Understand clearly that when a great need appears a great use appears also; when there is a small need there is small use; it is obvious, then, that full use is made of all things at all times according to the necessity thereof.
quote by Dogen Zenji
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Best Of Both Worlds
You say times are tough
Weve got the best of both worlds here
Things are rough
Weve got the best of both worlds here
Times are tough
Weve got the best of both worlds
The real world is not as calm as it appears to be from here
The old world is not as safe with the new world closing in
The great south land can be as great as the one it could have been
The one it could have been
The real world is not as calm as it appears to be from here
The small world is not as strong and the testing ground is near
The old world is not as strong as the one we could have seen
The great south land can be as great as the one it could have been
The one it could have been
Weve got the best of both worlds
(hirst/moginie)
song performed by by Midnight Oil
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Understanding and Knowledge
Those who know don’t talk;
Those who talk don’t know;
Those who speak don’t write;
Those who write don’t speak.
Those who think don’t actions;
Those who actions don’t think;
Those who think don’t judge;
Those who judge don’t do.
Small understanding is no match for great understanding;
Small knowledge cannot understand great knowledge knows.
Great wisdom has great understanding;
Great knowledge has wise sayings.
Great knowledge and understanding is wide and vast;
Small knowledge and understanding is trivial and cramped.
Great speech blaze forth as a huge fire;
Small speech is empty and trivial.
We understand what is appropriate;
Because of what we understand to be inappropriate.
We understand right;
Because of our understanding of wrong.
Use the light of wisdom to see,
Beyond the world of right and wrong.
One can only really understand things,
By understanding one’s true self.
(extracted and translated from Tao Te Cheng Book)
© Nov 2011 Lawrence Hiung
poem by Lawrence Hiung
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The World Is Vast
THE WORLD IS SO VAST
The world is so vast-
There are so many things and people in it -
We know there are more stars than people,
And so many times more people than we will ever know-
We know a small part of everything there is
And even that changes
And we know less and more with the years -
What we are is a surprise sometimes
But even then we cannot understand it-
How great God has made the universe or perhaps all the universes
We cannot know –
From our small time in our own small time
Let us love life as best we can
And live as well as we can,
Before our little time in the vastness of time passes
poem by Shalom Freedman
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An Isn't...Is!
An isn't...
Is!
When that isn't...
Appears.
An isn't...
Is!
When that isn't...
Appears.
Cheating spouses,
Who run about...
To play a cat and mouse,
Out of the house.
Often lie,
When they can...
To hide unfaithfulness from eyes that scan.
But that isn't...
Is!
When that isn't appears.
Oh yes that isn't,
Is...
When that isn't appears!
Those downlow and attempting discreet...
Play it cheap,
While sneaking under sheets.
Be they lesbians or homos too,
Cruising darkened streets to do what they do...
To hide an isn't...
That is!
When they say what isn't,
Appears.
Oh yes that isn't,
Is...
When that isn't appears!
You can say that isn't,
Is!
When that isn't,
Appears!
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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In Our Small Way
Refrain
Maybe you and I cant do great things
We may not change the world in one day
But we still can change some things today...
In our small way
Empty words are not enough
Where theres hurt well be a crush
When theres thirst well fill each others cup
Because we care we love enough to share
Refrain
Maybe you and I cant do great things
We may not change the world in one day
But we still can change some things today...
In our small way
In despair well be the hope
And the prayer that frees the soul
Well be there to share each lonely road
Because we love, I know
We care enough
Refrain
Maybe you and I cant do great things
We may not change the world in one day
But we still can change some things today...
In our small way
Just a little time is all it takes
What a difference just a smile can make, youll see
Love is all we need
Refrain
Maybe you and I cant do great things
We may not change the world in one day
But we still can change some things today...
In our small way
song performed by by Michael Jackson
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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It Appears To Be That Way
Wait a minute.
Aren't they the same incompetent people,
Expressing with confidence...
Why they have a lack of competence?
