the view from where i sit

i know, i know...i'm going blog-crazy. but i kinda like it. anyway, i have today off so i've spent most of the morning laying in the hammock in our backyard...reading, thinking, not reading, not thinking, dozing. it's been beautiful! here's the view...

the book i'm reading is "yoga and the quest for the true self" by stephen cope. just thought i'd read something that would help me understand the family i'm living with a little bit more, as they are yoga instructors. in the book, i've found myself connected with and inspired by a couple poems cope quotes. they are me, setting out to sail on this journey...

"you see, i want a lot.
perhaps i want everything
the darkness that comes with every infinite fall
and the shivering blaze of every step up.
"so many live on and want nothing and are raised to the rank of prince
by the slippery ease of their light judgements.
"but what you love to see are faces
that do work and feel thirst.
you love most of all those who need you
as they need a crowbar or a hoe.
you have not grown old, and it is not too late
to dive into your increasing depths
where life calmly gives out its own secret"
--rainer maria rilke, das stundenbuch

"passage o soul to india!
passage, immediate passage! the blood burns in my veins!
away o soul! hoist instantly the anchor!
cut the hawsers--haul out--shake out every sail!
have we not stood here like trees in the ground long enough?
have we not grovel'd here long enough, eating and drinking like mere brutes?
have we not darken'd and dazed ourselves with books long enough?
"set forth--steer for the deep waters only,
reckless o soul, exploring, i with thee, and thou with me,
for we are bound where mariner has not yet dared to go
and we will risk the ship, ourselves and all.
'o my brave soul!
o farther farther sail!
o daring joy, but safe! are they not all the seas of God?
o farther, farther, farther sail!"
--walt whitman, passage to india