Plants I adore - the whole - from minute phytoplankton to the giant redwoods and forests... the verdant leaves - the rainbow coloured flowers - the magic range of life preserving seeds - the wondrous fruits for us to eat - the wild, wild grasses carpeting the plains.....
And those that burst in season - the aged oaks and century spanning trees - and plants that we can only appreciate on our knees -plants that come by day to flower or scatter with first breeze - those that perfume the air and fill our space - those that are considered useful by God's grace - those plants that grow in water above, through and below - all plants make my heart and mind in gratitude aglow.
I look with hope to see a bud insisting upon expansion to allow its exudation of its perfume, the expression of its soul; I breathe inspiration as I surrender to its fragrance; I am in awe of the Creative genius that allows all the wealth and variety that we share with nature to bloom in perfect pattern and designs that permeate the living cells of root and stem, leaf, flowers, fruits to culminate in the miracle of the microscopic and miraculous seed computer where even in the smallest resides the secret of life generation, control and command of growth of forest giants.
And beyond compare are the flowers - the floral world where colour, perfume, form unite creating beauty that no human effort can replicate and forever remain as the symbolic reminders of nature's magical, enduring art with its range of qualities that serve for our inspiration.
We can however, assist the natural agencies that produce all the wondrous species that exist: through our protection of the wilderness, our cultivation of the useful, our understanding of the plant qualities and what they offer us in food and medicine as well as urging our increased and conscious appreciation of their role in the survival of the human race.
But beyond this is the general awareness, now growing stronger, of the sensitivity of plants and their subtle capabilities as sentient life companions as we care for them and share our planet with them in our homes and gardens, our offices, farms, fields and forests.
To identify the plants we love, grow, eat and utilize allows our regard for plants to have a basis from which we can expand into almost limitless capacity to become more familiar with the plant kingdom. Whether we approach our studies as a professional or an amateur botanist or remain simply a lover of plants, our interest has the potential to be life-long and will reward us with aesthetic and practical benefits and much joy.
Love is a heartfelt thought of affection, you give conscious or unconscious to something you like -from your self like Narcissus [a Greek legend who fell in love with his own reflection and was turned unto a flower], to your mother, father, family, friends, lover, [even if your relationship with them is bad], animals, social life, career, work, liquor, pigs, money to material possessions, sadism, gossiping, music, TV, high achievers, movies, celebrities etc and this result into emotional attachment to your object of adoration and since every thought carries an emotional tag, you will feel it. And thinking too much about that object of affection in the name of love, budges you to give it to them or express it and if you don't stop thinking about them too hard, it can lead to obsession or infatuation and there is danger there because when we live in expectations with strong belief how things are and how others should be, we will get disappointed because nobody is perfect to live up to anybody's expectation.
Why does chocolate evoke so many feelings and emotions for us? Chocolate has long been associated with passion, romance and love. This association may go all the way back to the Aztecs. They believed chocolate was a source of spiritual wisdom, incredible energy and elevated sexual power. Chocolate was widely used as a nuptial aid and was widely served at wedding ceremonies. The Aztecs did not know chocolate as we do today; they consumed the cocoa as a drink. Reports indicate that the Emperor Montezuma consumed large quantities of the drink every day and always fortified himself with a cup before entertaining his harem. The explorer Cortes reported to Carlos I of Spain that chocolate is "... the divine drink which builds up resistance and fights fatigue. A cup of this precious drink enables a man to walk for a whole day without food." From the earliest times, chocolate was considered a substance of power and a source of vitality.
Here are 10 romantic ways to propose to your girlfriend on Valentine's Day -- and get her to say 'Yes'!
1. Get an attractive heart-shaped candy box. Fill it with delectable designer chocolates. Remove the centre piece and place your diamond engagement ring there. Have a personal message engraved on the ring. Alternately, fill the box with chocolate letters, spelling out 'Marry me' with your engagement ring nestled inside.
2. Take her to a fairly secluded spot in a lovely park. When you are about to reach there, blindfold her and lead her to the place. Pull off the blindfold and let her eyes fall on a placard (which you have placed there in advance), decorated with hearts saying, 'Will you marry me?"
3. If you are celebrating Valentine's Day at your place, rent her most favourite romantic movie. Halfway through the movie that you are watching on your home theatre, let the screen go blank. Pretend to see what's wrong and project your proposal on the wall.