'It appears to be that way.'
Is this the change being made,
We all can believe in?
'It appears to be that way.'
Is this the 'light',
Coming to poke holes through the darkness?
'It appears to be that way.'
Is this the rainbow that has come,
After relentless storms of anguish?
'It appears to be that way.'
Have you been affected by total disbelief,
And you are doing the best you can...
To stay on your own two feet.
And my voice you can hear,
But your consciousness has left...
To leave you unsure of your own footsteps?
'It appears to be that way.'
Hang in there.
But just don't stand planted,
To become more twisted by shifting winds.
'What are you saying?
I should be doing something else...
Other than just to hang in there?
With a going to somewhere with purpose? '
It appears to be that way.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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Answers
I kept my answers small and kept them near;
Big questions bruised my mind but still I let
Small answers be a bullwark to my fear.
The huge abstractions I kept from the light;
Small things I handled and caressed and loved.
I let the stars assume the whole of night.
But the big answers clamoured to be moved Into my life. Their great audacity
Shouted to be acknowledged and believed.
Even when all small answers build up to
Protection of my spirit, still I hear
Big answers striving for their overthrow.
And all the great conclusions coming near.
poem by Dame Edith Louisa Sitwell
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When the Light Appears
You'll bare your bones you'll grow you'll pray you'll only know
When the light appears, boy, when the light appears
You'll sing & you'll love you'll praise blue heavens above
When the light appears, boy, when the light appears
You'll whimper & you'll cry you'll get yourself sick and sigh
You'll sleep & you'll dream you'll only know what you mean
When the light appears, boy, when the light appears
You'll come & you'll go, you'll wander to and fro
You'll go home in despair you'll wonder why'd you care
You'll stammer & you'll lie you'll ask everybody why
You'll cough and you'll pout you'll kick your toe with gout
You'll jump you'll shout you'll knock you're friends about
You'll bawl and you'll deny & announce your eyes are dry
You'll roll and you'll rock you'll show your big hard cock
You'll love and you'll grieve & one day you'll come believe
As you whistle & you smile the lord made you worthwhile
You'll preach and you'll glide on the pulpit in your pride
Sneak & slide across the stage like a river in high tide
You'll come fast or come on slow just the same you'll never know
When the light appears, boy, when the light appears
poem by Allen Ginsberg
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How I Escaped From Despair Today
HOW I ESCAPED FROM MY DESPAIR TODAY
No great thought or sudden revelation,
No major meeting or act of friendship,
No revelation of Love,
No great Surprise of Joy,
Nothing great at all-
The simple doing of everyday tasks-
Cleaning the house,
Taking a bus,
Doing a small errand I had promised someone I would,
Being outside
Looking at the world
Where I walked -
Somehow taking my mind from myself,
By buying medicine for my wife
Purchasing fruits in the market-
By doing small things,
Showing myself that I am still capable of action-
By trivial small actions changing my mood
Enabling myself to have enthusiasm for life again-
poem by Shalom Freedman
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Psalm 104
Oh, lord, how many are thy works!
In wisdom thou hast made them all.
The earth is full of thy possessions.
There is the sea, great and broad
In which are swarms
Without number.
Animals,
Both great and small.
Oh, lord,
Thou hast made them all.
In which are swarms
Without number.
Animals,
Both great and small.
Oh, lord,
Thou hast made them all.
song performed by by Amy Grant
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Nothing Ever Last
The World's great Empires have gone to decay
They rose and they fell and each had their day
And one Super Power rise as another does fall
And the small will grow great and the great become small.
The Pharoahs and the Aztecs and the Incas as well
And the all conquering Romans too had their glorious spell
And the Spaniards and the British of the recent past
Were known to be great Empires but they too did not last.
The Soviets and Germans great power did command
But their demise not that hard to understand
Since great powers they come and great powers they go
Though nothing lasts forever as history does show.
Genghis Khan and Napoleon and Alexander the Great
These all conquering heroes had their use by date
Though in the history of the World their names living on
The Empires they ruled over like them are long gone.
