Guest guest Posted November 23, 2009 Report Share Posted November 23, 2009 From Ivan- his notes at the foot are usually very worth while.--- On Mon, 23/11/09, Poetry Chaikhana <ivan wrote: Poetry Chaikhana <ivan[Poetry Chaikhana] Li-Young Lee - NativityalanadamsjacobsDate: Monday, 23 November, 2009, 18:05 Here's your Daily Poem from the Poetry Chaikhana -- Nativity By Li-Young Lee(1957 - ) In the dark, a child might ask, What is the world?just to hear his sisterpromise, An unfinished wing of heaven,just to hear his brother say,A house inside a house,but most of all to hear his mother answer,One more song, then you go to sleep.How could anyone in that bed guessthe question finds its beginningin the answer long growinginside the one who asked, that restless boy,the night's darling?Later, a man lying awake,he might ask it again,just to hear the silencecharge him, This nightarching over your sleepless wondering,this night, the near groundevery reaching-out-to overreaches,just to remind himselfout of what little earth and duration,out of what immense good-bye,each must make a safe place of his heart,before so strange and wild a guestas God approaches. / Photo by giovanni_giusti / ============ Thought for the Day: The challenge --to become a perfect ruinof utter surrender to the Divine,while remaining poised, clear, and capable. ============ Here's your Daily Music selection -- Suzin Green Devi Demo Listen / Purchase More Music Selections Hi Alan -Li-Young Lee has a fascinating family history. Lee's maternal grandfather was the first president of the Republic of China. His father, however, came from a family of businessmen and gangsters. During the Chinese Civil War, Lee's father was attached to a nationalist general who switched sides, which resulted in Dr. Lee becoming the personal physician to Mao Tse-tung for a brief time.Li-Young Lee was born after the war when his family had moved to Indonesia. While Lee was still a toddler, his father was jailed for political reasons for nearly two years. When he was eventually released, the family moved about for a while. In Hong Kong Lee's father became a hugely successful evangelical preacher and businessman. Lee's father was an emotional man and, after an argument, he dropped everything and left with his family, finally settling in the United States, where Dr. Lee became the minister of a small church in Pennsylvania.Li-Young Lee grew up in the US and studied at the University of Pittsburgh. He currently lives in Chicago.==I know it's not even Thanksgiving yet, but we're already getting Christmas advertisements, so I thought maybe an early Christmas contemplation for today, away from the retail hype and a couple steps closer to the heart of the season...Maybe we should first ask, just what does this poem have to do with the Nativity anyway? What does it have to do with the traditional scene of the Christ child lying in a manger?The poem starts with a question asked in the dark by a child: What is the world? The responses he gets are beautiful and soothing, but also fleeting. There is something haunting about asking such a question in the darkness.So, back to the Nativity. In the Nativity, we discover the pure spark of light that is the Christ child, surrounded by the vast emptiness of the night. The Nativity is an image of light in the darkness. A small child, vulnerable, humble, poor, a tiny point of existence, surrounded by the immensity of the night... but with the promise that the light will increase until it floods the world with its light. (It's no accident that Christmas occurs near the Winter Solstice, when the world is plunged in darkness and awaits the rebirth of the sun.)Li-Young Lee, asking his question into the night, feels that smallness. The boy first asking the question is small, the man grown feels small too. Even the question itself seems ready to be swallowed up in the dark. But it isn't. The question persists. It persists and grows and shines. The question is alchemical. It causes the child to become aware of existence. As he grows, he notices the process of coagula et solve of existence, the way life both gathers together and then dissolves. He discovers "earth and duration," but also the "immense good-by." Though they seem opposites, one flows into the other. And from their living, dynamic tension, the mind is stretched open. And the heart, broken and warmed, broken and warmed, it too opens.That question -- What is the world? -- haunting the nights and the years, working its quiet alchemy, becomes an invitation and a challenge in the awareness, coaxing us to make of the heart the true manger:each must make a safe place of his heart,before so strange and wild a guestas God approaches.IvanPS- I haven't been very good at responding to your individual emails lately. I want you to know that I do receive and read all of your emails, even if I'm not always free to reply. Please continue to send you comments, thoughts, poems, etc. -- I love to read them! Share Your Thoughts on today's poem or my commentary... Support the Poetry Chaikhana Donations to the Poetry Chaikhana in any amount are always welcome. Thank you! Click here You can also support the Poetry Chaikhana, as well as the authors and publishers of sacred poetry, by purchasing some of the recommended books through the links on this site. Thank you! Click here A small amount each month makes a big difference. Become a voluntary Subscriber for just $2/mo. Click here Help the Poetry Chaikhana reach more people. Become a Supporter for just $10/mo. Poetry Chaikhana HomeNew | Books | Music | Teahouse | About | ContactPoets by: Name| Tradition | Timeline Poetry by: Theme | CommentaryBlog | Forum | Facebook | Twitter www.Poetry-Chaikhana.com Poetry ChaikhanaP.O. Box 2320Boulder, CO 80306 Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are 2002 - 2008 by Ivan M. Granger.All other material is copyrighted by the respective authors, translators and/or publishers. ============ Plain Text: If you have any difficulty reading this HTML formatted email, please let me know and I can send you plain text emails instead. 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