HOMING INSTINCT
The sadness came to visit me, she wore a coat of shame - Her eyes, so red from sleepless nights, looked straight at me for blame. She sat down in the corner, where the shadows felt like home - It hurt me just to look at her so I chose to be alone.
I couldn't even speak her name; acknowledge she was there, But still I let her give me blame - made out I didn't care. In silence we both sat there as the sun began to hide - Shadows spread to empty space while moon's beam held the night.
I felt those shadows take me - they shivered down my spine. The river drowned my happiness, came flooding through my eyes. The more I looked at shadows, the closer sadness came, Until me and the sadness felt as one, the same.
So there I sat with sadness, now a part of me - I gave the sadness labels from all the lack I feel. I chose her as my home, I let the sadness in, But stilled within a sea of pain, I found I couldn't swim.
It took some time to realise that the sadness wasn't me; It took me years to figure out how to set her free, For when I first saw sadness, I didn't ask her name So when she was inside me, our names became the same.
Each day I had to choose to find the parts that helped me be The me that loved with all her heart and just wanted her peace, And when the sadness called my name, I chose to tell the truth; I recognised the part of me I held that felt that blue.
I'd take that blue and fill the space I felt with thoughts above, Thinking how my life would feel if i was filled with love, Then I'd catch that emptiness and send it to the skies. Every time a shadow left, some sadness said goodbye.
Now my thoughts don't haunt me, for when the sadness calls I call her by her name, don't let her stay too long. Sometimes she hovers close, tries to label me as she, But now I know myself enough to know she isn't me.
Now I still with joy, I still with all my love, I know that every thought I make with love sends love above. Sadness now won't still me, will never hold me blue For now when I'm away from love, the sadness makes me move;
Move closer to my truth, when hopes have drifted by, Move closer to my dreams, to find my strength to fly, Move closer to my home, where my heart's born to beat Move closer the love I was always meant to be.
We don't need to label sadness, each lack can fill with love If we keep grabbing happiness and feel that from above. The more we choose to feel like home, the closer we will be To letting go of sadness; it's the joy that sets it free.
Heather Lea Poetry
Artwork by Katy Kat
@Lisa123 Me too.
Don't abandon yourself. Not when you're sick. Not when you're tired. Not when you've lost the thread, the thought, or the thing you thought defined you.
You will die many times in one life and create yourself anew. This is natural. This is a gift. I've died a few times now here in this world. The person I was: gone.
Throw that older skin into the water. Give it to the sky. Step into what wants to emerge now. Nothing can hold you back when you are willing to be Yourself.
~ Jeannette Encinias Artist: Unknown
(Thailand) A rare snapshot captures Western explorers, guided by Thai residents as they investigate the remnants of ruins of Ayutthaya. If you look at the image more closely you can see the silhouette of a man positioned atop an enormous Buddhist sculpture. This photo is believed to have been taken in the early 1900s.
The ruins of Ayutthaya are remnants of the ancient city of Ayutthaya, which served as the capital of the Ayutthaya Kingdom (also known as Siam) in present-day Thailand. Established in 1350 by King Ramathibodi I (Uthong), the city flourished for over 400 years as one of the most prosperous and cosmopolitan centers in Southeast Asia.
Located at the confluence of three rivers, Ayutthaya was strategically positioned for trade and defense. Its advantageous location attracted merchants from various parts of the world, including China, India, Persia, and Europe. Ayutthaya thrived as a center of commerce, politics, religion, and art, with its unique architectural style blending elements of Khmer, Sukhothai, and Ayutthaya influences. The kingdom enjoyed a period of peace and prosperity, which continued under King Narai the Great, who expanded trade relations with European powers, including France and the Netherlands.
However, the kingdom's stability began to wane in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, with internal strife and power struggles, especially from its neighbouring kingdoms, who ransacked much of the city, looted its treasures, and brought many of its inhabitants under control.
Today, the ruins of Ayutthaya are a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of Thailand's most popular tourist attractions. The park contains the remains of many temples, palaces, and other buildings, including the iconic Wat Mahathat, which features a famous Buddha head entwined in the roots of a tree. The ruins provide a fascinating glimpse into the glorious history and culture of Siam and Southeast Asia.