Un-rivalled for supremacy as the World Super Power of today
By far the most powerful Nation is the U S of A
But as history does tell us nothing ever last
And one day they too will be a power of the past.
poem by Francis Duggan
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In and outside worlds
When I was small
we had a green carpet
in the living room
that like a lawn
stretched out wide, thick and luxurious.
The ceiling was the sky,
big fans made wind
and lights came on at night
like suns.
The shower was
where you make your own rain
to be cleaned
and every tap a small fountain.
Sometimes a bird
flew into the house
and was cordoned off
and flew everywhere
and completed the picture
of man’s inner world
to me.
Still man just copies
the Creator
and outside the sky is stretched out,
every night full of stars
and day after day the sun appears
and the wind blows
as it find it necessary
and all the birds fly free
and the grass spread by itself.
poem by Gert Strydom
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In Between
A man is born and he dies
what he does in between is where it lies,
he can be great or very small,
if he is great, he will stand tall,
if he is small, it won't matter at all.
A Small Gift
A SMALL GIFT
There is so much more to this world
Than I will ever know-
Each of us so full of himself
Is nonetheless empty of so much else-
We are all small
However great we are-
Nothing I write can make me mean as much
As so many others
Who have written
And who will write.
God has given me a small gift
I should be thankful for it.
With it
I write these lines.
poem by Shalom Freedman
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Small things have a way of overmastering the great. This small press can destroy a kingdom.
quote by Sonya Levien
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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0017 Suppose it said..
Suppose it said – and, yes
it has been said, that
you were made to be
as much the same, as God,
or, The Creator – or
some other word that
means as much – were made to be
as much the same as – That -
as any human being could be; that
this, waits for you; it’s there;
cease to deny that that is so,
and then, it will be so…
suppose you hear it said; and
like the sound of it; then
close your eyes for several seconds
and open them again; but, it’s all
just the same…
suppose that at that point,
you don’t give up, with, as they say,
'a snort of derision'; but close your eyes again,
and think
I don’t remember such a big denial
all at once; how could a child
know what to deny, or why;
deny so vast a thing?
or could it rather be, a history
of many small denials? ah yes,
that seems quite possible – like
all those things that we put to one side
as – so the song goes on – ‘but not for me…’:
some few were overcome – I thought once
that riding a bike was Not For Me;
but thanks to Dad who proved me wrong,
I’ve thousands of miles of the joy of freedom
ticking on the cyclometer…
but yes, there’s much that’s labelled
Not For Me; once, poetry
was labelled, too, so great a thing
but Not For Me..
suppose a life
without self-deprivation
where all these small denials were denied,
whom would I be then? Would I be great
in so many small acceptances,
that all that life might have to offer,
should be myself? Would that be joy?
I think it could be so.
poem by Michael Shepherd
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Men are not great or small because of their material possessions. They are great or small because of what they are.
quote by James Cash Penney
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Sonnet: Earth has Hidden Dangers
The earth has built-in hidden dangers great,
That Mother Nature shows when furious;
And when released, most people call it ‘fate’;
Blame man for his callousness curious.
All appears calm beholding surface things;
Yet, Nature takes man by surprise at times;
Though man performs great feats amongst earthlings,
By natural hazards, Mother Nature chimes!
Man wonders why God should allow ruin?
Good things are lost when Nature strikes terror;
But do they come because of man’s great sin?
–Affirms the punished, ravished survivor!
Yet, if man prays to God, his perils cease;
God’s mercy rains and world returns to peace!
Copyright by Dr John Celes 3-12-11
poem by John Celes
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Love Is A Fruit
Love is a fruit in season at all times
and within contact of every hand.
We can not do great things.
We can only do small things with great love.
What we are doing is just a dropp in the ocean.
But if that dropp was not in the ocean
I think the ocean would be less
I do not agree with the big way of doing things
poem by Ezna Stephna
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