Eden Is Between Ithaka and Home

I've had just enough time to...   look for Eden somewhere between Ithaka and home

Taken of a Himalayan valley from the edge of a mountain

Eden is between Ithaka and home

But they are in different directions!

Can you take your heart to Ithaka

And not think of home?

Can you stay in the comfort of your home

And not yearn for Ithaka?

I packed my bags and sleep under the stars

Heading for Ithaka

When the journey gets too arduous

And my steps too weary

And home came in my sleep

I know it is time to return

Eden is not a place in some mystical land

Eden is between home and Ithaka

_______

Ithaca 

When you set out for Ithaka

ask that your way be long,

full of adventure, full of instruction.

The Laistrygonians and the Cyclops,

angry Poseidon - do not fear them:

such as these you will never find

as long as your thought is lofty, as long as a rare

emotion touch your spirit and your body.

The Laistrygonians and the Cyclops,

angry Poseidon - you will not meet them

unless you carry them in your soul,

unless your soul raise them up before you.

Ask that your way be long.

At many a Summer dawn to enter

with what gratitude, what joy -

ports seen for the first time;

to stop at Phoenician trading centres,

and to buy good merchandise,

mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,

and sensuous perfumes of every kind,

sensuous perfumes as lavishly as you can;

to visit many Egyptian cities,

to gather stores of knowledge from the learned.

Have Ithaka always in your mind.

Your arrival there is what you are destined for.

But don't in the least hurry the journey.

Better it last for years,

so that when you reach the island you are old,

rich with all you have gained on the way,

not expecting Ithaka to give you wealth.

Ithaka gave you a splendid journey.

Without her you would not have set out.

She hasn't anything else to give you.

And if you find her poor, Ithaka hasn't deceived you.

So wise you have become, of such experience,

that already you'll have understood what these Ithakas mean. 

Constantine P. Cavafy

Go Faster at Red!

I've has just enough time to...   stop at red. 

Taken at the traffic light of a wet bird (or two?) on the way to work.

There comes a time we have to stop at red

But did we notice the change of light?

Do we accelerate at the danger sign

To salvage time for time wasted

For a little extra time we do not need

“Living Life in the fast lane

Involves breaking a few rules

They are small prices to pay

For the speed we need to make -

Through the landscape”

“What is the point of a journey

If not to a destination?

No time to smell the flowers

They are still there tomorrow -               

We have to get there today”

“Haven’t you heard time is money

It waits for no man

And once spent is gone forever

So what we need to do is faster -

Before time runs out”

 “So we will not stop at red 1”

So says the speed devil

Just before

A red light too many!

_______

At a red light in the sunshine

On a Sunday

Nothin' to say

Don't even try

Some are comin' home

Some are leavin' town

While my world's crashin' down

On a Sunday

In the sunshine

At a red light

David Nail – “Red Light”

The Ways We Fish.

I've had just enough time to...   think about the way I fish.

Taken of the fisherman under the hot tropical sun in Kuching River

There are many ways one can catch a fish

We can do it with one rod

Or we can do it with nine

That explains the way we approach Life

There are many ways we can reach a destination

We can do it fast and easy

Or take many detours along the way

That explains the way we take our journeys

Taken of the very relaxed fisherman

There are many ways we can love

We can do it intensely

Or do it lovingly forever

That explains the nature of our heart

There are many ways we can live our Life

You can tell by the way we fish, or not

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.