April is appropriately anointed National Poetry
Month. 'Tis the season to delight in fragrant blossoms bursting forth overnight with
exquisite new energy—from lifeless branches embalmed too long in winter’s brown
shrouds—on our high mountain desert.
“Energy is eternal delight,” celebrates English
poet William Blake; while his fellow poet Alexander Pope encourages, “Hope
springs eternal.” And therein lies the magic of poetry—pithy, positive
profundity in a few words to heal broken dreams and barren living.
Poets are peerless in lifting up our spirits,
in helping us soar or reach deep, deeper, deepest, to reconnect with the
Creator’s gifts of grace from the infinite realms of the soul.
Take for instance the enduring the gift of hope.
Emily Dickinson (who published only seven poems during her lifetime, but
garnered accolades galore afterwards; indeed, an irony that artists accept)
describes it thus:
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all.
Poets exhort us never ever to give up. Never
allow dreams to fade; dreams fueled by the soaring power of the soul. African
American poet Langston Hughes urges:
Hold fast to dreams,
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird,
That cannot fly.
Let us tune in anew to this apt analogy of the
soul-bird constantly winging us from within such precious gifts of grace, in gifting
us this soaring metaphor of quiet joy and fulfillment.
Poet Henry David Thoreau admits: “I am a happy
camper so I guess I’m doing something right. Happiness is like a butterfly; the
more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention
to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder.”
What “other things” to turn softly to, in the
pursuit of happiness?
Consider then, a recent acquisition of Fogelson
Library—The Jewels of Happiness by
poet-painter-musician-composer Sri Chinmoy [call number B187 .H3 J49 2010]. Archbishop Desmond Tutu writes in
the foreword: “These sweet gems of wisdom are timeless truths full of
encouragement, love and goodness.” Primatologist Jane Goodall (a regular visitor
to our City Different) finds: “Reading this book will allow you to experience a
radiant and abundant awareness of how to achieve happiness.”
These exquisite jewels sparkle with timeless
truths that seekers of the eternal beyond dream of: peace, love, joy, hope,
wisdom, patience, enthusiasm, power, simplicity, sincerity, humility and
gratitude.
Whether aspiring to becoming an accomplished poet,
painter, musician, filmmaker or writer, our slog as artists is long and hard.
Yet, as Emily Dickinson showed, there is abiding satisfaction
towards attaining a never-ending state of perfection. It’s a journey tangled
with uncertainty and fear of the unknown. However, when we prevail on the
soul’s jewels of happiness, they can
bless us with divine confidence to never let our dreams die.
When I introduced this book to Margaret van
Dyk, Fogelson Library’s Acting Director, she asked:
“What can artists learn from these jewels?”
“To
accept the art of learning with due diligence and patience,” I responded.
Lo and behold! Margaret spontaneously flipped
to page 83, Chapter 6, on—you guessed it—“Patience.” Morgan Light, another
librarian, also witnessed this page-turning sleight of The Unseen Hand. The
three of us broke out in laughter in Fogelson Library, unsilenced by the gravity,
and levity, of the situation. Divine serendipity had intervened, yet again.
So, artists and all alike, take heart.
“Anything that is momentous, anything that is enduring, cannot be achieved
overnight. But the fact that something momentous requires patience is no reason
for you to be discouraged,” offers Sri Chinmoy. This chapter ends with his
poem:
Impossibility
Always bows
To humanity’s
Patience-mountain.
When we wish upon a star or for our soul’s
light to shine the way, good things do
happen. “I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances
confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life
which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours,”
observes poet Henry David Thoreau.
For your own copy, try these Santa Fe indies:
More Books and Op Cit on Cerrillos Road, Garcia Street Books and Collected
Works; in Albuquerque, Bookworks and Page One.
On March 19, 2013 the audio book for The Jewels of Happiness was released at
the United Nations in New York City. Fittingly, from 1970-2007, the author had
led twice-weekly, “Sri Chinmoy: The Peace Meditation at the United Nations.” This
audio book features readings by singer Roberta Flack, Olympian Carl Lewis, Broadway
star Judith Light and others. http://www.jewelsofhappiness.com/jewels/jewels-of-happiness-audiobook-launching-on-march-19th/
(BTW, back in 1987, Sri Chinmoy founded the largest
relay run to promote world peace, a biennial global event that includes Santa
Fe. Runners are welcome in 2014 and beyond! http://www.worldharmonyrun.org/usa/route2012)
Wishing you divinely serendipitous moments with
poetry and patience,
Sunamita Lim
