanced

And bowed with the breeze.

It skimmed past the leaves

On the top of the trees.

And then as the day

Started turning to night

I gave a short jump

And I held the string tight

And home we all sailed

Through the darkening sky

The orange balloon, the small birds

And I.

- Karla Kuskin (adapted by James W. King)


I was sad
I went to the park
I saw a balloon floating
- Away with my worries.

- Ghostwise


“Nobody can be uncheered with a balloon”

- Winnie the Pooh

Let Love Go, If Go She Will.

(I believe - Let Love Go, If Go She Will.)

Let Love Go, If Go She Will


Let love go, if go she will.
Seek not, O fool, her wanton flight to stay.
Of all she gives and takes away
The best remains behind her still.

The best remains behind; in vain
Joy she may give and take again,
Joy she may take and leave us pain,
If yet she leave behind
The constant mind
To meet all fortunes nobly, to endure
All things with a good heart, and still be pure,
Still to be foremost in the foremost cause,
And still be worthy of the love that was.
Love coming is omnipotent indeed,
But not Love going. Let her go. The seed
Springs in the favouring Summer air, and grows,
And waxes strong; and when the Summer goes,
Remains, a perfect tree.

Joy she may give and take again,
Joy she may take and leave us pain.
O Love, and what care we?
For one thing thou hast given, O Love, one thing
Is ours that nothing can remove;
And as the King discrowned is still a King,
The unhappy lover still preserves his love.

- Robert Louis Stevenson


Let Love Go,
If you want Love to still remain.

- Ghostwise.

Friends Are Like Bras.

(Today I talk about close and closeness.)

“The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.”

- Flora Whittemore


Do not let close doors deter you and make sure you close the doors you open.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~"

“Friends are like bras: close to your heart and there for support.”

- Author Unknown


Is that why those who wears bra understand the value of friendship better?

- Ghostwise

How A Story Writes Itself.

(Today I try to explain how a story writes itself.)

“The universe is made of stories, not of atoms.”

- Muriel Rukeyser


The story of mankind would be rather dull if it is told from atoms.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

My subject is beginning to oppress my mind as a nightmare does the body. My head is full of ideas, of which the order is not yet clear to me, and which I must consider singly. I should like to run, but I can only drag myself slowly along. You know that I never take up my pen to support a system, or to draw, whether wrongly or rightly, certain conclusions. I give myself up to the natural flow of my ideas, allowing myself in good faith to be led from one consequence to another. Therefore, till my work is finished, I never know exactly what result I shall reach, or if I shall arrive at any"

- Alexis De Tocqueville


At last I could explain how my stories are written.

- Ghostwise

The Grass Grows By Itself.

(Today I cut grass in a light drizzle.)

“Sitting quietly, doing nothing, spring comes, and the grass grows by itself”

- Zen Proverb


Life goes on, even if you don't.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

I come here to speak poetry. It will always be in the grass. It will also be necessary to bend down to hear it. It will always be too simple to be discussed in assemblies.

- Boris Pasternak


If you don't lower yourself to the grass, you'll not hear the sound of the earth.

- Ghostwise

Why Do Willow Weeps?

(Today I wrote a story about the tears of weeping willows that filled a lake).


Weeping Willow (From “My Girl”)

Weeping willow with your tears running down,
Why do you always weep and frown?
Is it because he left you one day?
Is it because he could not stay?

On your branches he would swing,

Do you long for the happiness that day would bring?
He found shelter in your shade,
He thought his laughter would never fade.
Weeping willow stop your tears,
For there is something to calm your fears.
You think death has ripped you forever apart,
But I know he'll always be in your heart.

by Laurice Elehwany

But I weep,
Because he is always in my heart.

- Ghostwise.

I Shouldn't Need A Visa For Beautiful Days.

(Today I applied for a visa to a land far far away.)

“It has been said that a pretty face is a passport. But it's not, it's a visa, and it runs out fast.”

- Julie Burchill

A visa can always be renewed, but a pretty face...

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

Open all the roads of earth

Open all the locks of the borders

Me I have my visa for the beautiful days

I have my passport colour of love

- Celine Dion (The Collection 1982-1988

I am told I need a visa the color of gold

To enter the land of the free.

- Ghostwise

Have You Made Use Of Both Hands?

(Today, I went out of the way to help a colleague the way I hope others would help me when I'm in need.)

Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm. . . As you grow older you will discover that you have two hands. One for helping yourself, the other for helping others.

- Audrey Hepburn


I have two hands, so I try to make use of both.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

None of us has gotten where we are solely by pulling ourselves up from our own bootstraps. We got here because somebody bent down and helped us.

- Thurgood Marshall


When you help others, you're remembering and paying tributes to all who had helped you.

- Ghostwise

If Napoleon Did Not Envy Caesar.

(Today I have a little bout of 'good' envy.)

“Envy consists in seeing things never in themselves, but only in their relations. If you desire glory, you may envy Napoleon, but Napoleon envied Caesar, Caesar envied Alexander, and Alexander, I daresay, envied Hercules, who never existed.”

- Bertrand Russell


If Napoleon did not envy Caesar, he would not be Napoleon.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

“Who among us hasn't envied a cat's ability to ignore the cares of daily life and to relax completely?”

- Karen Brademeyer


I don't think the cat envy us.

- Ghostwise

Love Is As Dangerous As The Sea.

(After a couple of days in the sea, land looks to be a bit different.)

“The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore”

- Vincent van Gogh


Love is as enticing and as dangerous as the sea.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

For whatever we lose (like a you or a me),
It's always our self we find in the sea.

- e.e. cummings


I search the sea -
And found the sea.

- Ghostwise

The Eye Is Not Reliable For It Can Only See.

(Today I listened to the explanations of an eye doctor.)

“There are many things in life that will catch your eye, but only a few will catch your heart...pursue those.”

- Michael Nolan


But too often we don't try to see further than what the eyes can see.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~~"

“The loveliest faces are to be seen by moonlight, when one sees half with the eye and half with the fancy”

- Persian Proverb


Where we cover the blemishes and enhance the glow.

- Ghostwise

Darkness Reigns At The Foot Of The Lighthouse.

(I just came back for a lighthouse.)

“We are told to let our light shine, and if it does, we won't need to tell anybody it does. Lighthouses don't fire cannons to call attention to their shining- they just shine.”

- Dwight L. Moody


The light from the lighthouse is easy enough to be seen, but the light that shines within; now that requires you to look more carefully.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

“Darkness reigns at the foot of the lighthouse”

- Japanese Proverb


I discover that the lighthouse only shines for those far away.

- Ghostwise

There Is Nothing Romantic About Sacrifices.

(Sacrifices sounds honorable but what are not painful are not sacrifices. There is nothing romantic abour sacrifices.)

Part of the happiness of life consists not in fighting battles, but in avoiding them. A masterly retreat is in itself a victory.

- Norman Vincent Peale

When we retreat, we sacrifice our pride.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

Life does not require us to be consistent, cruel, patient, helpful, angry, rational, thoughtless, loving, rash, open-minded, neurotic, careful, rigid, tolerant, wasteful, rich, downtrodden, gentle, sick, considerate, funny, stupid, healthy, greedy, beautiful, lazy, responsive, foolish, sharing, pressured, intimate, hedonistic, industrious, manipulative, insightful, capricious, wise, selfish, kind or sacrificed. Life does, however, require us to live with the consequences of our choices.

- Richard David Bach


Life doesn't even guarantee us that a 'good' choice will have 'good' consequence.

- Ghostwise

The Sound Of Basho.

(I was still troubled. So I sat quietly in the room and listened to silent sound of the haiku of Basho. It was a time for listening so no word was spoken.)

All along this road
not a single soul - only
autumn evening comes


Heard, not seen,
the camellia poured rainwater
when it leaned


This dark autumn
old age settles down on me
like heavy clouds or birds

- Basho (translated by Sam Hamill)

It Was Not Pride That hurts Me.

(Today I was hurt. I have not learned not to be hurt.)

... pride is not a bad thing when it only urges us to hide our own hurts — not to hurt others.

- George Eliot


Call me "proud", I hurt alone.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

To live is to hurt others, and through others, to hurt oneself. Cruel earth! How can we manage not to touch anything? To find what ultimate exile?

- Albert Camus


And even when we live in exile, we have not lost the capability to hurt ourself.

- Ghostwise

Have You Got The Mail You Want?

(Today I go mails but I miss one.)

