Tag Archives: fly

Poetry, Writing

Hafiz – Poem 18

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All images created by Rebekah Marshall’s prompts using AI on Gencraft.com website.

I am reading Hafiz’s Little Book of Life, poetry by Hafiz-e Shirazi. He is challenging me to become more comfortable with ambiguity. I will share his poem and some of my thoughts on his poem (sometimes with the help of experts when the concepts are too hard for me), followed by a poem and some art inspired by his poem.

Hafiz’s Poem 18:

Hey, fly

The realm of the simurgh

Is not your arena

Some thoughts:

A simurgh is a mythical beast in Persian mythology that is a huge benevolent bird creature who is part dog and all amazing. They are said to be older than the dinosaurs, so old they have seen the destruction of the earth at least 3 times. They return like the phoenix and are powerful enough to carry off an elephant. When one took flight, it shook the tree of life and all the seeds of the entire plant kingdom scattered on the wind to populate the earth with every herb, vegetable, and fruit we now have.

Flies…not so much. No one is as impressed by a fly. Perhaps Hafiz is gently telling someone to stay in their lane. Walk before they run. Learn the basics before trying to take on more complex levels. Whoever or whatever he is referring to sounds like a little chihuahua who thinks she can take on a bear. The spirit is impressive, but the reality it a little harsher. As much as we all want to dream big and believe we are capable of anything we set our minds to, it is probably best to also prepare and take the right steps to get to the next level of progress. Who knows, maybe someday we’ll fly with the simurgh.

My Poem 18:

Fly is an opportunistic nuisance,
irritating background noise with
indiscriminate hunger drawn to rot.
Thin whine, buzz, hum, restless—
nervous energy that confuses
access with belonging mistakes
nearness for importance embodies
hunger without wisdom living
on lilfe’s leftover crumbs.

Simurgh scans the heavens silently,
sound swallowed by altitude and
casts a mountain-sized shadow.
Wingspan vast, immense presence—
motion that reshapes air with stillness.
Benevolent creature glides effortlessly,
witnesses creation and destruction,
participates in the process of transformation
burns away death to feast on forever.

Hafiz. Hafiz’s Little Book of Life. Translated by Erfan Mojib and Gary Gach, Hampton Roads Publishing, 2023.

Poetry, Writing

Caterpillar’s Bright Idea

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(Poem 112 for 2024 – I am writing a poem a day)

AI Generated image I prompted on Gencraft.com https://gencraft.ai/p/Jbf6Mz

A caterpillar is scooting along,
minding her own business,
munching on leaves and
feeling the cool breeze,
when she suddenly has a thought;
“What if I could fly away?”
All her life she’s crawled along,
inched on her belly,
viewed the world from below.
How does she even begin
to imagine the possibility of flight,
envision a different future
than the one she has always known?
A gentle gnawing that begins
in her belly and slowly creeps
its way incrementally to the tip of
consciousness tells her to
cocoon herself in safety,
wall herself away from the scary
change that will come if she
lets herself dream too big.
And there she remains,
turning in on herself,
visualizing a new way of being,
letting the idea of a new reality
wash through her like
rain and pain, and the strain
of the old self transforming
becomes nearly unbearable.
That is when the miracle happens…
new life unfurls,
wings stretch heavenward,
there is an impulse to leap,
to flap, to throw fear to the sky,
and become who she is meant to be.

Runner ups for the caterpillar lightbulb photos to accompany my poem:

Poetry, Writing

Lesson 9 The Way of the Wizard

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(Poem 39 for 2024 – I am writing a poem a day)

“Mortals are wrapped in words the way a spider wraps flies in gossamer,” Merlin claimed. “Only in this case, you are both spider and fly because you imprison yourself in your own web.” -Merlin, Deepak Chopra’s The Way of the Wizard    

AI Generated image I prompted on Gencraft.com https://gencraft.ai/p/d630K8

Words have power to heal,
kill, encourage, destroy.
Whoever has been laughed at,
mocked, shamed, or guilted
knows the power hateful words
hold to harm and concuss,
inflicting future internal strife
over how to cope without
eating yourself to death.
If you are both spider and fly
You must make peace with
pain and celebration emanating
from you, as you are both
cause and consequence,
beginning and end,
now and then,
sinner and sin.

@Home Studio – 39th poem of the year

Chopra, Deepak. The Way of the Wizard: Twenty Spiritual Lessons for Creating the Life You Want. New York, United States of America, Harmony Books, 1995, pp.64-70.