4. This needs an advance purchase of a large amount of red roses. Write 'Will you marry me?' with rose petals on her lawn. Or, if she is coming over to your pad, greet her with your rose-petalled proposal on the living room floor. Keep an open velvet box in the centre in which your sparkling diamond engagement ring awaits her finger.
5. Take her for dinner to a fancy restaurant -- if possible get a cozy corner seat. Arrange beforehand with the manager for what is going to happen next. Ask the waiter to bring the menu card. Hers will be slightly different. As she opens it, she reads your romantic proposal on it. Or arrange for your proposal to fall out of a fortune cookie which will be served with dessert.
6. Present her with a dozen long-stemmed red roses along with a handmade card instead of going for the usual store-bought one. Affix a battery-operated device to the card so that when she opens it, it 'talks' to her: 'Will you marry me?" Tie your engagement ring to the stems of the bouquet.
7. Proposals can be nerve-wrecking affairs. To lighten the atmosphere, tickle her funny bone. Get a soft cuddly toy (teddy bears top the list). Add a diamond engagement ring around its neck and fit an audio device within the teddy. As she squeezes the teddy, he pops the question to her.
8. Restaurants are going to be overcrowded, not to mention overpriced. Certainly not the best of places for having a heart-to-heart with your loved one. Don an apron and cook dinner for her at your place instead. Have chilled champagne ready and tie a satin ribbon to the champagne flute. This is no ordinary ribbon but has your engagement ring attached to it. Whichever dessert you offer her, have 'Will you marry me' piped in chocolate around the edges of the dessert platter.
9. Depending on her personality, prepare your strategy. For the ultra romantic and feminine girl (who has secretly been dreaming of this moment ever since she was a little girl), play the knight in the shining armour. This one calls for the complete candlelight dinner-flowers routine, including dropping down on one knee and proposing to her with a sparkling engagement ring.
If she is the outdoor, sporty type who feels mighty uncomfortable with heavy-duty emotions, take refuge in humour and the offbeat. Go paragliding or bungee jumping and have your proposal written on the back of your chute! Of course, be sure to jump before she does!
10. Arrange for a romantic private dinner, either on the beach or at your place, and have a myriad lit candles spell out your proposal for you.
Remember, even though it is tempting to propose to your lady love via email or a recorded voice message, don't give in to it. Every woman desires that the most significant moment in her life be conducted live! So, go right ahead and propose to your sweetheart. Cupid is secretly rooting for you!
First you need to separate yourself from outside distraction and focus on writing. This may be achieved by turning on some beautiful music or by relocating: going to a park or other quiet area.
You must be able to feel every word and how it relates and sounds with the other words. So it is not a bad practice to read the poem or recite it as you are writing it.
As far as feeling every word: you should have already determined a general theme of the poem before you write (lost love, new love, pain in love, etc.). After you have identified that feeling there are a few steps you can take to draw the poetry out.
1) Read a similar poem by a master poet. (They are a master if they are able to create a reaction or feeling when you read it.) Then write your poem based on the same poetic conventions (techniques or form).
2) Watch a moving video with a similar theme to the poem that you plan to write about. Then after the feeling evoked by the video is still fresh in your memory. Write your poem.
3) Listen to a love song with a similar theme to the poem that you plan to write about. Picture yourself in the song writer's place. Really connect with the feeling. You can keep the song on repeat after you have listened to it while you write your poem.
4) Choose a random title or theme that has nothing to do with love and somehow connect the two in the poem.
Examples:
Mustard (title)
Her eyelashes were mustard the day we met
the smell of her perfume so strong that it made me dizzy
I thought the dizziness was me falling for her
The second time we met she wasn't wearing perfume,
She smelled like an old locker room
And had the look of a hooker
Black lashes, black liner, black leather
...that was the end of the story with Sue.
Mustard (theme)
At first she seemed ordinary.
She seemed like a hundred other girls I met,
so I didn't pay her any attention.
But after having her there in our little group for so long
I started to miss her when she got her full time job.
Every time we went out, everyone could feel something was missing.
After a couple of weeks I decided to visit her job.
She lit up like a kid at Christmas,
I chatted about how much fun we were having without her,
She looked down and asked why I'd come.
