SENTIMENTS AND LIFE
Human life is characterized by the sentiments that each
person feels. There are sentiments of the heart, of the mind and
reason; there are also those sentiments that are generated from
our opinions. We find that a person’s sentiments about a whole
variety of feelings will determine the type of life that we end up
living.
To be aware of one’s sentiments is very important… more
importantly it is to understand that the type of sentiments that
we hold within can make a huge difference to ourselves and all
those who live close to us.
Sentiments of love, care, genuine kindness, charity,
sincerity, honesty, empathy can bring us much happiness
through cooperation with others, by the generosity of spirit that
we demonstrate in times of difficulty or plain ordinary living.
Sentiments of dislike, of malevolence, of revenge can lead
to bickering, fighting, war. Sentiments are also present within
our varying states of guilt, bad temperament, violent leanings…
these can be very destructive on an individual person or be the
result of very precarious and nasty situations.
Beware your sentiments! They are the basis for our
communion with our inner self and others.
Sincerity
Sincerity, oh my brothers,
is seen from far away even by the blind,
who although their eyes
see none other but the shadows,
their awakened spirit
feels the warmth of the good
who sincerely speak to them
of what they see and hear.
In fact sincerity is blind:
it does not look in the eyes of its owner
but to the stars with submission.
Why shouldn’t man reveal
the truths which seem good to him?
Why should we hide what we see
when God, in His greatness,
has cleared darkness with the sun?
What is man if not a part of creation
amongst all else which is so well put together?
Why should man assume
that role which doesn't rightfully belong to him?
Let us, oh my brothers, leave universal justice
in the hands of the Lord.
Let us try only not to bring
damage to our neighbour, who also
wants to see things as God made them.
Searching for Joy
Joy in life
comes from the love
that you feel inside…
if you love others,
respect yourself,
care for the environment,
smile at the future,
laugh often together with
those who are close to you,
approach work
with pleasure and dignity.
You will have frank joy
if you think of the good,
fully aware
of the existence of evil.
Then you will remain an optimist;
you will want to contribute to the world
even knowing that your contribution
could appear to be of little importance.
We, humans, are made like this:
of flesh and bones,
of a material body
with spiritual pretensions
and illusions of immortality.
We are here for a short time
until death arrives
and takes us away… or perhaps
we return where we were.
Or, maybe, surely…
I don’t know… where!
In the meantime, I want to feel
the joy of all that
surrounds me, share it with one
who is my true friend!
Joy
Joy is a flower
at the beginning
of its walk
towards life.
You can have it
in every time
if your spirit
remains clean
and doesn’t tire
of the material things
of this our life!
Self Confidence
When you feel
sure of yourself
you ooze confidence.
You carry an aura
of “can do” around you.
You keep your thoughts
simple and to the point.
You know who you are
and what you must do.
Your inner soul mirrors
your feelings and opinions
into an outward show.
You’re like the rich
who know their power
and are not too
humble to use it!
Confidence builds up an image
of your worth in society.
Just a word about
the breakability of confidence.
Your worth has to match
your actions, deeds and promises.
Confidence can be an indulgence.
Therefore, keep it within your reach
and build around it a wall
of optimism and boundless energy.
Confidence needs dreams
like the grass needs water,
like a car that needs energy,
like a child who needs self-esteem.
In your “lows” in life
don’t allow anything to mar
the power of your most potent arm:
self-confidence.
Confidence is not arrogance.
It is an inner glow that shines
outwardly in everything you do.
Empathy
When there is empathy
you don’t go away!
You remain there in place
truly self assured!
You feel good inside
even when you are not well!
You acquire the incisive eye
of someone who is really tough!
You speak and act as the owner
even if you are a nobody!
What you say is well said
and what you do is well done!
You don’t feel any rancour
‘cause nothing bad can happen to you!
It’s not a mistake if you have
in your company this wonderful empathy!
Antipathy
The source of your discord
is all the fault of antipathy!
It invades everything
in all that you do, every day!
Everyone wants you far away
even when you are very good!
You keep your place amongst
those people only by betrayal!
You go around like a leper,
you are really to be pitied!
Happiness cannot be yours...
you have not known true kindness!
They avoid your company
as a result of your antipathy!
Blaming it on someone
Attack, attack...never
let the peace surround you!
You must shout and snarl
you need someone to beat.
Your ego needs no rest,
so fight...even in your rest!