In your opinion, what lessons can contemporary societies learn from the rise and fall of the Ayutthaya Kingdom?
The Choctaw were first noted by Europeans in French written records of 1675. Their mother mound is Nanih Waiya, a great earthwork platform mound located in central-east Mississippi. Early Spanish explorers of the mid-16th century in the Southeast encountered ancestral Mississippian culture villages and chiefs.
The Choctaw coalesced as a people in the 17th century and developed at least three distinct political and geographical divisions: eastern, western, and southern. These different groups sometimes created distinct, independent alliances with nearby European powers. These included the French, based on the Gulf Coast and in Louisiana; the English of the Southeast, and the Spanish of Florida and Louisiana during the colonial era.
Most Choctaw allied with the Americans during American Revolution, War of 1812, and the Red Stick War, most notably at the Battle of New Orleans. European Americans considered the Choctaw to be one of the "Five Civilized Tribes" of the Southeast. The Choctaw and the United States agreed to a total of nine treaties. By the last three, the US gained vast land cessions in the Southeast. As part of Indian Removal, despite not having waged war against the United States, the majority of Choctaw were forcibly relocated to Indian Territory from 1831 to 1833.
The Choctaw government in Indian Territory had three districts, each with its own chief, who together with the town chiefs sat on their National Council.
Those Choctaw who chose to stay in the state of Mississippi were considered state and U.S. citizens; they were one of the first major non-European ethnic groups to be granted citizenship. Article 14 in the 1830 treaty with the Choctaw stated Choctaws may wish to become citizens of the United States under the 14th Article of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek on all of the combined lands which were consolidated under Article I from all previous treaties between the United States and the Choctaw.
During the American Civil War, the Choctaw in both Indian Territory and Mississippi mostly sided with the Confederate States of America. Under the late 19th-century Dawes Act and Curtis Acts, the US federal government broke up tribal land holdings and dissolved tribal governments in Indian Territory in order to extinguish Indian land claims before admission of Oklahoma as a state in 1907. From that period, for several decades the US Bureau of Indian Affairs appointed chiefs of the Choctaw and other tribes in the former Indian Territory.
During World War I, Choctaw soldiers served in the US military as some of the first Native American codetalkers, using the Choctaw language. Since the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, the Choctaw people in three areas have reconstituted their governments and gained federal recognition. The largest are the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma.
Since the 20th century, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians were federally recognized in 1945, the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma in 1971, and the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians in 1995
The Eyes of Sibiu are the iconic eyebrow dormers on the roofs of Sibiu's houses in Romania. Built mostly between the 15th and 19th centuries, the eyes, which were used as a ventilation system for the houses' attics, have given Sibiu the nickname of "The City Where Houses Don't Sleep"
@lonelytauros Now that's the truth!
"Whatever you do, always give 100%. Unless you're donating blood."
“Every woman that finally figured out her worth, has picked up her suitcases of pride and boarded a flight to freedom, which landed in the valley of change.” Shannon L. Alder
Don’t fall in love with a woman who reads, a woman who feels too much, a woman who writes ...
Don’t fall in love with an educated, magical, delusional, crazy woman.
Don’t fall in love with a woman who thinks, who knows what she knows and also knows how to fly; a woman sure of herself.
Don’t fall in love with a woman who laughs or cries making love, knows how to turn her spirit into flesh; let alone one that loves poetry (these are the most dangerous), or spends half an hour contemplating a painting and isn't able to live without music.
Don’t fall in love with a woman who is interested in politics and is rebellious and feels a huge horror from injustice. One who does not like to watch television at all. Or a woman who is beautiful no matter the features of her face or her body.
Don’t fall in love with a woman who is intense, entertaining, lucid and irreverent.
Don’t wish to fall in love with a woman like that. Because when you fall in love with a woman like that, whether she stays with you or not, whether she loves you or not, from a woman like that, you never come back.
[Image: Freyja and the Necklace (1890) painting by James Doyle Penrose (1862-1932).]
About the Painting: Freya, goddess of love, wore a necklace as a sign of social status. This was an illustration from the book Teutonic Myths and Legends by Donald A. Mackenzie (1890).