Just This, The Bell's Song

Just this, the bell's song:

ringing sunrise, offering

flowers on a plate.

Flowers on a plate

are precisely the teaching

of butterflies' wings.

Of butterflies' wings

what can be said?  Ching!  Ching!  Ching!

Just this, the bell's song.

September 25, 2012

*********************************************************************************

Welcome to my weekly poetry and haiku blog.  How did this come about?  Well, just last week I decided to commit to writing at least one haiku a day.  Needless to say that on that day I ended up writing the three above, plus one other poem (which I'll post below).  And I've been averaging more than one a day ever since.  Which is nice - although I don't doubt there will be one-haiku days every now and then.  Anyway, I have decided that every week I'll take what I've written so far and post it here.  Hope you enjoy, don't take it too seriously, there's nothing intellectual or "artsy" or "high culture" about this stuff.  In a way, it's just a part of my Zen practice, a way of ensuring that I pay attention to my life as it unfolds.  

Which sounds really mystical and Thich Naht Hahn now that I read this - no disrespect to Thich Naht Hahn, by the way, it's just that the last thing the world needs is someone who's not Thich Naht Hahn trying to sound like Thich Naht Hahn.  So my apologies.  Like I said, don't take this seriously.  Read the words, chew, swallow, digest, then shit them out and flush the toilet.

Rafael Ayala

*********************************************************************************

It is closer than you think,

more intimate

How foolish to call this beautiful

and that ugly!

Like prying apart

hands pressed palm to palm

Or interrupting a couple's

lovemaking

Show some respect!

Bow down!

And when you forget yourself

then will this "YOU" appear

Actually it neither appears

nor disappears - rather

It is like opening your eyes

and seeing.

September 25, 2012