Words to live by

However many holy words you read,
however many you speak,
what good will they do you
if you do not act on upon them?
Whatever words we utter
should be chosen with care
for people will hear them and
be influenced by them for good or ill.
Better than a thousand hollow words,
is one word that brings peace.
In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west;
people create distinctions out of their own minds
and then believe them to be true.
The way is not in the sky,
the way is in the heart.
A jug fills drop by drop.
Every human being is the author
of his own health or disease.
To understand everything
is to forgive everything.
In a controversy the instant we feel anger
we have already ceased striving for the truth,
and have begun striving for ourselves.
No one saves us but ourselves,
no one can and no one may,
we ourselves must walk the path.

This poem is written with the words of a man named Siddhārtha Gautama, the Buddha. I am not a Buddhist however if one were to internalize his words, they would change that persons life forever. It is that simple. May they bring you reflection and peace.

©2015, Donald Harbour

No beginning, no ending

There is no beginning, there is no ending, there is only existance.

that which is unknown
that which cannot be known
gathered up the ends of eternity
binding the path of spirituality
with the undulations of time
capturing its changing movement
gathered it all together
interweaving with serenity
into the endless knot of infinity
the knot had no beginning
nor did it have an ending
there laid it upon the divine
that which is infinite wisdom
became the matter of creation
in the emptiness of existence
began the endless cycle
suffering birth death re-birth
inseparable from its ritual of being
that became compassion
giving light and meaning to the void

© 2011, Donald Harbour

A gift of knowledge

I hear your whisper in my heart and it is filled with joy.

There is turbidity swirling in the mind,
If One could but shine a light upon it, all would clear.
This cloud cast between thinking and knowing,
A closet door to beyond, to understanding.
There is prayer and meditation, seeking, never finding,
Never able to really see past this occlusion,
Just out of reach the finger outstretched,
Never meeting the seekers grasp, never fulfilling.
It is a veil so diaphanous and yet so vast that,
Time and the stars do not pierce the curtain.
We have but one instance to know the truth, this
Eternal wisdom that balances all creation.
One instance to know, to see, hear, become,
A gift of knowledge from which we shall never return.