Don’t be happy with what
you’ve got. Why feel happy
in your cot?
You’re scared
you don’t want to find
what is causing
this war in you!
Those around suffer
if they happen to care for you!
So why not spare the pain...
Ah! It would be too easy
for everyone... but you!
Indulgence
All that you want
to eat and you do.
You test your stomach
and the workings of your body.
You inflate and watch in
amazement: “How could it be?”
It takes only a few minutes
to suffer the lack of will power...
it’s no success!!
Then you pay the price
with clothes that are too small,
you look like an overgrown you
in T-shirts and shorts that
have a “whole” appeal.
Your looks have changed
along with your fitness...
You’re determined to sort it out
choosing the “right” food
and then eating time comes again...
you socialise, feast and party
at every turn... there is a commemoration
or a birthday or a family reunion!!
How can you overcome
your acknowledged weaknesses!
It’s a desperate contradiction
that you want to eat less
whilst in war torn countries
someone dreams about your excess!!
Anorexia - Stress
Stretch your abilities,
overdo your activities!
Increase the tension,
keep up your excesses...
Bottle it all up...
without even a good laugh!
Don’t take it natural...
It’s not cool to be easy!
You show your worth
without letting up!
You must succeed
in spite of your fatigue!
Get yourself uptight
over every little detail!
Everything is important,
don’t let anyone think!
Go, go, go... attack, attack,
order, command, criticise!
No one can do right. It must be
perfect... just like you!
Impotent Pride
The blood of man is a viper
that poisons the world.
Weak, egotistical, unfortunate,
he becomes great in his smallness.
He wants to impose himself over all things
which are stronger than him.
He wants to conquer other things
with his iron hand.
But time makes him feeble,
makes him become useless, old.
Impotent, man rebels.
In the meantime nature,
with its eternal hand,
changes things and men.
To replace them with others
who want to also live.
The same cycle closes itself.
Then, faster, it continues in the infinite.
Life, the eternal conqueror,
becomes conquered everyday,
forever.
Vanity...let’s you die
How beautiful is vanity!
It makes you feel attractive and good.
One can see that you are a god
who looks and admires himself,
who doesn’t feel irregularities,
where every thing is acceptable.
Vanity doesn’t allow
errors and omissions,
but rejoices in front
of your reflection.
Vanity is not blind,
but only lets you admire
things that appear to be good,
even if they are in fact not!
When we say vanity,
we think of Narcissus
who refused the nymph Echo,
falling in love
with his own image
reflected on the clear water
of a clear brook.
For this reason he died
and was transformed
in perfumed flower.
So also is vanity,
which is reflected in you…
and let’s you die,
allowing you to rock
in the perfume of your own ego.
Adoration of the fridge
He was young. He was hungry.
He needed sustenance daily.
He loved to interrupt his
normal routine almost hourly.
He came to open the fridge
searching for ready to eat food:
leftovers, cutlets and vegies,
fruit, sweets and ice cream.
He ate whatever fell in his grip.
He developed the reputation
of being a bottomless pit:
all that was good and tasty
ended up in his stomach.
He wasn’t at all fat... he was
like a skinny she-wolf in search
of satisfying her hunger.
What was the result of this
constant bow in front of the fridge?
His poor parents were desperate...
they were being eaten out of house
and home. How could they discipline
him to appreciate the cold storage
without that intense conviction
in his miserly eyes? What were
they to do with his longing for food?
They called on doctors and dietitians,
visited health clinics and fitness centres
and, finally, they were told clearly
that at his age food is a religion.
The fridge is an altar of worship,
praise and adoration. That’s it!
Amen
Your Body
The body that you have
keeps your company,
so make it your friend
even more than your family!
It’s hard to keep it in shape
if you give it no time to eat,
or if you neglect fitness and rest!
A body needs someone to make it
as healthy as it can be.
There is only you within it
so it is your property!
You need to make it
like a calling card
that’s simply attractive
in its own individuality!
So give it the very best
within, without or wherever.
This is a true test: don’t
keep it too much abreast!
1971
Like so many swallows in the air, my years
touch the comets of the banks of the blue sky.
Having amongst other things spent 1971
with so much joy and with such frank company
that it seems to me that God has wanted to bless
the most beautiful years of my life!
And so many good words have been said,
and many and even more beautiful ones
already forgotten. I have tried in company
peace, order and harmony. And I found
in humanity love that transcends reality.
