Archives for posts with tag: sleep

The World Sleeps Again

December 4, 2012 //
3

December 4, 2011

The world sleeps again,
but I do not.  I keep watch.
I now notice more.

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As this year slows down, I must admit to a personal transformation that I have undergone as I wrote these haiku, as I looked for moments of beauty to capture as souvenirs.  It is nothing very dramatic; it is a small step I took every day.  There has been a change.  You would not really notice if you saw me every day.  But if you haven’t seen me for a few years you might not recognize me.

There is definitely a difference.  It isn’t that I am a different person.  More accurately, it is that I am closer to being the person I am.  This blog reminds me of the poem “The Waking” by Theodore Roethke with the repeating lines, “I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow./ I learn by going where I have to go.”

Waking up for me too is slow.  I like it that way.

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Nothing Sleeps

November 12, 2012 //
1

November 12, 2012

Living border stones:
they nestle, shift and tumble;
nothing sleeps but me.

I touch a stone.  It surprises me.  The stone’s response does not match my sluggish preconceptions; its sharp reality does not match my drowsy memories.

The stone touches me.  It speaks to me of layers and untouchable time and struggles that have tempered its formidable spirit.  I listen, I strain to listen.  I want to understand everything, but it is hard; I am only half awake.

The stone touches me.  Its warmth from basking in the faint sun flows through my fingers to my own spirit.  I realize I have never held a stone.  This is the First Time!  I am an infant on all fours in the Garden exploring.  I must be Helen Keller, speechless, having rediscovered the Word.

How can I sleep – tell me! – how can I sleep again when the World is so full?

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Rouse

August 10, 2012 //
1

August 10, 2011

If you look outward,
you are asleep and dreaming.
Rouse a closed flower.

When I think about death, it seems like it must be a dreamless sleep.  For both I am not conscious and so the world as it is does not exist for me.  One lasts for eight hours if I am lucky; the other lasts a very long time.

When I think about life, it seems like it must be a dreaming sleep.  For both I am not conscious and so the world as it is does not exist for me.  One lasts for eight hours if I am lucky; the other lasts a very long time.

When I think, it seems like it must be time to wake up.

 

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Sleeping Again

March 21, 2012 //
0

March 21, 2011

When did this happen -
the gardens full of green shoots?
While I was sleeping?

How many times must this happen?  How many times must I be lazy?  How many times must I choose sleep over vigilance?  How many times must I take the easy way out?  How many times must I be caught unawares?

Any number of times.

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Categories haiku

Sleep

January 28, 2012 //
0

January 28, 2011

The snow is a sleep
that heals with soft white hands and
wakes to dreams of green.

There is a Zen saying, “When you eat, eat; when you walk, walk,” which speaks to the importance of being fully present in whatever we are doing at the moment.  A person should not sleepwalk through his/her life and wake up some distant day wondering, “How did I get here?” Life, to be lived, must be lived mindfully.

True sleep, however, is also important. It helps to restore and re-balance body, mind and spirit.  So, if I may play with the Zen saying, good advice might be, “When you sleep, sleep; when awake, wake up!”

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Categories haiku
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