Simile Sincerity

There is light in every thing. You just have to close your eyes to feel it.

“Inside my empty bottle I was constructing a lighthouse while all others were making ships.” ― Charles Simic

I’ve spent the last few months, among a large group of joyous youngsters - doing what I was born to do - teach and inspire.

It’s great to return to my teaching roots, the raucous classroom of middle school. It’s recharged my soul however exhausting and despite missing my family.

I’ve returned home, to my long bike rides. My head daily spinning out words on my rides. Today, I stopped at my chair, along the mighty Yeongsangang that feeds so much of this country. It’s a great place to just sit, think, find peace.

I hope going forward, you, me, we all, keep returning to our true essence, be immersed in a world of being that inspires, makes you grow and contributes in a positive fashion to our world, our world that needs very much more love, peace, understanding and nurturing as opposed to bombs and braggadacio. So many of us are lost to ourselves - this fact is what feeds so much of the hate, violence and suffering of this world.

I’ll leave you with an instant poem, I’ve chanted this type of poem during my 6am runs along the magnificiently cold, frozen beach here on the north-east coast of S.Korea. Just a stone’s throw from N.Korea and its hardships. I continue to chant them on my bike rides out into the beautiful farmland here in south South Korea.

A Similation

Like a duck out of water
Like a whale on the beach
Like a cow just before the slaughter
Like a peach just out of reach …

I will be there for you.

Like a spoon in an empty cup
Like an island never seen
Like a woman puckering up
Like the sky on which we lean …

I will hold your hand.

Like a lover alone on a bed
Like a a fish, free in a bowl
Like a word never said
Like wind that has no goal …

I will listen to you.

Like a rock once sand
Like a dog without a bone
Like a kite without a plan
Like a life on loan …

I will sing for you.

Like the sweetest song you’ll ever hear
Like the nail’s desire for the hammer
Like the first day of a snowy new year
Like a bird in flight, unwired, a banner …

I will acknowledge you.