Buddha is said to have given a "silent sermon" once during which he held up a flower and gazed at it. After a while, one of those present, a monk called Mahakasyapa, began to smile. He is said to have been the only one who had understood the sermon. According to legend, that smile (that is to say, realization) was handed down by twenty-eight successive masters and much later became the origin of Zen. -- Eckhart Tolle
“As if you were on fire from within.
The moon lives in the lining of your skin.”
― Pablo Neruda
Where the Passion Flower Grows
By Charles M. Moore
Lay down on your pillow
and turn the lights down low
let me take you to the garden
where the passion flower grows
Close your eyes and enter dreams
as love’s emotion sets the scene
and flitters through the garden
where the passion flower grows
Touch the tender petals
of the flower as she grows
a tentative endeavour
as your feelings overflow
Let me draw you to the place
where ecstasy can be embraced
the beauty of the garden
where the passion flower grows
Feel your mind exploding
in the heavy scented air
experience the shiver
as you’re captured unaware
A little touch of heaven
where imagination flows
the valley in the garden
where the passion flower grows.
✿
I have many many favorite poems including the Yeats poem Krista posted as her example for this week’s challenge. I selected this one that I’ve posted before because recently the poem’s author left a comment with praise of this posting. So I’m honored and delighted that the poet found the photos worthy of this exceptional poem. Here’s an except from Charles M. Moore’s biography –
“Born in the backstreets of the Gorbals in Glasgow Scotland, Kept in hospital because of Tuberculosis untill I was five, released, and given the all clear when I was fifteen, have always worked for a living and suppose had a pretty hard upbringing, but I wouldn’t change it for the world, love life and my outlook of it, have always as far as I can remember written poetry and songs.”
“Together with the plum blossom, the peony is a national floral symbol of the country of China. The Chinese name for peony means “beautiful” and in Chinese culture the flowers represent riches, prosperity and honor.” — The Secret Language of Flowers
“I want to encourage women to embrace their own uniqueness. Because just like a rose is beautiful, so is a sunflower, so is a peony. I mean, all flowers are beautiful in their own way, and that’s like women too.” — Miranda Kerr
Maverick Mist 