“I turn on my computer. I wait patiently as it connects. I go online. My breath catches in my chest until I hear 3 little words, "You've got mail." I hear nothing, not a sound on the streets of New York. Just the beat of my own heart. I have mail...from you.”

- "You've got mail" (Movie)


It is amazing how a mail can brighten up even a cloudy day.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

“President Bush said for security reasons, he's sworn off all e-mail communication. He will not be using email at the White House at all. Is that a good idea? I mean, it's not like that speaking thing was working out so good.”

- Jay Leno


Unlike speaking, e-mail can at least be checked first before sending.

- Ghostwise

Some There Be That Shadows Kiss.

(Today, I was engaged in some shadow play.)


Some there be that shadows kiss;
Such have but a shadow's bliss.

- William Shakespeare, (The Merchant of Venice)


I seek substance in a shadow's kiss;
And was thus undernourished.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~~"

To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

- William Shakespeare (Macbeth)


I played with shadows for so long,
That I could not tell,
Which is me and which is the shadow.

- Ghostwise

A Palace Must Be A House.

(Spent the whole morning taking pictures of palace.)

“Poetry is certainly something more than good sense, but it must be good sense, just as a palace is more than a house, but it must be a house”

- Samuel Taylor Coleridge


I would like my house to be a palace, but if it cannot be; I rather stay in a house than a palace.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~~"

The youth gets together his materials to build a bridge to the moon, or, perchance, a palace or temple on the earth, and, at length, the middle-aged man concludes to build a woodshed with them.

- Henry David Thoreau


The wise man realize the most important ingredient for the construction of a happy home is warmth and not grandeur.

- Ghostwise

You Can Always Go Shopping Again.

(Today I went shopping for One Fathom Bank.)

Were buying and selling your history
How we go about it is no mystery
We check it with the city, then change the law
Are you looking forward?
Now you want some more

Were s-h-o-pp-i-n-g, were shopping

Its easy when you got all the information
Inside help, no investigation
(no investigation, investigation)
No questions in the house, no give and take
Theres a big bang in the city
Were all on the make

Were s-h-o-pp-i-n-g, were shopping
Were s-h-o-pp-i-n-g, were shopping

Our gain is your loss, thats the price you pay
I heard it in the house of commons: everythings for sale

Were shopping
Were shopping

- Pet Shop Boys: Shopping


How sad this describe our recent history.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

Try me on
Take me home
The tags are on
It's still a loan
Warranty is in the sack
You can always take me back
Go window shopping again
Window shopping again

Scan the shelves for something red
It's different
It's brighter than the ones you had to have
They didn't last
They just fade
And you go window shopping again
Window shopping again

- Lisa Loeb (Window Shopping)


You can again always buy
What you stopped to like
And you don't have to pay
The credit card company says.

- Ghostwise

Two Minus One Equals Nothing.

(Today I could think of nothing.)

“In the arithmetic of love, one plus one equals everything, and two minus one equals nothing”

- Mignon McLaughlin


In the multiplication of love, one times one equals eternity.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

“I love talking about nothing. It is the only thing I know anything about.”

- Oscar Wilde


But it sure makes a lot of sound.

- Ghostwise

When Fatigue Sets In.

(I am exhausted.)

“There is no fatigue so wearisome as that which comes from lack of work”

- Charles H. Spurgeon


That is a little difficult to accept when your fatigue is caused by too much work.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~~"

“A little flattery will support a man through great fatigue”

- James Monroe


I need a lot of flattery now.

- Ghostwise

Like A Snake Trying To Swallow An Elephant.

(Today, I saw what ambition can do to a man.)

“Ambition is like love, impatient both of delays and rivals.”

- Buddha quotes


The symptoms of Ambition may be like love,
But their hearts could not be more different.

- Ghostwise

~~~~~~~~~~"

Ambition is so powerful a passion in the human breast, that however high we reach we are never satisfied.

- Niccolo Machiavelli


As the Chinese says - "Like a snake trying to swallow an elephant".

- Ghostwise

Is Your Plan Better Than The Grasshopper?

(We caught a huge grasshopper and released it into the wild. Today, I did not see the grasshopper but I saw the leaves being eaten again.)

Summer Day

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention,
how to fall downinto the grass,
how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed,
how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

- Mary Oliver in New and Selected Poems (Boston: Beacon Press) 1992


I echo: what is your plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

- Ghostwise