A Father Standing Thoughtfully

A father standing thoughtfully,
his heart gazing at an empty shell...
as all that once was to him, his everything -
rushes past his mind like a gentle breeze
touching his soul in the silence...
unfolding the memories.

I love and I remember you, Papa Frank -
always to always.



The hurt you must feel -
standing there, leaning as if
'tis all too heavy...

Gazing deep inside
hoping to reach back in time
and embrace each one.

I glimpse at thy love
in thy lovable Anne (Ah-neh)
and I know... at least.

Oh dear Papa Frank,
soldier brave and father true,
hear me: I thank you.

I pray, come that day -
no hate can take love away
forever... to stay.

God love you
and keep you...
---<--@

An Ode to a Stray Dog

Hurt... an emptiness
once filled by a faithful dog...
now is left unfilled.

Gone is he, that stray!
I say to my thoughts... come back.
As if to comfort...

As faithful a friend
was he! There, present for me -
gifts unexpected.

He stayed for a while
that brown, battered, scruffy dog -
toughened, old and wise.

As he came left he...
came he uninvited yet loved...
and loved he is still.

Thanks, Tootsie - 
sleep and rest.
---<--@


dis hound, I love (not a picture of Tootsie)

The Alone

Staring the darkness...
the depths of "the alone"
staring back at me.

Feeling the distance...
the impending loneliness -
I turn back to You.

To You, LORD -
The Alone.
---<--@

There are two kinds of solitude. Only one is real.

Reflection:

There are times when one feels incredibly lonely and I believe those are the times it is good to have a strong sense of solitude.

Because to me, a sense of solitude is not a sense of being alone.

Just as a tree is not alone in a forest of trees, a soul that realizes that it is a soul realizing it is a soul is a soul with a spirit of solitude - who - in knowing it stands alone have likewise found it can never be alone.

Fact is, it is in rote similarity that one feels most lonely.

For it is not in the richness of our diversity that the fear of the "other" flourish but in the seasonless existence wrought by the cowardice of an unthinking mind.

The Living Peace

We can only be reminded of what we're leaving behind
to know what future we want for our world...



Planted in our hearts
that Man may long persevere
as nations - in time.

Peace is like a seed
of good thoughts, of words, and deeds -
loved and remembered.

'Tis many small things
nurtured, sheltered, and gathered -
and embraced as one.

We know it.
It knows us.
---<--@

Peace is not something we must fight for, 

peace is something we must allow.

Peace is not something unfamiliar to our nations 

nor is peace something our nations must force upon our world; 

it is both familiar as well as natural 

to our order and purpose.

What we must 

- as nations and as individuals -

constantly strive for is the truth of these things

to make full our remembrances

and make safe our generations in time.

---<--@

Huwag Mabahala

Pabugso-bugso
man ang dilim at sigwa,
ganyan talaga...

Biygan mong dunong
at ito'y maglilinaw
sa 'yong isipan.

Ang tala
ay ilaw.
---<--@



Kanlungan

Nakalilito man
at madilim ang mundo,
mga kapatid ko sa Pangako,
huwag tayong mabahala
at huwag mawalan ng loob -
huwag matakot sa gabi!

Pananalig sa Diyos,
kapayapaan sa ating bansa;
kagandahang loob sa bawa't isa
bunga nang pagkakapatirang
namumuhay sa ating diwa,
at pagmamahal natin sa ating
nag-iisang sambayanang Pilipinas -
ito ang lagi nating maaasahan;
ang ating kanlungan sa gabi
at daan tungo sa umaga.

Our-Story

The unfulfilled dreams of Mankind and the freedom of God -
these are the primary causes for the expansion of space and time.

We are, therefore, we must.



I am one story
one thread spun among countless...
expanding time... space....

Each life is a thread
- as important as others -
woven by His will.

These stories,
this is us.
---<--@



The House of Humanity

The house of humanity is the house of God.
And in this house there are many nations.
The nations of the children of Mankind!

All of us, without exception,
nurtured by the living waters of the firmament,
being born upon the earth under one God, the LORD,
dwelling in each our hearts under His heaven,
our one native sky.

Starshine,
if this house of humanity is divided,
shall it ever persevere?

- selah -

Peace maketh our house thy home.
---<--@

Only Addiction

"Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof,
but only say the word and my soul will be healed."



Let Thou be the one...
Yes! My only addiction -
O my Jesus please.

Save me from myself.
Let Thou be my one Freedom.
Make me as Thyself.

O Jesus,
my Jesus.
---<--@



Ordinary food is converted, through the process of digestion, into substances which we need to build and maintain bodily strength. It becomes, in a sense, part of us.

When we eat the heavenly food of the Eucharist exactly the opposite happens.



We become what we eat.

Regret to Forget

The pain of our ignorance is our remembrance of it.

Regret to forget,
ye nations, have some remorse -
remember thy selves!

For thou art one act -
one beginning, one ending;
one spirit, one soul.

Though many,
thou art one.
---<--@



Some forget on purpose

And because some forget on purpose
many became purposeless

And because many became purposeless
the nations became restless

And because the nations became restless
peace became powerless

And because peace became powerless
war came (to the province of Man)

And because war came
soldiers became.

- selah -

...because war came,
for Peace was ever here first
long before War was from heaven
thrown down.

...because war came, Starshine,
so don't you forget...

Lest we forget.

