PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

For years I had three wise monkeys seated on the table where I write.

They would greet me every morning when I first turned on the light. 

Reminding me in life…whatever my desires….wants and needs…

to do the best I can each day to avoid evil thought and deeds.

Reminding me that even though I’m just one person

I must do my part as well…

to help create a world of peace…where evil has no place to dwell.

One day while I was cleaning my writing table…

(as I had cleaned a hundred times before)

I dropped my three wise monkeys who shattered into pieces on the floor. 

I replaced those three wise monkeys with four little Buddhas

their message still as grand….

Three of the Buddhas matched the monkeys while the fourth

sits with a smile on his face…his cheek resting in his hand.

The fourth Buddha is my favorite…because he combines the other three…

his ‘Do No Evil’ is a message…every day he brings to me.

But not just to me…for if every person everywhere practiced ‘Do No Evil’

then everyone in every land

could contentedly sit with a smile on their face…

their cheek resting in their hand

As we journey through life their message is a profound but simple one…

apparently these four Buddhas know

If we pack our suitcases with peace, love, kindness, friendship and acceptance

then evil has nowhere to go.

And those three monkeys who no longer on my writing table dwell…

before giving way to the Buddhas left a message of their own as well…

That if we do nothing when se see evil being carried out

or evil being spoken…

How a life can easily be destroyed…and hearts forever broken.

It’s been many many years since my grandpa passed away….

years since his sweet smile and sage advice reached me…

but whenever I pick up a pencil

I remember one lesson he tried to teach me…

Grandpa was old-school…he’d say,

“You should always carry a pencil wherever you may go…

because a pencil will help remind you of four things you need to know.”

Grandpa loved learning…loved wisdom…and on this subject he would harp…

He’d say, “You need to keep learning every day

because your mind, like this pencil, works best when it is sharp.”

He’d point to the eraser saying, 

“Everybody makes mistakes…when you do…stand up tall and meet them….

learn from each mistake…and try not to repeat them.”

With the pencil in his hand and his fingers around it lovingly curled….

He’d say, “Always do your best to leave a kind and gentle mark upon the world.”

Then holding the pencil up he’d say, 

“When you view others always take into account….

Just like this pencil…whatever the outside looks like…it’s what’s inside that counts.”

And though he’s been gone for many years whenever I think about him I can see

the impact he made upon my life….the mark he left on me. 

I like how he was always trying to teach me…

keeping me as he liked to say…’up to speed’.

and how when I want to think about him…

a pencil is all I need.

As you know by now…if you read my poems from time to time

when it comes to putting my thoughts and words together…

I am partial to the rhyme.

(It’s how I start my day)

But today’s blessing does not rhyme…and I hope you think I’m right

when I say Lao Tzu’s wisdom and his prose are more beautiful… 

than any poem that I could write:

)And still appropriate today)

In dwelling…live close to the ground.

In thinking…keep it simple.

In conflict…be fair and generous.

In governing…don’t try to control.

In work…do what you enjoy.

In family…be completely present.

 Today I’m thankful for wisdom 

And for I yield to the wisdom of two brains…

Mary Catherine Bateson (Margaret mead’s daughter)

And, who else, but Mark Twain….

Mary Catherine Bateson said, realizing wisdom must be earned 

“We are not what we know but what we are willing to learn.”

And I remember Mark Twain’s words

whenever I think I know all the things I need to know:

‘It’s not what we know that gets us in trouble

It’s what we know for sure…that just aint so.

Today I’m thankful for the wisdom of our elders…

We should thank them ever day…

while remembering:

their wisdom does us no good

unless we heed the words they say.