I VOTE FOR YOU FOR GOD

When your eyes have found the strength
To constantly speak to the world
All that is most dear
To your own
Life,

When your hands, feet and tongue
Can perform in that rare unison
That comforts this longing earth
With the knowledge

Your soul,
Your soul has been groomed
In His city of love;

And when you can make others laugh
With jokes
That belittle no one
And your words always unite,

Hafiz
Does vote for you.

Hafiz will vote for you to be
The minister of every country in
This universe.

Hafiz does vote for you my dear.
I vote for you
To be
God.

from The Gift: Poems by Hafiz, the Great Sufi Master Translations by Daniel Ladinsky

I Took It as a Sign

Someone sent a band to my house,
And it started playing
At five in the morning.

I took this as a sign
God wanted me singing!
Then the moon joined in
And a few of the tenor-voiced stars,

And the earth offered its lovely belly
As a drum

Before I knew it,
I realized
All human beings could be happy

If they just had a few music lessons
From a Sweet Old Maestro
Like Hafiz.

From I Heard God Laughing: Poems of Hope and Joy
Renderings of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky

Today's AbunDance

Did the AbunDance at the Farmer's Market today :))

I traded little paintings created especially for the purpose of trading for fruits and vegetables with the farmers... So-o satisfying and fun! The photo shows today's bounty. Broccoli, mustard greens, daikon greens, Russian kale, red potatoes, yellow potatoes, and another type whose name I have forgotten, two kinds of red onions and a little yellow onion, cantaloupe, tomatoes, red peppers and purple peppers, hot little chile peppers, butternut squash, strawberry/chocolate mousse, and dark rye bread.

Thanks! The container in the upper right with a pink something inside, contained the most delicious Chocolate Berry Mousse, a raw dessert by local company, Body Love Raw Food. Under the pink strawberry fluffiness was the chocolate fluffiness.

The square shape in plastic next to the pink container is dark rye bread from Sammy's.

Greens from, Eric, and Carl, and Quinn, and melons from Antonio... I love this exchange of joyful energies.




Here are the paintings I traded:

for veggies ~


for melons:



for veggies:




for another loaf of bread (not pictured) ~



and

for the Strawberry-Chocolate Mousse (an offering of which Ganesh would surely approve :)

Coffee Press

You can press me
and still,
my essence
will ring true

~ Nicole Raisin Stern

shikantaza

just sit
just sip
the tea is full
then empty
pour again
drink it up
just sit
just sip

~NRS