This we will defend.
---<--@

Humane Society

Animals came first
right after the greening earth,
then came Man - that's us!

We came to complete
- as first is last, last is first -
the order of love.

To life, we belong -
to each other, and none else,
God's peace, to impart.

Through this love
...we own all.
---<--@


Be kind to animals,
(and respectful of plants - especially trees)
they are a pure reflection of our own human care
and compassion for each other.

In a society
where animals are treated with compassion,
human beings have learned to become more human;
the realm of man - and - the realm of nature
dwell in unity and peace.

It is a humane society.

Addiction is False

Let me tell you, friend -
there is such as thing as good addiction...

'Tis that very ordinary love
with which Man daily tends to the labors of the earth
and allows him to quietly succeed in life and family...
seemingly hidden - to the world - in plain sight;
a love of the LORD and the way of His commands,
both all and sundry (the nations) and/or particular (honorable religion),
all that leads him (or her) to true and lasting (even everlasting) happiness -
this is true (and therefore, good) addition.

Now, the bad addiction is - so bad - it has to lie.



Addiction is false
and to have made it this far -
its lies are cunning.

What is false to Man
too is false to the nations -
its lies are cunning.

Man and his nations
are destroyed by its falseness -
there's no stopping it!

EXCEPT look away
find what (or Who) is worth living for...
and then surrender.

Love must love
and love true.
---<--@

Addict soul,
you were made to love
(you know the power of this love)
BUT you were made to love the truth -
what is truth?

Nature is Patient

Climate change is caused just as much by the destruction of our trees than by the degradation of our air. Cut one tree too many in Africa or South America or Asia and the burden of that loss is the burden of all nations.

Our world's ecological debt is not sensitive to what boundaries we have drawn for ourselves upon the earth. What we owe nature nature expects us to pay together.



Nature is patient.
And her patience she invests...
in her green, growing trees.

Cut a few down - let's -
build a few towns and cities.
That's all very well.

Cut enough trees - and -
nature becomes impatient
and reminds with care.

Cut too many trees -
she becomes tempestuous
unleashing herself.

What was built,
she takes back.
---<--@


Painting by Abigail Grace Tamayo, 9yo, Divine Light Academy

Nature's patience she invests in her trees.
Do you know how long it takes to grow a tree?
Do you know the care it takes to grow a forest?



Give justice to our forests. Bring peace to our trees.

Transmitted not Taught

Life inspiring life,
spirit ennobling spirit,
breathing and brightness.

Lead by example -
use no words if possible,
virtue kindling hearts.

Some lessons
must be lived.
---<--@

Love is a Circle (The Dance of Destiny)

If you can't act on a kind thought,
put it in reserve - never dismiss it!
---<--@

Love is a circle

going ever round and round,
encouraging hearts.

Love is what gathers -
in darkness embracing all;
shining like the stars.

It is light.
It is sight.
---<--@

When you give compassion freely to others, 

you likewise guarantee compassion for yourself.

In this way, the circular law 

(karma or the law of compassion for all beings) 

- in its great and unseen spirals of spirit and time - 

pushes out from the universe the darkness 

and leaves in the light.

The Dance of Destiny

This is the structure of the universe... an interplay of spirit and energy, matter and truth -
of things seen and things unseen... set in motion - like a great unstoppable dance,
the very dance of destiny.

A Recompense for Suffering

No matter the cause of the hurt
- whether one had a part in it - or not,
apologizing acknowledges that the person is hurting
and duly expresses the sincerity of one's desire
to accept responsibility, wherever necessary,
mend what is broken, whenever possible,
or simply to acknowledge the pain
and listen with attention.
---<--@

What was lost, is lost!

- the finality of things -
do we not feel it?

This permanence hurts.
- this hurt may be felt by all -
for the pain lingers...

For this pain,
I'm sorry...
---<--@

To the one Chinese nation
and in particular to the families and friends
of the innocent victims of the August 2010 tragedy -

I am sorry for your loss.

There no such a thing as Filipino suffering or Chinese suffering. There is only one kind of suffering and that is human suffering.

Therefore, I feel your grief and know that what you have lost that day can never be replaced. We can only hope to always remember them by the actions we take to make the present world a better and a safer place.

In my nation we have taken the necessary steps to help prevent this kind of tragedy and make tourism as safe as possible for all our guests. Our tourist police or "bantay turista" is now in full implementation and I can tell you that our security forces are better placed to handle untoward incidents against welcome guests of the one Filipino nation.

Tourism is important to the Philippines not only as an economic resource but as a medium of peace and cultural enrichment for the peoples in our region and in our world.

The benefits of peaceable tourism as a whole redound not only to help prosper the lives of many of my own compatriots who deserve a much better quality of living but also to endow the spirit of our nation with good will for other nations through direct people to people contact.

What had happened in August 2010 is indeed a tragic thing for your people and mine.

My nation still mourns with you to this day.
---<--@



Leung Song-yi, Jessie and Leung Chung-see, Doris
and the innocent victims of the August 2010 tragedy -
Leung Kam-wing, Ken, Tse Ting-chunn, Masa,
Wong Tze-lam, Yeung Yee-wa, Yeung Yee-kam,
Fu Cheuk-yan - via con Dios. ---<--@

UPDATE: 20130930, Monday - I think we have improved now... still, the hurt remains. Peace be with each of you who we lost that day... and my love to all your love... via con Dios.