Poems. By Len Bourret.

Gentleness and Potential
by (Copyright 2007)

Gentleness is like a light feather
floating in the wind.
It gives no opposition, but does
not give its space away.
The feather's territory is a speck
in time, yet it leaves its mark on
history.
Gentleness is the highest level
of yielding.
It is like trying to catch small
waves of calm and peaceful
water, one drop in the space
of time.
Gentleness is in adaptation.
It is like darkness, adjusting
to the light, and the moving
air.
Gentleness is a dualistic
compliment to opposing
forces.
It is like a light confronted
by darkness which, at the
very least, removes some
shadows.
It is like the combination
of hot and cold which, at
the very least, guides a
compass in an ocean
mist.
It is able to get through
darkness, and even find
its way in an approaching
fog.
It requires both softness
and firmness.
Gentleness is like a light
that directs one from the
danger of the choppy sea
to the safety of a distant
shore.
It requires patience, self-
determination and, also,
perseverance.
Gentleness is the sincere
and honest development
of one's potential.

"Ever since I was a child, I
 have had this instinctive
 urge for expansion and
 growth. To me, the function
 and duty of a quality human
 being is the sincere and
 honest development of one's
 potential." -- Bruce Lee

 

 

The Yin and Yang
by Len Bourret (Copyright 2007)

With empathy, hopefully, comes
understanding and tolerance, if
not acceptance.
Human beings should work
together, and cohesively stick
like glue, rather than oppose
each other and act like oil and
water that separates.
Like the Yin and Yang, human
beings should be mutually
complementary, interdependent
forces that act continuously and
with continuity, without cessation
in a universe which strives to love,
rather than for division in a state
of hate.
The Yin and Yang are interlocking
parts of a whole, each containing
qualities of complimentaries in the
darkness and the light.
The Yin of life represents the dark
part of the circle or the whole. It
can be seen in the clouds, or on
a distant hill.
Life's challenge is to decrease or
remove negativeness, passiveness,
harshness, inflexibility and cruelty,
by replacing it with more than the
random acts of kindness, gentility,
and love.
The Yang is the affirmative, acting
out in a willingness to understand
the struggles of one another, and
striving to seek resolution where
there is division.
There is strength and weakness
in both the male and the female.
But, there should be gentless
and firmness in their internal
Yin and their external Yang.
In seeking resolution, a balance
must be sought in life, by the
removal of extremes in which
nothing can survive.
The stiffest tree can be most
easily cracked, while the
bamboo or willow survives
by bending with the wind.
Softness should be evident,
but it must contain firmness,
it must not be laxed, and it
must not be hard. 

 

 

Before Too Late
by Len Bourret (Copyright 2007)

Capture every moment of
time,
wasted resources a most
flagrant crime.
as birds fly by,
the wind supports their
wings,
choreographing and
directing,
while soaring over salty
oceans,
ovations of a whale sings,
as frost glitters white and
cold,
upon grass that once was
green,
a rapture does enfold,
as you and I become the
branches of the tree of
life,
the wind recounts its so-
gentle and soothing words,
seen through the evidence
of nature,
birth and precious life,
success, sweat, adversity,
and strife,
tears follow sadness,
laughter and rejoicing,
empathy's understanding,
tolerance or acceptance,
through the willingness to
respond, rather than to
react, to one another's
struggles,
passion fire that sparks
with love,
as opposed to closed
mind's and closed heart's
hate,
grabbing hold of time's
pendulum,
swinging from right to
left,
and left to right,
capturing the moment
right now,
darkness turned into
light,
and enlightenment,
before too late.
time traveler owns the
grateful sense,
of sweetness near,
and faith,
an armor of defense,
praying,
believing,
a benediction in the
air,
true courage,
the spirit of daring,
a badge of honor on
life's tree,
living life to the fullest,
when its time to live,
dying and surrendering
only,
when our life and breath
gives way,
the spirit remains,
when its physical body's
time to die,
we know not when,
capturing every moment,
as if it's our last,
searching for the meaning
and the purpose of life,
before too late,
and the how, what, where,
and why.

 

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