The first stanza of "White Lotus"   which appeared first as a poem in its own right in 2005, has been published in a couple of books, magazines, a Smith & Hawken garden calendar, and in various places on the internet (some with and some without permission from me). I'm happy for the poem, as one stanza or the entire poem (completed in 2008), as it developed, to be quoted. I do want to be asked for permission first. If you like it, or other of my poems, and decide to quote the poem on an internet site, please make sure to credit my authorship with my name, and send me a link to your site where it is to be (or is currently) published:

At dawn I asked the lotus,
"What is the meaning of life?"
Slowly, she opened her hand
with nothing in it.

DW Bender (Debra Woolard Bender)
2005

If you wish to publish in a book or other printed material, please contact me for permission.

Thanks and enjoy!
Debi

It's the end of 2013, December 18. I've finally been able to access my 3 blogs, which I've not been able to access since 2008!!!! I found that I had an error in a spelling for an address for signing in. It took me, how long? ... 5 1/2 years? Not sure if I'll be posting much more...maybe, maybe not. But I've updated my email addresses, etc., for contacts.

White Lotus

DW Bender, 2008

At dawn I asked the lotus,
"What is the meaning of life?"
Slowly, she opened her hand
with nothing in it.

Receiving what is given,
She does not grasp to retain;
In the heart of the lotus,
what is ever lost?

Her cup overflows with light:
The cosmos rests in her palm.
When darkness settles on her,
she enfolds the sun.

At dusk, as her petals closed,
I whispered, "Why must we die?"
The lotus vanished, and all
turned into her dream.

http://thecommonhours.blogspot.com/2008/02/song-of-lotus.html

http://thecommonhours.blogspot.com/2008/02/song-of-lotus-february-2008.html

three haiku from 2005 with Japanese translations

two butterflies
stop and go, but mostly
keep on going

DWB
Haiku
August 20, 2005

つがい蝶　ならびまろびの　飛翔かな
tsugai chou / narabi marobi no / hishou kana

Translation to Japanese, Ken Saito

tsugai : a pair of, a brace of
narabi (narannde) : to go (in flight) in line/tandem, or, side by side
marobi (maronnde) : (rather old fashioned saying meaning )
to stagger/totter, or to drop-off (from flight)
hishou : flight

"a couple of butterflies flying, (sometimes/mostly) in smooth and side by side flight, (sometimes) troubled flight"

unenlightened, as yet—
how thunderbolts follow
one another

DW Bender
Haiku, 2005

悟るなし　　雷神あまた　　お在せども
satoru nashi / raijin amata / owase domo

Translation to Japanese, Ken Saito
(alludes to the haiku by master, Matsuo Basho [1644-1694]:

"How admirable!
to see lightning and not think
life is fleeting.")

almost before
it starts, it stops.
afternoon rain

DW Bender
Haiku, 2005

午後の雨　　降りだす間なく　　降り止めり
gogo no ame / furidasu manaku / furi yameri

Translation to Japanese, Ken Saito

To Don Cecil's "Flight School"

Don Cecil continues to create wonderful photomontages which he posts at Flicker. With their sense of the universal, of childhood, of wonder, mystery, sorrow, humor, whenever viewing each new offering, I realize I am stepping into the inner realms of contemporary a master artist:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bullcecil/2592992238/


holding my breath,
made a dandelion wish—
let it blow

DW Bender
June 22, 2008

Tanka, 2003: untitled

click to view larger image
DW Bender
tanka, haiga, 2003

L'homme est un arbre des champs (by artist, Kola Remaz)

May 8, 2008
To a picture:

While the winter passed,
for sake of art, have cut out
and erased my self.

DW Bender

See Kola's picture, and his other artwork on Flickr, here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kolaremaz/2476630438/