Fly away, at the end of the string
Fly away, at the start of spring
Up, up, up and away
In the cool breeze you may sway
Feel the freedom of a lie
Though you soar in the sky
Your fate is linked to my skill
With one tug of the string I can kill
Your towering ambition to fly
Until then, you may rise high.
These photographs were taken at the Berkeley Kite Festival, California.
-Bhagwad Gita
When I was young I was taught
To go on working without a thought
Wasted on the fruits of my labor
Fortune, I was told, would favor
Me if I could make a distinction
Between anticipated results and actions.
Why then can I not apply
This principle even though I try
Why can I not avert my eyes
From the distant gleaming prize?
Just focus on giving each job my best
Lay all expectations of outcomes to rest.
When did I acquire this greed,
How did the prize become a need?
Anticipation of results eroding slowly
Into my work imperceptibly
Sucking out of work all happiness
Making the journey so tedious
By focusing on the final destination,
That focus turning into an obsession.
***
A new vocation did I find
Complex enough to challenge my mind
With no definite end in sight
No temptation of a prize to fight
All I had was the work at hand
I plunged into it, my future unplanned
Rejuvenated, I discovered my passion
In bringing my arduous task to fruition.
My journey was suddenly satisfying
When for the prize I was not trying.
More happiness, though was in the wake,
When at the end, as icing on the cake
A huge prize I won as my reward
For toiling away and working hard!
Here’s my entry for today:
Reflection in a tranquil lake
You often meet your fate on the road you take to avoid it.
-French proverb
My fate with you was intertwined
To be with you I was destined
Try as I did to fight my fate
Tempting time to stand still and wait
While I dabbled in waters new
Swimming aimlessly, without a clue
Waiting for the shore to come in sight
As I stubbornly continued to fight
The trail ahead blazed just for me,
Turning a blind eye constantly.
Audaciously I thought I could steer
My fate away from directions clear
I had established in my mind
Wishful thinking could leave my fate behind..
What I then did not realize
Later it came as quite a surprise
When all said and done, you and I
Came together, I understood why
Fate had decreed events this way-
‘Cause this is what my heart would say..
I had ruthlessly crushed its voice
Beneath my mind’s archaic choice.
In the end the stars were aligned
Such that my heart won over my mind!
Stalactites and stalagmites in a sea cave, Bermuda
Fountain outside Caesar’s Palace Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada
Pacific ocean at Monterey, California
Thanks to Cee Neuner for inviting me for this challenge! Please check out her blog for amazing photography and fun contests.
My entry for today is a vista of the city of Florence, Italy.
I now invite Retiree’s Diary to participate in the challenge. I admire photographs curated from all over the world on this blog.
Progress is impossible without change and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.
–George Bernard Shaw
Patterns of behavior tend to recur
Behavior of others and mine
Our responses to stress may differ
But in known molds they always align.
Life, it seems, for the most part
Is lived in a fluid chain
Of patterns repeated intervals apart
In situations varied, again and again.
Creatures of habit we tend to be
Unwilling to change familiar patterns
Courage it takes to change mentality
Back to old habits we tend to run.
***
Change is the only constant around,
The world keeps changing ever so fast,
Changes in manner of living abound
Letting go of the forgotten past.
Human behavior is the last to change
Ever so resilient, ever so stubborn
But slowly, albeit in a narrow range
Change does occur in known patterns.
Change is the need of the hour
In a world shrinking with rapidity
We need to stretch our vision far,
Connect with each other with avidity.
Forget differences of race and creed
Remember we are all the same
Bound together despite individual greed
We are just pawns in Creation’s game.
Has an equal and opposite reaction
Centuries ago did Newton claim
One of the laws that brought him fame…
I feel the truth of this dictum
Navigating through life’s humdrum,
Where every action that I take
Provokes a reaction in its wake
Setting in motion a cascade
Of consequences hard to evade.
Hurtful actions from my side
Set in motion a downward slide
Of hatred, guilt, anger and misery
Distressing everyone around me.
While good deeds that I perform
Make happiness around me swarm.
Newton’s laws I was taught
As a child, but I never thought
This principle of physics applied
Also to the spiritual side
Karma obeys Newton’s laws
Effect always follows cause.
Good karma, it seems I can spread
If I help those around me instead
Of doing things for selfish gain-
My life path is now clear and plain.
They compete with each other
For your fleeting attention
Knowing worthy of a second look they are
Even as they stand without pretension.
These oddballs represent
The spirit of freedom
Not conforming to present
Norms of expression.
A photographer’s delight
Oddballs interest us
For they bring to light
Absurdities humorous.
Pink lambs?
Man wearing the “kathakali” mask- worn by dancers for the Kathakali dance form from Kerala, India
Blowing fire trick at a party in India
The devil, they said
Is in the detail
I countered, saying instead
God’s presence should prevail-
God has blessed his creations
With subtle details embedded
Within clever compilations,
Like cloth with a pattern threaded.
Tulips, Longwood Gardens near Philadelphia
Glass fruits, Corning Museum of Glass, New York
Bugs, Nuseum of Natural History, Philadelphia
Wild Mushroom
Painted ceiling, Vatican City
In response to The Daily Post’s weekly photo challenge: “Scale.”
A speck so minute
In the universe so vast
Existing in the blink of an eye
Of time, moving by so fast.
I have but a moment
In the cosmic calendar
To live all my life
And enjoy the earth’s splendor.
I am a microscopic dot
On the scale of the earth
Can I leave a mark for generations
That is of some worth?
A voice inside me answered
Of course you can, it said
Being small and short-lived
Are not barriers to getting ahead.
Dinosaur skeleton at Museum of Natural history, Philadelphia
Llama family at a farm in New England
Fountains at Bellagio seen from the top of “Eiffel Tower”, Paris, Las Vegas
Maine coastline seen from Cadillac Mountain, Acadia National Park, Maine
Floral scorpion
Red Balls near Rockefeller Center, New York City
Passion...unbridled 