Human are the errors, the tears, grief, vainglory
and the mute war: but there is always so much
pleasure to see harmony in the company.
There is happiness, passing yes… it’s true…
but so beautiful are those already far
away moments, and those youthful dreams
that renew themselves with each Spring.
I have seen in the heart of human beings
a great and well hidden desire to be well liked…
and every person so different from his friends
has always in himself a sparkle of love.
Now you tell me that there is misunderstanding…
yes certainly… and yet, with the most absolute
patience, we can always arrive, with the so many
thorns, to understand a little the human truth.
One dies yes without having wanted it,
but between us my friends
there is a more absolute truth.
There is the nude instinct, which, like a beast
in its natural ground, leads
the person to his own self interest.
And there is the mind which, unfortunately
always more, guides man to automation.
Between the two I cannot choose,
but I think always with satisfaction
that with a personal education
we can arrive to spiritual civilization.
Education you don’t receive
from the preachers, who amongst other things
have their own saviour, but
from ourselves, in our own reality!
A Contribution
As you wave your hand
to youth, you feel inside
a mixture of sadness and joy.
To know that your time
is passing by, like the wind
on the sand in the desert,
is to realize your human
condition: a wink in eternity.
To appreciate the value
of your passage through time,
like pink blossoms on a cherry tree
in Spring, is to leave behind for
others a happy memory to cherish.
No matter how small,
the sum of it all makes up
your life, your dreams...
be thankful for your contribution.
Dreams
The dream you left behind
feels like a friend in need.
Neglected and contrite
it wants someone to feed.
A dream is a special something
that’s generous and untried
like a loyal companion who
wants your car to drive.
A dream rests in your mind
until it finds a place within you.
You must make it satisfied or it will
upset your happiness inside you.
When you make it share your path,
a dream follows its own real distance...
that’s right... up to the finish... and
then it leaves you... in front!
To know that dreams are like the flowers
in your cups of excellent wine... to savour
each one and assess their worth is to shape
all other dreams ahead of you.
That dream is done and another begins...
to await for them one by one by one...
Ah! Then you’re wise... so you realize
that there are plenty of dreams to come...!
Deflating a Dream
You had a dream
and now that it is here,
it’s a tired old activity...
You want some change.
Why don’t you take
your time and plan
a cruise or two...
Sell up everything
and do what you
wish to do!
Give yourself some elasticity.
Nobody can stop these events
if you are content!
Get rid of the chains
that bind you...be free
to party and dance!
You can even get away
to read until you sleep.
Let no one stop you,
not even you, you or you!
Tall Poppy
Your seed was made
of a tough hue.
You were born to ooze
confidence and strength.
You were a little rough
and success followed
your every failure.
You rode on a long
stretched road which
had its ups and downs.
Many admired and followed
your path giving you
resources and trust.
You soared high and you flew
the flight of a majestic eagle.
You became the symbol
of your time, having reached
the pinnacle from which
there was no other way
but the chasm at the bottom.
You came down like a man and this...
one must admire.
You stood there amongst all
who had known you. They said:
“Bond is in jail,
he deserves what he gets!”
Yesterday’s hero
has been felled down like
a tall poppy in the fields.
I was never your admirer
in success, but now that
you’re down, I condemn
those who so readily exhalted you,
who so willingly brought you down.
They are the victims of their own
weaknesses and in you they reflect
their faults... just like in you
they tried to be one with your success.
All this balances out but,
what a pity, I say
to kill the memory of a dream,
and the dream of a well earned memory!
It wasn’t all in vain,
oh Alan Bond!
Friends
We are friends...
therefore we share
our days, out thoughts,
our inner hopes.
We keep company
because we communicate
with each other
free from inhibitions.
Thus we build our trust
day by day.
But we need space,
oh friend, to be ourselves.
We are friends...
therefore we should be able
to drift away
for a while to explore
the world outside...
to find that friendship
is a precious possession.
We leave each other
when either of us
decides that we want
to move on... perhaps
to make another friend.
Friendship is as common
as the grass and as rare
as a Winter’s orchid.
We can never forget
a friend even when
we drift
apart.
Friend to Friend
Don’t judge me
but lend me your hand.
Let’s give each other
support and confidence.
Don’t put me down because
you know me so well!
Value in me what
attracted you to me!
The Future
There, ahead,
in front of us,
immersed in its anonymity
lies the future.
