Upstream Flow

Free choice is on the move.

 It's direction, like a flowing river.

Today's choice, tomorrow's habit.

 Today's block, tomorrow's choice.

Your choice range matters less,

 Than maintaining upstream flow.

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Potted Willows

So how do you like my willows;

 Potted, stately, supple n' leafy?

You think I'm crazy, "magnoon".

 I ought grow only what's useful!

Plants blossoming flowers,

 Plants exuding fragrances,

 

Plants brimming with spices,

 Plants delectable with edibles.

"What do you grow!", You demand.

 "I am growing potential", I respond.

Still you pester and protest,

 As if potential is "ever present".

I disagree, it's not effortless.

 Ever toil to fertilize the soil?

Soil is ripe with such potential.

 It becomes every tree n' plant.

Yet the soil must be prepared,

 With concoctions so nutrient rich.

A college grad's only a potential,

 A mere future professional in waiting.

Yet what sweat n' tears over years,

 Shaped so many potential careers?

A banker amasses much money,

 Look how he brazenly claws his way.

For what? He can't eat or drink it.

 It's not fabric for home or clothes.

It's only an elusive potential,

 Yet, he pays dearly in hot pursuit.

Often it's like a slippery fish,

 Escaping while firmly in grip.

You see, how much sweat n' toil,

 Just to bring life's potential to a boil.

Don't take my willows for a weed,

 For I sow a truly a valuable breed.

---------------~ O ~---------------

My Willow, My Baby

My inner date palm frond,

 My higher intellectual self,

My inner brightly lit citron,

 Balanced mind/heart self.

My inner fragrant myrtle,

 Best self, doing kindness.

My inner tender willow,

 Lacks taste or fragrance;

Still developing self, a baby.

 Potential filled, needs prayer.

   -------------O-------------

A Succot Reflection on Happiness

Happiness seems to come in two flavors: "just because" and "because of". The "just because" variety is beyond reason. It's simply inherent. If you are spiritually alight, you are happy, The "because of" variety requires a life situation prop. The prop could be a new friend, a raise, an accomplishment, a new idea, a date, a marriage, etc. 

The festival of Succot offers both flavors of happiness. It is referred to in the Torah as the "harvest festival". It's the time of the year when we sit amid a vast amount of bounty and thank the One Who gave it to us. We begin the Holiday happy "because of". 

As we continue the festival into the second night, we arrive at the "Celebration of the water drawing". Our sages remark that anyone who has not seen this celebration has never ever seen happiness at all. This celebration is sheer happiness with abandon! It's a happiness "just because".

(Though this water drawing celebration took place in Jerusalem's Temple while it still stood, countless Jewish communities do have Succot celebrations named after this celebration. I am sure that if one is properly tuned in, one can experience a  sheer happiness with abandon during one of these Succoth celebrations.)

To me the lesson is, that sometimes happiness works like a ladder. It's possible that one may first need to experience a happiness  "because of" before experiencing a happiness of "just because". Therefore, it's good to latch onto any reason to be happy, even if it feels like an excuse, because it may an opening leading further to purer levels of happiness.

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Taste the Now

Your heart has a delicate tongue,

 Which can taste the subtle divine.

With a plentiful variety of tastes,

  They make for a very, very long list.

High on the list is a potent drop,

 A spark of the Messiah's own light.

Rebbe Nachman leads the way,

 Teaching us, "Live in the moment."

Be absorbed in God's gift of “now”.

 It’s the highest faith, a light so sweet.

----☆------☆------♡------☆------☆----

Why Pride?

Why pride in writing a poem?

 I wrote an already written poem.

Why pride in financial gain?

 I earned already earned money.

Why pride in being someone's love?

 I wooed she who was already wooed.

Why pride in conceptual growth?

 I absorbed already absorbed ideas.

Why pride in my depth of prayers?

 I prayed already prayed prayers.

Why pride in helping the needy?

 I merely helped the already helped.

So why do I think I'm "doing"?

 It's the illusion of fragmentation.

So what's a human's accomplishment?

 To be a "willing" vessel for the King's use.

--------☆----------♡---------☆--------

Stratified Fishing

We're immersed in a spiritual sea,

An ocean of varied stratified depth.

We inhabit a tiny earth realm,

An air bubble in midst of the sea;

A bubble of bare significance,

A mere drop in a vast watery enclave.

Can we reach outside the bubble?

Yes, not with hands, with our souls.

Shorter souls reach nearby strata,

While longer souls reach further out.

Each strata has unique species of fish,

Packets of light awaiting soulful grasp.

Those closer in are plentifully caught,

While those further out, rarely reached.

They're on reserve for longer souls,

Whose soul length extends out there.

They have special fishing methods,

But don't try them, unless you're them;

For any absence in soul length,

Will render their methods useless.

Best to befriend the longer souls.

Then they'll share their unique catch.

The taste may be second hand,

But still better than your own cuisine.

Yet don't abandon your own gatherings,

For they help you digest the higher fish.

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