Sleeping toes touching toes
It’s wintery cold
lying face-to-face they sleep
bolster in-between
****
their toes touching toes
to know the other is warm,
alive and kicking.
******
An old aunt describes above how old people sleep and check each other under the blanket during cold winters.
******
Increased winter mortality is reported as an important public health matter in China.
In U.S. death rates in winter months have been 8 to 12 percent higher.
****
Keeping a promise.
I woke up one morning,
to find him
waiting outside my door.
“Are you ready?”
“Ready for what?”
“You promised,
to take me out for breakfast today!”
He never forgets!
Never make one with him.
I kept forgetting!
He won’t accept a ‘no’.
So I dragged myself out reluctantly
to a ‘get set’ and ‘go’!
Another day began,
keeping in pace with him!
****
An aging carer ponders;
‘my mind wants,
as I used to,
but, will my body will it
in years to come?’
I must remember
not to over-promise
to avoid disappointing him.
Differently-abled person(s)
may have different thresholds
to contain disappointment.
****
“Don’t make promises you don’t intend to keep.” — Anonymous
****
“92nd story” First published: May.23.2019 Once upon a time in a kingdom, the king suffered pain in his eyes. Many different doctors visited him but none of them were able to cure the king’s pain. The King’s right-hand minister suggested: “There is a wise man in the Kingdom who knows everything, let him […]
Change Your Vision|بینش خود را تغییر دهید — A Voice from Iran
A courier counter service experience for a disabled…
****
Last week, a man went to post three A4 brown envelopes with 3 different addresses at a courier service centre.
He came back to the car where his elderly mother was waiting. He showed one invoice (proof of receipt).
The mother went to the counter… and asked.. Why 3 envelopes but only one invoice.
The counter lady raised her voice.. ” I asked him many times if he wants to put them together. And he said yes.
She went on repeating..as if to justify her actions to the other three customers in front of the counter.
The mother intercepted her, “hello, hello,… he is disabled!)
“Saya mahu dia belajar berkomunikasi … nampaknyI want him to learn to communicate… look like he has failed! But I am proud that he entered here just now.)
The lady soften her voice, “ya la…ini maksudnya dia berani mahu masuk sini. Saya pun tak tahu dia OKU.” (Yes, indeed, it means he was brave enough to enter here. I didn’t know he was disabled.)
“Nanti saya akan terangkan kepada anak saya.” ( Later, I will explain to my son.)
The counter lady put the 3 envelopes into 3 separate plastic envelopes…and gave the mother 3 invoices ( proof of receipt).
It was a learning experience for the mother.. and hopefully the courier service counter lady learned something, too.
Real flowers, real love?
“Happy birthday!
Here’s a cemented pot
of flowers for you!
It will last forever…
like my love for you…
forever! “
****
“You… you give me
… plastic flowers?”
*****
“I went through the flowers shop.
Real flowers don’t last long!
And it is a waste of money.”
******
That pot of flowers
disappeared soon after.
****
Real flowers, real love?
****
Noble silence at a meditation retreat!
Noble silence! That was the essence of the meditation retreat.
The newbies were rather excited and chatty. However, the seniors seemed to know the rules of the ten-day noble silence sanctuary. The centre is like an oasis in the middle of a forest. They kept our mobiles, notebooks and pens. It was absolutely solitude!
“Where is your room? Let us go to the dining hall together after unpacking.” The twelve-day vegetarian menu was so simple, yet, delicious. I should come back as a helper in the kitchen next time! (Which I did, cooking for hundred-over people!)
At the dining table, we learned that silence means no talking verbally, as well as non-verbally! No eye contact nor gesture is allowed. Everybody was in a mind your own business mode! On the way back to our individual rooms, [low voice], “oh, in case I don’t hear the gong at four am, please knock at my door!” The course manager glanced disapprovingly at us.
Soon, the orchestra of croaky frogs and tadpoles began. It became part of the otherwise tranquil nights. I hid an insect repellant, a few packs of biscuits, and some masking tapes. The latter was to cover any holes on the window nettings, which I read about online.
The classes started at four o’clock in the morning and ended at about ten at night. The assistant teacher of S.N. Goenka gave some instructions and teachings on the Vipassana technique. During meditation, the huge hall was in pin-drop silence.
We had to listen to our breaths as the air entered and left our nostrils as in normal respiration. Fleeting memories of the past and worrying concerns of the future flitted in and out of my mind. Very often, I had to recall myself to the present moments.
This task of breathing in and out was hard work, indeed! The meditation’s goal is to purify the mind completely of emotions like anger, hatred, sadness or fear with the help of natural respiration.
There were, in fact, a lot of reflections going on in our minds the next few days. By the third to fifth day, several ladies were releasing their emotional ‘taps’ silently. A few men on the other side of the hall were seen sniffing too.
One day, after a lunch break, I saw a lady sitting under a huge tree, all alone, crying. So I told the course manager about my concern for her. She took that lady to see the assistant teacher.
In this practice of noble silence, there was no one to listen to, as everybody was not talking. We were actually listening to our own little self-talks; self-reflection during our mindful meditation.
*************************
Quote:
1. “In solitude, I find my answers.” Kristen Butler
2. “Without great solitude, no serious work is possible.” Pablo Picasso
****
Watching the school children passing by…
******
Patiently, cars lined up
a kid or two per car
stopping briefly
near the entrance to school
occasional buses, too.
******
Some kids masked,
hand in hand
their mum’s held on protectively
guiding their child
across the road…
And one crying child, reluctantly,
being dragged by his dad,
but to no avail as he wailed…
as if unwilling to enter …
an invisible war zone!
*****
First bloom in 2022
******
Flowers, flowers, everywhere
But this is my one and only
bloom this new year!
Evening walk: Raining flowers
****
Spiralling rain of
Tecoma flowers from trees
purplish carpet formed.
****
This Haiku tells of the pleasant experience during an evening walk. It is walking through the rain of spiraling Tecoma flowers. They form a bed of flowers on the ground.
****
Mesmerizing Saturday- it’s hard to imagine a blue sunset!
Toh HL explains why sunsets and sunrises are red and not blue!
So round, spectacular, and mesmerizing
sometimes, shy, bashful behind the clouds
often ordinary, the reddish blaze disappearing
as if in a hurry for another appointment?
Rayleigh scattering is the phenomenon
for during sunsets or sunrises,
sunlight has to penetrate a thicker layer
of dust and water vapour in the atmosphere.
The red end of the colour spectrum
is scattered less compared to the blue end
Hence, red reaches our eyes easily
as it has a shorter wavelength than blue
It's hard to imagine a blue sunset!
by Toh HL, co-author and photographer, 21 May 2021
Chen Song Ping 