Halloween Is Only By Night.

I've had just enough time to...   treat myself to a few tricks.

Taken in Bali at night.

Sinister or Friendly,

Depends on -

Your point of view,

The time of day,

Your frame of mind.

Taken in Bali at day time.

Art Is Life.

I've had just enough time to...   appreciate Art.

Taken from a vantage point in a side street of Bali.

The greatest value of Art is to remind us of the beauty of Nature and Life that we may miss in our hurried existence. No matter how beautiful the portrayal, it is still but a copy of the real thing. Art enhances Life but it is Life that gives existence to Art. So Art, whether a faithful rendition or an imagined fantasy can never be more beautiful than Life itself.

What Is Real? What Is Not?

I've had just enough time to...   look at whats real and whats not.

Taken in a small street in Bali.

What is real?

What is not?

Life is real.

Art is not.

For Art imitates Life

But Life imitates Not.

Decorate A Monster.

I've had just enough time to...   decorate a monster.

Taken in the Monkey Forest of Ubud, Bali.

To decorate a monster
Do it with bright flowers
Let it be flattered
By their beauty
For no monster
Thinks itself ugly
And can only be
Tempered by kind words
Making it less
The monster it was.

Lotus Pond Under the Moonlight - 荷塘月色

I've had just enough time to...   pass by the lotus pond.

Taken on the way back from Kampar.

wǒ xiàng zhī yú ér zài nǐ de hé táng
我 像　只　鱼 儿 在 你 的 荷 塘　
zhī wéi hé nǐ shǒu hòu nà jiǎo bái yuè guāng
只 为 和 你 守 候 那 皎 白 月 光　
yóu guò le sì jì hé huā yī rán xiāng
  游　过了 四 季 荷  花 依 然 香　
děng nǐ wǎn zài shuǐ zhōng yāng 　
等　你 宛 在  水　中　 央　

- 荷塘月色  / 凤凰传奇

Like the fish in the lotus pond,

I waited for the return of the moon's brilliance

Swimming through the seasons for the fragrance

Of your return to this water.

_______

For one who travels by day,

I wonder how the lotus looks like

by the moonlight.

The Golden Waves of Chariot.

I've had just enough time to...  be washed by the golden waves.

Taken of the golden waves of Kota Kinabalu.

Staring at a maple leaf
Leaning on the mother tree, I
Said to myself we all lost touch
Your favorite fruit is, chocolate-covered cherries
And seedless watermelon, oh
Nothing from the ground is good enough
Body rise
It puts over me

Oh chariot, your golden waves
Are walking down, upon this face
Oh chariot, I'm singing out loud
To guide me, give me your
Strength

- Gavin DeGraw:Chariot

_______

Chocolate strawberry is not for me

I want to taste it just like it is

As only strawberries can be.

 

But we live in a time when we spread ketchup over everything.

When Evening Comes.

I've had just enough time to...   enjoy another evening.

Taken along the esplanade of Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

At the break of the day
When my dreams have come and gone
The memories will fade away
But I wonder for how long
Not too long

For I know when evening comes
And I hear the night-birds' tune
I'll remember where it all began
As we danced beside the moon

-Ken Hensley - When Evening Comes.

_______

When evening comes, it finds me most reflective

As if racing for meaning before the last rays of the sun

Disappear and darkness envelopes everything…

If You Do What You Did...

I've had just enough time to...   do something differently.

Taken in Ipoh from 9 storeys up.

If you do what you did

When you were young...

Can you guess

Where you'll be heading...

The Old Man of the Mountain.

I've had just enough time to...   speak to the Old Man of the Mountain.

Taken in Gunung Lang, Ipoh.

The Old Man

by Robert F Doane
Published 1939 at 13 years of age
Campton New Hampshire 
On the crest of a mighty mountain
Looking over the lake below,
A face with a human expression
Watches many a century go.

It was made from a mountain of granite
With the skill of a sculptor's hand,
And guards the green valley below it
As time passes over the land.

At dusk when the birds cease their carols
And the wind murmurs through the trees,
There's a sense of sadness about you,
As you stand in the evening breeze.

You feel that a great respect's due him -
So mighty beneath the blue sky,
There are few who have not been inspired
By that face as they've passed it by.

And to me, as to Daniel Webster,
The thought comes now and again
That in the great State of New Hampshire
The Master of Sculptors makes men.

_______

Do not grieve that the Old Man of New Hampshire is no more,

He just left the granite shoulder of Profile Mountain,

To rest on the limestone shoulder of Gunung Lang.

