Dawning day

DAWNING DAY

The world grows darker every day

Perversions and avarice find their way

Despondence grows

Hopelessness shows

Where it will lead

nobody knows

 

troubles collide in increasing number

hitting a mankind that has grown more numb

writhing under the oppressors thumb

what is it we have become

 

like an avalanche it swells

on it we increasingly dwell

towards a solution

our minds are compelled

 

on the large scale

we cannot effect

what we need

is to be more direct

 

Look around and what do you see

Friends, neighbors and family

This is the arena for making a change

This is the scope the extent of our range

 

Uplift heart to heart

Each doing our part

Increasing the need

Of those who take heed

To change the sorrow

To a more joyous morrow

 

For only this way

Will we change the day

Increasing the numbers that hold sway

 

Masses bemoan

That they are alone

As each heart is connected

Their souls resurrected

 

The increasing light of this unity

Bringing about fulfilled destiny

When each and every person on Earth

Will be together around loves hearth

-Shiidon, October 2008

Each day is seems that sorrows wax.  Jobs are being lost wholesale, nations are being brought to their knees and everyone is finding themselves in a confused time.  The world of my childhood does not exist today.  To days world is interconnected and interdependent.  The current financial crisis has added its ugly head to the already increasingly ill effected systems of this world.  In the United States the educational system is undergoing further collapse, the other institutions that we have long depended on are becoming increasingly undependable.  

In light of this we can take several courses of action.  One course of action is to "join in the fun" and carelessly add to the troubles by playing our violins while everything burns down around us.  Another course of action is to get angry and try to take our frustrations out on all or anyone that we deem responsible.  The course of action that seems to be the most prudent is to be a positive force of change in this world of increasing darkness.  Some think, as in the current political climate, that by electing a new leader things will be brought back to some level of sanity.  While this may come about in appearance, electing a new leader does not change the underlying malaise and corruption, avarice and indifference that surrounds us on an increasing scale.  This poem alludes to what may be the answer.

Where we can make a difference is in our personal lives and in those we come in contact with.  One aspect of that is to be the best advocate of service and care in a world that is increasingly looking at people as mere representations of numbers and dollars.  By maintaining the continued dignity of each person we come in contact with we bring about a positive influence that in turn can go on to effect others.  We can see how we interact with our coworkers, customers, friends and family members.  By connecting heart to heart in a positive way we increase the light that will eventually lead us all out of the darkness that so threatens to overwhelm us in these troubled times.

The Bahá'í message of love and unity is one that I believe in my heart will be that positive force of change to this world.  As Bahí'í's we share this message with each and everyone we can and offer the information for each person to do with as they please.   We have done our job by informing people of this message.  It is a receptive message as it is fundamentally found in each and every faith.  I have travelled to many countries and interacted with many people of a wide and diverse background.  What I have seen is that when asked person to person we all feel that war is obsolete and no longer acceptable.   We believe to kill is wrong.  We believe that all come from the same creator and have been longing to live in peace and harmony with each other.  What divides us now are the arcane and corrupted power structures that have maintained their power by dividing mankind into separate groups and by instilling a false sense of superiority of one group over another.  We are, each and every living soul, one family and have one common Creator.  I have faith that it won't be long, maybe not in my lifetime, before we come to our sanity as a people and bring about the peace, love and harmony that we all long for.

Bonds of Unity

BONDS OF UNITY

Being friends heart to heart

Is being friends that never part

Though time and distance, find their way

Upon this love can hold no sway

 

As time goes on the numbers grow

The friendships flower and doth show

The love one to another doth glow

This love only the heart doth know

 

From time to time we step back

And of this love we lose track

We sometimes feel that we lack

The mood that surrounds, goes black

 

And then comes forth a new friend

And our heart doth mend

Our number of friends amend

Each heart to the other doth blend

 

And one day we shall see

A greater sense of unity

A greater way for us to be

A love from which troubles flea

 

No matter how great or small

Our friendships include one and all

And regardless of how you see

They form the bonds of one family

-Shiidon, October 2008

Friendship is a theme that I have written about from time to time.  What I have found in my life is that friendships do not stale.  What is interesting about friendships to me is that once a friend, always a friend.  I could not see someone after a period of time and yet when meeting them again, it is as if time did not pass.  I do know that this is not always the same for all of us but it is by and far the way I view friendships.  Sometimes we are friends and never see each other again and sometimes we go in and out of each others lives.  Nothing specific inspired this particular poem except to say that I have been thinking about friendships a lot recently.  If you are not on my list notifying when new poems are posted and want to be added, please send me an email.    Again I say: once a friend, always a friend.

