Saturday, July 23, 2016

Half the Sky

wang-lili.com

In Buddhism, satyagraha is the enacting of truth, as the Dalai Lama, Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.......and especially the heroic women of our world  so powerfully exemplify.
Robert Thurman, in his foreword to the Dalai Lama's book, My Appeal To The World.

Women Hold Up Half the Sky
Chinese proverb

In the footsteps of our 
mothers and grandmothers,
we walk,
doing the work of nesting, nurturing,
chopping wood, carrying water,
children on our backs,
their future in our eyes and hearts.

There is work to be done,
and the children must be fed,
so we roll up our sleeves.
We do less talking about truth
than living it.
We suffer under oppression
until we grow strong enough to fly,
and then
live free under the limitless sky.

We do the work of the world, unseen,
and largely unappreciated.
In poverty,
we find a way to feed our children.
In wartime and famine,
we bundle our rags and our children
and walk a thousand miles 
seeking refuge.

As grandmothers,
we look at the world 
with wise eyes,
seeing clearly
what it took a lifetime to learn,
that the young are too youthful to hear. 
Enacting truth and loving beauty
is what we offer to our villages,
for the women of the world
hold up half the sky.

8 comments:

  1. "what it took a lifetime to learn,
    that the young are too youthful to hear." just as paradox should be...yet a young Siddhartha heard and became the Buddha...love to read such pearls of wisdom from wise, wild woman :)

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  2. What Sumana said! And a great poem.

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  3. Beautifully said, and 'young to hear' are just young souls, as so many 'young' worldwide just show such mature talents...having experience collected throughout their earthly lives...

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  4. Nice, thoughtful composition. Loved the picture and quotation!
    "the women of the world
    hold up half the sky." Indeed! :)

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  5. yes, they do. and where would we be without the women in our lives. a lovely word portrait sherry.

    check your email. i will be gone the next 4 days, and have limited email...but will answer back anything you think needs added.

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  6. Yes. Women hold a lot together and do it as nurturers.

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  7. lovely celebration of what we do Sherry though this grandmother has more than a touch of impatience in her gaze.
    Your poem reminds me of 'The grapes of wrath' and how the woman held them together - "it was her habit to build up laughter out of inadequate materials."

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