It’s a mass of moments
to be conquered, to be lived.
Its presence is ephemeral
because, as soon as it is amongst us,
it mixes itself up with the present
and then it disappears in the lap
of Mother History.
The future has of everything
and it is logical and unpredictable.
I am still Hoping
The dark hours run away with time
whilst the storm quietens on the sea.
Even the little bird has stopped flying,
and now, happy to dream, he looks for his nest
thinking of the betrayed little bird of his dreams.
Oh you, traitor day in the past
become a traitor once again
to betray the betrayed moment
and bring back to the present the ancient illusion!
It’s sweet the Spring of dreams,
they are beautiful the hopes of once.
But now are faded the memories
of this swallow that in vain
still aims for the high of the sky!
Unwanted
Why is everything so strange?
Why is there oblivion?
No one can supply the truth of life.
No one can say: “I was wanted.”
We might be a world of rejects
struggling against the existence
of change, of degeneration.
A freelance... authority
A freelance touch of fantasy
with some common sense as its authority
judges the rest as stupidity.
Correct to a degree,
it can lead most into degeneracy
if not held in reality.
But when maturity understands
the truth of reality, then
a freelance touch of fantasy
has common sense as its authority.
Organised intrusion
Dreams go back to nature
when people’s only obsession
rests in material possession.
A shameless world of intrusion
in individuals’ private seclusion.
No secrets left,
no love at rest.
Only an empty domain
of power unreal to man.
His own creation,
his beloved fashion.
His longing of power achieved,
his nature lost in convention.
No more the happy days
in privacy… in rest.
Power of the Present
Smiling at the infinite world, man
searches in the heart of other people
for the love of games in company.
Forget always the so fleeting and
so beautiful future, and live
joyously this present happy life!
There is no sailor who ploughs the waves
who would not want to return to his own place
from where he sailed with so much hope.
The ugly witch, with her fingers wide open
on the crystal, looks in the future for the present
and then changes the present for the happy people.
Human things are forever changing, but the known
change crushes the joys of the unknown.
Therefore, dissatisfied of this beautiful world,
dream of the things that the future for us
foreshadows and always remember the words
that on the tomb of the present I inscribe:
“By all means dream of the fleeting
Future, but always love in our heart
the eternal power of the present.”
A Cat
In the deserted street,
a lone cat
meows.
He feels a deluge
in the stuffy air.
He doesn’t look for a roof:
he waits for the coming
of thunder, of lightning,
of rain.
Experience tells him:
go, run to your shelter.
But this feline philosopher
doesn’t care:
he is not afraid
of nature.
Sure of himself,
he walks head high
alone in the night.
The Football
I can’t explain
why football is so
much loved.
Perhaps it is because
you catch it with your hands,
you throw it up into the air,
it returns to you again
and then you give it
a kick up the rear.
Just like man does
with his friend.
Understanding oneself
It’s great the joy
in understanding oneself.
To see around
the continuous shaking
of life pulsating
in days of sunshine.
To know that to be
means to want to adapt
to the environment in
which one finds oneself.
Like ants who live
around the anthill,
nest of variety
full of monotonous
daily work.
But so welcoming
because there is the mount,
the neighbourhood, home!
There you will find gossip,
company, security!
True life comes from
understanding oneself.
Lucky is the person who succeeds!
Important Atom
Written 04-03-2008
There is in me
another poem
on things
that happen
whilst I am trying
to plan
others that will come!
So expressed himself
that famous ‘Beatle’
after having visited
India and its philosophies!
Because life
is an accumulation of events,
of period of relaxation,
of so many varied things
that exist outside
of yourself, whilst you
concentrate your efforts
at understanding what presents
itself in your daily life.
You are a complex atom
in the midst of the Universe
in which you are no more
than another infinitesimal
fragment. But you
are important. Believe it!
Reality
Love is the only word
that the heart of man
listens to with pleasure.
And when things are going well,
everything is acceptable.
Then even the ugly things of life
take on dimensions that are eternal,
infinite, more than the infinity of heaven.
I can’t but explain the roses
which, from time to time, prick
the soft material of the gracious
hands which caress them.
I would like to still feel in me
that youthful sentiment
which rarely embittered my hours
of enthusiasm, of vanity, of deceit.
Sad is for me the man
who tires at understanding life.
History: I am sorry
To rejoice
in the coming of others
who have destroyed
your culture
is to love
your neighbour.