Nightingale

NIGHTINGALE

In a place close by

A glen you may spy

Quiet and peaceful

It appears to be

tis the place where

The giver

You will happen to see

 

Many who ail

Make their journey there

Knowing instinctively

Of the one who will care

 

She ministers to all

For that is her call

She is a healer

With an angels demeanor

 

Not with potions, salves nor pill

Does she go about curing the ill

tis with the power that comes from above

That power that stems from and emits, tis love

 

In time, doth one and all heal

Increasingly joyful do they feel

Their gratitude, hard to conceal

The connections, surreal

 

Within, she sees

So many in need

Of her own ministrations

She barely takes head

 

Her family and friends reach out

“Who cares for the giver! “ They shout

Yet it’s the act of giving

The source of her living

 

So again we find

a line awaiting

and illnesses abating

giving and receiving

receiving and giving

It is with great regale

With love we hail

Celebrating the birth

Of our dear nightingale

-Shiidon, October 2008 

This poem was written for a dear friend who is a healer.  I say healer for it is she that heals, not the remedies that she, as a Homeopath, provides.  Aniela is that healer to me.  She has eased my, and others lives significantly.  I am grateful to her dear beloved husband and her children for the time they sacrifice for others so that they can be cared for.  The reference to nightingale is two fold.  The nightingale as a joyous bird and the person of Florence Nightingale who so willingly and sacrificially gave of herself for the healing of others.  I write this poem in honor of her birthday just past.

Sevara and Jordan

JORDAN AND SEVARA

You tackle life with great daring

Not at a cost to your caring

You are the first to venture forth

From a family of great worth

On this road you will tread

But not alone, instead

Another you have found on the way

One to accompany you, day by day

A pillar of support, she will be

Forming a newborn family

 

From the East you hail

Through adversity you prevail

With a spirit of joy

With a heart deep in love

You came as a blessing from Him above

You gave and cared, it is what you do

The Blessed Beauty made your dreams come true

You found your love in this new found land

By His grace, by His hand

 

One another you have found

Feet firmly on the ground

The bounties from on high abound

The voices of the angles resound

 

Through life’s ups and downs you will tread

Following one common thread

As you grow to know one another

Your love will grow one for the other

The support of sister and brother

Each to the other you deserve

Together mankind, you will serve

-Shiidon, October 2008

On October 11th I will be attending the wedding of Jordan and Sevara.  Bobby and Tiffani Sobhani have been friends since my teenage years in Houston.  I still remember their wedding and now it is the first wedding of one of their eight children.  For those of you who do not know, Bobby and Tiffani have four natural children and four adopted children.  Jordan is the second oldest.  Sevara was an exchange student from Uzbekistan two years ago.  The family and the Bahá'í community fell in love with her.  She returned to Uzbekistan and was back here not soon after.  She found a new Faith and a new country but not least of all, a new family.  This family and these two are dear to my heart and I am very happy for them.  

Convergence/Emergence

CONVERGENCE/EMERGENCE

Looking at life that doth surround

A deeper meaning I hath found

Connection upon connection

Bringing introspection

I look at the pool at self reflection

Wondering at my direction

 

Where others go is clear to me

What is for me I cannot see

I walk about and measure

Each connection do I treasure

Past, present and future doth blend

Will this self negation mend

 

I have asked for this way of life

The adversity, tests and strife

I walk along this path alone

Nowhere truly calling home

Taking all I have to give

Is how I long to live

 

Sometimes present

Sometimes missed

Among them all I do exist

Weaving through their lives I go

A common thread they barely know

Some think 'ti's only show

 

Though sad it may seem

'Ti's joy that it doth bring

My heart doth sing

As their laughter doth ring

 

It is in this happiness

That I draw strength

To fulfill it I will go

To any length

 

No other path

 Is clear to me

 ‘Ti's hard to see

 One’s destiny

Ti's the only way

I know to be.

-Shiidon, October 2008

Recently I was at a gathering and it was cause for reflection.  My surgery brought about allot of introspection.  For one thing, I updated my will, which brought to my attention much of what I value.  I looked upon many of those I knew at the gathering blending together in circles outside of that which I was familiar.  My past was embracing my present and who knows what part of that would become my future.  Many times it was as if I was not there, snippets of conversation from person to person, not finding a place to rest.  What i say here is what I see in my "mirror."  I really enjoy the happiness of others, the laughter, the joy, the fulfillment of their lives.  It is the ones that slip or falter that I strive to reach out to and lend a hand, not wanting to focus on myself but on the others around.