Hay-Ku of the Day ("Life Is Like")

Poetic Pointers

To THAT which cannot be said 

In relative ways.

Poetic Pointers

To THAT which cannot be said 

Intellectually.

Poetic Pointers

To THAT which cannot be known

By the intellect.

Poetic Pointers

To THAT which can't be said and

Understood in words.

[Rich Note: Although I didn't see it at the time, the following "life is like" verses were poetic, first attempts, here, to linguistically cross-triangular a unitary experience, with the hopes of evoking a direct insight (or Aha!) in others; and that in order to avoid the "inherent lose of fidelity" that attempting to use "relative words" to transmit a "non-relative or unitary experience."

Re: "Coin Balancing: Although we can not fully define an absolute state in relative terms, we can use analogies, metaphors and similes in an attempt to evoke or recall a direct sense or perception of that state. Thus, if I have an experience I wish to share, I can use a metaphor to indicate what it felt like with the hope of evoking a similar feeling in another. This is the verbal equivalent of having someone balance a coin to convey what balance feels like. This is because balance, as an absolute or non-relative state, cannot be captured in words, yet can be known as a direct experience. Thus, by moving a coin back and forth through its balance point, while progressively reducing said movements, one may get a feel for almost balanced. Then, suddenly, as the coin comes to rest, perhaps a direct sense of balance, as a non-relative state, may be experienced."]

LIFE IS LIKE

Life is like an open book, 

Who sees it not, just doesn’t look; 

For like the air, it’s all around, 

Seldom seen and nowhere found.

Life is like a lovely rose, 

By night it sleeps, by day it grows; 

Here today, gone tomorrow, 

Never knowing pain or sorrow. 

Life is like a tragic play, 

So full of things that cannot stay; 

Things that rise and so must fall, 

Without a bow or curtain call. 

Life is like a race to run, 

Not to win, but just for fun; 

It rolls along from day to day,

Comes again, but not this way.

Life is like a burning star, 

Ever close, but, oh, so far; 

Shining brightest in the night,

Though by day still burns its light. 

 Life is like an endless stream, 

A babbling brook, a living dream; 

Never sleeping, ever waking, 

Always giving, never taking. 

Life is like the empty sky, 

Far away, but also nigh; 

Up and down can it be found, 

High above and on the ground. 

Life is like a newborn child, 

Soft and gentle, sweet and mild; 

Full of wonder, free of doubt, 

It gives itself to all about. 

Life is like a mustard seed, 

For it to flower, rain it needs; 

Tended and feed, if it’s to grow, 

Cast off bounds and beauty know. 

Life is like the silver moon, 

Its borrowed light is gone so soon;

Hide and seek its favorite game, 

It seems to change, yet stays the same. 

Life is like a central sun, 

It sheds its light on everyone;

Light and warmth it so bequeaths, 

To all above and all beneath.

Life is like a timeless sea, 

Whose unmoved depths shall ever be; 

Though surface winds its waves do blow, 

They never touch the deep below.

Circa 1984