Happy Valentine – With Orchids & How Do I Love Thee? – Part II

I've had just enough time...   to celebrate another Valentine Day cum Chap Goh Meh Day

When flowers kisses...

When I finished reciting that poem, one farmer’s wife clapped very enthusiastically and very loudly. Only one. The rest stared at me in stoney silence maybe wondering if I have gone out of my mind. I cannot remember how I connect the poem with the rest of the technical report but I must have done it somehow for I finished it off quite acceptably to receive decent applause at least, if not as enthusiastically as that farmer’s wife.

But I never tried that stunt again in the other towns and cities. Not in Victoria with my stories of crazy Gila birds that hanged like bats and where that pretty reporter asked me to squeeze in with her into her small car with her microphones saying “it sounds better this way”. Not in the imposing steel and glass towers of Sydney. Not in Wagga Wagga where I was in my elements with my stories of tip toeing naked kangaroos on cold autumn nights and the horror of being naked in a hen house of hundreds of excited chicks. That performance got me a TV interview and the invitation to go rice sowing on a light plane.

Mmmm… Come to think of it, maybe the timing was just not right. Maybe, I should have recited it only on Valentine Day.

I love thee freely, as men strive for Right; 

I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise. 

I love with a passion put to use 

In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

With my lost saints, -- I love thee with the breath,

Smiles, tears, of all my life! -- and, if God choose,

I shall but love thee better after death.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. 
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height 
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight 
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace. 
I love thee to the level of every day's 
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight. 
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right; 
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise. 
I love with a passion put to use 
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith. 
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose 
With my lost saints, -- I love thee with the breath, 
Smiles, tears, of all my life! -- and, if God choose, 
I shall but love thee better after death.

A lovely pair...

Happy Valentine – With Orchids & How Do I Love Thee? – Part I

I've had just enough time...   to tell how much I love thee -

Valentine Day is just round the corner and if you asked me to choose a love poem, it has to be this one that I recited ten years ago to the farmers who gathered in the town hall of the small Australian town of Morawa. It was a freezing summer morning and I shivered nervously as I stumbled my way up the stage to stare at the weathered faces of rough, tough Australian farmers and their wives. They were firing up these huge electrical lanterns to generate some heat which I desperately needed. After the brief introduction, the silence was nerve racking as I cleared my dry throat to speak.

I regretted my quirky sense of humour and romance but it was too late to back off. In the radio interview the day before which was aired that morning, some of these farmers had already heard some of the good as well as not so flattering views I said about their wheat as they drove their combine harvester before the crack of dawn. They then drove down with their family to hear what else I have to say. I was on a tour of 5 Australian farming towns and this is the first stop. I don’t remember much of the content of speech but I remembered opening it with – “How Do I Love Thee?” followed by the rest of the poem. I must be mad.

Last Valentine, I shared the occasion with Desiderata, see link here– Happy Valentine - Saying it with Orchids & Desired Things. This Valentine, let me share “How Do I Love Thee” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning with you accompanied by my orchids in light and shadows. Joined me for Part II for what happened after the conclusion of that speech in Morawa.

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. 

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight 

For the ends of Being and ideal Grace. 

I love thee to the level of every day's 

Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight. 

Check out Part II for the conclusion to the speech in Morawa and the rest of the "How Do I Love Thee?" poem on Valentine Day.

Would You Be A Butterfly Or Would You Just Be You?

I've had just enough time to...   have a butterfly dream

Taken in the Kota Kinabalu Highlands Park, Sabah

I dreamt I was a butterfly

And it dreamt it was me

And each thought he has the better dream

From flowers to flowers I flew

It walked through the woods on my feet

I fluttered and rode on the wind

It swam with graceful ease

I tasted nectar fresh on the flowers

It tasted ice-cream cold from the fridge

Lying on the grass, it admired the million stars

I marvelled at the thousand suns perched on a leaf

Then we were before Him

And He gently asked –

Would you be a butterfly

Or would you just be you?