(The Old man of New Hamsphire fell on May 2003, I found my Old man of Gunung Lang in Sept 2011)

The Path of the Sage.

I've had just enough time to...   listen to the sage.

Taken inside the Shaoin Temple, China.

I carry the dust of a journey
That cannot be shaken away
It lives deep within me
For I breathe it every day

You and I are yesterdays answers
The earth of the past come to flesh
Eroded by times rivers
To the shapes we now possess.

Come share of my breath and my substance
And mingle our streams and our times
In bright infinite moments
Our reasons are lost in our eyes.

Emerson, Lake & Palmer - The Sage

_______

What we can learn from the Sage
Is not what he had spoken
But the path he had taken.

When The New World Becomes Old.

I've had just enough time to...   look at the New World.

Taken in Kampar, Perak.

Where will you be?

What will you do?

How will you cope?

When the New World becomes Old?

Don't Bend Too Easily To The Wind.

I've had just enough time to...   resist the wind.

Taken at the foothill of Mount Kinabalu.

Don't bend too easily to the wind,

The oak is noble for a reason.

When Monkeys Play.

I've had just enough time to...   watch a monkey play.

Taken in the Monkey Forest, Ubud, Bali.

When monkeys play, they learn.

No different from when children play.

But man has learned to learn

And forget to learn by play

The way that monkeys learn,

The way that children play.

Waiting for Dirty Duck.

I've had just enough time to...   order my plate of Dirty Duck.

Taken in the Dirty Duck restaurant in Ubud, Bali.

Man who waits for roast duck to fly into mouth must wait very, very long time. 

- Jules Renard

守株待兔   shǒuzhū-dàitù
(Waiting for the rabbit to knock itself out against the tree trunk)

_______

Those who wait for roast duck to fly to their mouth have to wait for a very long time.

They have to at least make the order and have the money to pay for it.

As Fine As A Frog In Boiled Water.

I've had just enough time to...   get out of the water.

Taken in Marjeyoun, Lebanon where I saw a frog jumped into the wrong water.

Everything is normal, everything is changing;

Nothing is normal, yet nothing is changed.

Get out of the water, get out of it quick!

But the water is fine, and I’m fine in it.

As fine as the frog in boiled water,

As fine as I am in it.

The Death of Steve Jobs.

I've had just enough time to...   to mourn the passing of a genius.

Taken with respect and regret.

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

~ Steve Jobs

_______

Life changes.
How do I know?
I witnessed the passing of a comet.
Oh, when will I see another as bright?

The Line of a Dance.

I've had just enough time to...   dance a little.

Taken in a quiet corner of Ubud, Bali.

The line of a dance is the most graceful, not the shortest distance between two points. The progression from one stage to another evolves as naturally as a river in its meandering flow to the sea. A dance shows us how we should live our life – with passion, spontaneity and grace; not speed and efficiency.

- Thou San

The Character of an Old Building.

I've had just enough time to...   provide shelter against the storm.

Taken in a side street of Bali among a bustling market.

When I am old and wrinkled, I wish my face will take on the appearance of this battered old building that has faithfully provided shelter for all who needs it against the elements. Its roof may be leaking, its timber cracked and peeling but its foundation still as firm as the rock it stood on. Its character unquestioned.

The Charm of Humility.

I've had just the time to...   learn a little about humility.

Taken in Bali where I learned about the great charm of humility.

Humility does not mean thinking less of yourself than of other people, nor does it mean having a low opinion of your own gifts. It means freedom from thinking about yourself at all.
~ William Temple

_____

Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.
 ~ John Wooden

_____

We come nearest to the great when we are great in humility.
~Rabindranath Tagore

_____

True humility that comes from the heart rather than mere gestures is not as apparent or as easy to achieve. Somtimes, it is even often misunderstood for something else.

 

Do We Need A Hero?

I've had just enough time...   to stop wishing for a hero to fight my fight.

Taken while walking in the street of Beirut, Lebanon.

Where have all the good men gone
And where are all the gods?
Where's the street-wise Hercules
To fight the rising odds?
Isn't there a white knight upon a fiery steed?
Late at night I toss and turn and dream
of what I need

I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night
He's gotta be strong
And he's gotta be fast
And he's gotta be fresh from the fight
I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light
He's gotta be sure
And it's gotta be soon
And he's gotta be larger than life

Bonnie Tyler - "I Need A Hero"

_____

We need a hero,
We need him to be strong,
We need him to be fast,
We need him to make things right.

We need a hero,
We waited through the night
Till the early morning light.
Till they come with their might.

Till they took us away,
We were still waiting for our hero…