I said some of the girls were asking for her.
She said she'd see if she could join us on the weekends.
That weekend she came;
I started talking to her more;
she knew...
(What mustard adds to a dish is the underlying theme.)
5) Begin with an image in your mind of yourself in a situation that evokes the emotion or theme you plan to write about. It can be a real situation or imagined. Pretend that you are talking to the person reading the poem as you write about the experience (This is what good romance novelists do.)
Example:
It was dark and cold,
I could still feel his hands all over me,
The wind gushed
Pushing me back to the direction of his apartment.
I didn't want it like this:
Kisses with a stranger, in a strange land,
He probably was a convict, probably had a disease,
It started to drizzle.
I didn't have a car.
He didn't have a car.
He wanted me so bad, cared so much
He didn't even walk me home.
I'm a mile away;
These tracks I've crossed before have never seemed so long.
Why did I feel like there we a thousand eyes looking at me?
As I climbed the final steps up to my house,
I found my roommates asleep.
Why weren't they worried about me?
Why weren't they looking for me?
What if I'd never come home?
Sleep welcomes me for now.
The first time in the history of Valentines Day that love and lovers are actually associated with the day is during the Middle Ages in a poem by Geoffrey Chaucer. After the famous writer mentioned the two love birds that represented the engagement of the young king Richard II to his young bride to be, Anne of Bohemia.
After this first association of love in the history of Valentines Day, the idea quickly grew popular. By the 17th century, it had become custom for young lovers to exchange small tokens and hand written love notes with each other. By the 18th century, greeting cards began to be commercially produced just for the holiday; and by the middle of the 19th century, retailers began offering special gifts for young men to present to the ladies they were suiting.
Although the history of Valentines Day isn't necessarily as romantic as we are led to believe, the fact remains that it has become one of the most popular, and commercially profitable, holidays ever. Today, men often present their wives and girlfriends with chocolates, flowers, and cards; and the day has come to be associated with the highest number of marriage proposals than any other. One fact remains true regardless of the actual history of Valentines Day - and that is the fact that this is the one day of the year when people feel the most able to express their feelings of affection for one another.
THE SIMPLE BEAUTY
The simple beauty of the frozen sadness
Then tears of the blue is not much less
And not much more than beauty of the clouds
Inside the rain, to rain the flaky crowds.
But green inside the beauty, which the winter keeps,
Means more than grass of sorrow, when the beauty weeps.
And eyes of green can see it in the whisper's ness,
'Cause their tears of blue than yours are not much less.
THE MERMAID (QUATERN POETRY)-FAIRY TALE POEM
In the Red Sea, you were my lonely king of salt,
You were my beautiful statue, made of basalt.
On the sea shore, dominating the yellow land,
You were my statue representing the king of sand.
Your body was looking as it was tattooed with smalt.
In the Red Sea, you were my lonely king of salt.
At the water high waves' mobile horizon
I was a mermaid, caught in your love's prison.
I swam to the surface, sometimes, to see you.
You were on your ship, at the dawn's purplish blue.
In the Red Sea, you were my lonely king of salt.
I had your beautiful statue, made of basalt.
I paid to get rid of my tail and to become a woman,
Because I wanted you to be my lover and my man.
You disappeared and your wreck was anchored in Galt,
In the Red Sea, you're my lonely king of salt.
THE DOOR
We needed the meaning of love.
You opened the door of my soul
And touched me,
Enclosing our relationship,
You didn't say anything,
But I understood everything.
THE COLORS
Morning,
Absinthe leaves,
Silver sea,
Raw blue sky,
Bubbles of light,
Inner reality,
Inner light
Of bubbles sky,
Blue raw sea,
Silver leaves,
Absinthe,
Morning...
THE POTTERY
In the common clay,
Transformed by modeling
I imprison my idea,
Every time you pass,
You stop to look
For a moment,
At my art objects
Delicately modeled in shape,
They gain color in light.
Many potters expose objects
In that place,
But you know which are mine
Even without my signature,
I think only of you
When I make them to be real.
A STAR IN AETHER
Saying ''aether'',
He sang for aether with an eternal voice.
When I look to the sky,
I see the sun,the stars and the moon,
But in aether
I see a Sun never disappearing
And never stopping to shine.
And I think that Luciano Pavarotti
Is a star in aether.