We have often heard how nice it will be if we are a butterfly or a bird. Who wouldn’t want to fly? But before we attempt to take to the sky, have we made full use of our God given gifts? Have we used our legs to walk through the woods in the freshness of spring, in the shade of summer, in the colours of autumn, in the silence of winter? When was the last time we greeted the sunrise, watched the sun sinking below the line, laid on the grass and looked up at the night sky. If our feet have not felt the coarseness of sand, the clinging mud, the dampness of wet grass, what business have we to fly?

The Flower Outside The Fence

I've had just enough time...   to admire the flower that strayed outside the fence

Saw these lovely flowers inside a fence during a casual walk in Munich...

There was a flower that would not stay

Where it is safe and orderly

Her contented sisters warned

Of a cruel world waiting but

She said -

“I know we all live and die

And even if I were to die earlier

I want to die outside the fence”

...and saw this adventurous flower sticking outside the fence

Oh, give me land, lots of land under starry skies above 

Don't fence me in 

Let me ride through the wide open country that I love 

Don't fence me in 

Let me be by myself in the evenin' breeze 

And listen to the murmur of the cottonwood trees 

Send me off forever but I ask you please 

Don't fence me in

Bing Crosby - Don't Fence Me In 

Happy Valentine – Saying it with Orchids & “Desired Things”

I've had just enough time to...   say it with orchids and desired things...

All these orchids are taken in my garden in their as many different moods as us...

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day so I’ll postpone my intended post to wish all my readers a “Happy Valentine” and I’ll say it with a dozen of the orchids that I decorated my garden for the Chinese New Year. It has become a yearly ritual to bring more colors into my surroundings. Roses are lovely and I love the fragrance but few flowers last as long as the orchids which I think makes it a more appropriate flower to declare your lasting affection with. 

And I will also take the occasion to share a poem “Desiderata” (Latin for “Desired Things) by Max Erhmann which though is not a romantic poem is romantic in spirit for it concludes that “…it is still a beautiful world”, “Be cheerful. Strive to be happy”. It is something I like to share. Try something different this year, say it with orchids and a poem (not necessarily a love poem) and see what happens. :) 

"Go placidly amidst the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story"

"Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself."

 "Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time."

"Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism."

"Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass."

" Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness."

"Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here."

"And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its shams, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful."

"Strive to be happy."

HAPPY VALENTINE!

Did You Notice The Flowers Or the Crack In The Wall? – Part II

I've had just enough time to...   differentiate between the flowers and the crack

Taken in the same place in Malacca as the last post, all inside a building :)

 Are you more concerned –

About the further widening of the crack

Or the imminent fading of the flowers?

Will you –

Patch up the crack

To enjoy the flowers?

Or will you –

Enjoy the flowers

And not worry about the crack?

Maybe, you did not notice –

Either the flowers or the crack?

Maybe, you are –

The crack or the flowers?

Did You Notice The Flowers Or the Crack In The Wall? – Part I

I've had just enough time to...   notice the crack and the flowers

Taken in Malacca of the flowers and the crack and I wonder...

Did you notice –

The colors of the petals

Or the crack in the wall?

Did you not notice the flowers

Because of the crack in the wall?

Did you only notice the flowers

And not the crack in the wall?

More in Part II

How Do You Love Your Flowers?

I've had just enough time to...   love my flowers

Taken of the orchids in my garden...

How a flower looks

Depends very much on where it appears.

Will you go near a flower

Blooming on a cow dung’s heap?

Will you tame a jungle

To get near a wild bloom?

and the dancing ladies doing a wild dance in the wind...

Do you appreciate the common petals

Grown in your own garden?

Or do you covet that

Grown in your neighbor’s yard?

Do you value a flower

Because of its rich surrounding?

And not give a second glance

To that flowering in a junk yard?

while the prosperity flowers welcome the God of Prosperity, still waiting...

Do you love flowers for it beauty?

Or do you love flowers for its virtues?

Or do you love flowers because they are flowers?