Tag Archives: haiku

Springtime Suite

How our souls yearn for spring, for the sweetness of it, the rebirth of green and the feeling that no matter how hard the winter was, we endured it. We are finally rewarded with the chance to start afresh…

Our dreams are renewed in spring; we feel like anything is possible. The vitality of life runs through our veins again, just as the sap flows in the trees.

My heart drifts back to sweet memories of spring, accompanying my dad to the sugar bush, snow still on the ground, but the sun promising the coming warmth of summer. And hauling a big tin of maple syrup home, feeling the abundance that the Earth had provided. Even as a kid I appreciated it, the sweetness of this simple annual ritual with my father.

Our backyard boasted both a cherry and an apple tree. One would flower pink, the other white. I loved walking way down to the end of the yard, simply to admire the beautiful blossoms and breathe in their intoxicating, delicate scent.

Much later in adulthood, I discovered travel stories of Japan, and now my soul yearns to visit a place where the cherry blossom is revered and celebrated. Some day I will, paying homage to girlhood memories, springtime, my father, and the beauty of life, which ideally we should celebrate every day.

But oh, how it feels easier to celebrate that beauty in springtime!

“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.” ~ Albert Camus

Trill

As birds can transcend the ground and fly towards the heavens, they have been revered in various cultures (particularly indigenous) as messengers between deity and man. What a lovely and comforting thought, that feathered spirits with wings of angels communicate with us here on Earth.

Modern research grounded in this physical world has apparently revealed the positive effects of bird song. Their music allows us to relax, refocus, and center ourselves in what is natural and real. For my part, I remember the way my spirit lifted with the arrival of springtime and the sound of the first robin’s call. My heart sang along with it.

Nature speaks a language that we understand when we calm our minds and enter a state of presence in the moment. Our hearts assimilate the messages, and our souls feel great joy in them.

Pulsing

Sweet zephyr riffles
elegant emerald fronds,
echoes river ripples.

Trill is an excerpt from Our Beautiful Earth. Pulsing is an excerpt from Hart Haiku Vol. 1 / Shop all ebooks / Find freebies here

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Springtime Suite © Susan L Hart 2024

Freedom from Fear

4 Replies

What is external
that controls you with fear is
what is NOT your friend.

Fear has a way of dissolving our resolve, when it is strong and threatening enough. Discernment, critical thinking and our wise intuition go quickly out the window. The black ooze of fear grips us in a stranglehold. To say fear is uncomfortable is an understatement. It undermines that which we long for and value – comfort and safety.

But as Franklin D. Roosevelt famously said in his first inaugural address, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

When we are gripped by fear, we become very vulnerable to the manipulations of those who like to control others. We just want relief, in the fastest way possible. The controllers are only too happy to spoon-feed it to us, in order to gain their advantage.

When we are fearful is exactly the time when we should not succumb to the “easy and fast solution”. It’s the time to stand back, take a deep breath, and look for the way that makes sense logically, does not undermine our own moral compass, and perhaps most importantly, what ultimately feels right at a gut instinct level.

Never give over your own power out of fear of the unknown. Look for the truth of “what is” in yourself, rather than succumbing to the manipulations of others that are rooted in your fear of “what is not”.

Believe it or not, that is ultimately what will keep you safe, and you can also take comfort in the fact that you were true to yourself. Comfort derived otherwise is false, and you build your house on shifting sand.

Inspirational Quotes:

“Becoming fearless isn’t the point. That’s impossible. It’s learning how to control your fear, and how to be free from it.”  ~ Veronica Roth, Divergent

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” ~ Nelson Mandela

“I believe that anyone can conquer fear by doing the things he fears to do.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

“Through every generation of the human race there has been a constant war, a war with fear. Those who have the courage to conquer it are made free and those who are conquered by it are made to suffer until they have the courage to defeat it, or death takes them.” ~ Alexander the Great

What is your greatest fear, and what do you do (what have you done) to overcome it?

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The haiku Fear is from Humanity’s Lament: Poetry for Our Times. It’s a free download here.

Blossom

Sacred Ground

2 Replies

Fiercely I protect
the place within
that cradles my
brightest dreams
and deepest truths,
that precious locus,
where my soul
whispers wisdom
of lessons learned,
eternally echoing
across all of time.

My heartaches,
and yes, heartbreaks,
over many lifetimes
hammered and
tempered the line,
beyond which now
none are allowed
to trample upon,
or desecrate my
hard won ground, my
sanctuary inviolate.

Caves are Sacred

And this is a repost from August 1, 2021, on preserving your own inner sacred ground:

Today I tip my hat to the wisdom of men, and one in particular who taught me (with much head bashing on my part) that “caves are sacred”.

Do you have a designated place where you can go to claim a quiet interlude, far away from the fray and anger of the world? Our modern world is always a noisy place, but the volume got turned up full blast in 2020. The mental discouragement and emotional processing of negativity just feel like too much to bear some days.

People often equate the word sacred with church, but have you considered that the term should encompass protecting your own internal landscape? If you do not honor and protect your own peace of mind, if you do not recognize that it comes first and foremost, sooner or later the current craziness of life will take its toll.

If you have not already done so, establish a sacred place where you can find some quiet and cultivate peace within yourself, where you can hear your own voice.

I have noticed that men (at least the ones I have known) are particularly good at this. They call it “going to my cave”. When the big problems feel overwhelming, going to a quiet place and working in solitude on a smaller solvable project allows them a) time to process their thoughts, and b) restores their sense of mastery over their environment. They emerge feeling more in balance.

On a humorous note, a girl friend’s husband emerged from his cave on one of my visits, sporting a T-shirt that read, “What happens in the shop stays in the shop”.

Hmm… It did make me wonder what exorcisms those walls have seen.

“Your sacred place is where you can find yourself, over and over again. ~ Joseph Campbell

Rejuvenate

When city voids me,
I flee to garden refuge.
Hummingbird dances.

Happy

True, real, enduring,
happiness is being at peace
with who we are.

Sacred Ground, Rejuvenate, and Happy are excerpts from Soul Journey: The Poetry of Life.

The haikus are also included in my Hart Haiku Vol. 1 collection from my original blog. A collection of the 100 best on photo art cards, it is for sale here.

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Why?

7 Replies

Questions fade unasked,
the knife of silence runs deep,
future relinquished.

If you are someone who has always counted on things around you to simply be fixed, somehow, by someone else, those days are gone. Our world and reality are in extreme transition.

Time to start really paying attention to events, the unfolding, and not only to what you see, but also what you don’t see. What’s missing?

Time to watch for the incongruities, the inconsistencies, the little details between the lines. Do not persist in looking straight ahead with blinders on. See what is there on the periphery, hiding almost out of view.

Time to question, question, question.

Time to start taking personal responsibility for your future.

And most of all, time to listen to your gut, what your own inner wisdom tells you.

Inspirational Quotes:

“The important thing is to not stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existence. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery each day.” ~ Albert Einstein

“Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.” ~ Voltaire

“It is not that I’m so smart. But I stay with the questions much longer.” ~ Albert Einstein

“There are years that ask questions and years that answer.” ~ Zora Neale Hurston

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ~ Voltaire

Why is from Humanity’s Lament: Poetry for Our Times. Download it free.

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