Author Archives: Patrick Cole

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About Patrick Cole

Husband, parent and writer. Sharing stories with a little humor and wisdom along the way.

High Coo – Oct 2 – Guardian Angels Day

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Robert William Service, British-Canadian poet, b. 1874 d. 1958

Three things regarding Guardian Angels Day:

  • Jews, Christians and Muslims believe in guardian angels and the Hindus and Zoroastrians before them.
  • The Feast of Guardian Angels was first authorized in 1608 by Pope Paul V.
  • According to surveys, more than 75% of Americans believe that guardian angels exist.

 For more information see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guardian_angel and https://nationaltoday.com/guardian-angels-day/

And here’s a provocative poem from “the Bard of the Yukon“:

My Guardian Angel by Robert William Service

When looking back I dimly see
The trails my feet have trod,
Some hand divine, it seems to me,
Has pulled the strings with God;
Some angel form has lifeward leaned
When hope for me was past;
Some love sublime has intervened
To save me at the last.

For look you! I was born a fool,
Damnation was my fate;
My lot to drivel and to drool,
Egregious and frutrate.
But in the deep of my despair,
When dark my doom was writ,
Some saving hand was always there
to pull me from the Pit.

A Guardian Angel – how absurd!
I scoff at Power Divine.
And yet . . . a someone spoke the word
That willed me from the swine.
And yet, despite my scorn of prayer,
My lack of love or friend,
I know a Presence will be there,
To save me at the end.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_W._Service

Here’s my humble haiku response: Guardian Angels Day

Is it you or me?

a gentle voice, touch, or breeze –

my confidence grows

A popular source for more information is Irish author, Lorna Byrne:

See https://lornabyrne.com/about-lorna-byrne/

Our Country Is One of The Top Ten Countries Most Vulnerable To Climate Change

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Great reminder of what we can do as bloggers and individuals.

joyfullplace's avatarJust Sharing

Climate change is on top of discussions once more. Tyhoon Karding (international name Noru) has just devastated many of our provinces. Residential areas and farms were damaged.

Aerial inspection of Bulacan, Nueva Ecija and Tarlac which were affected by the super typhoon Karding. September 26, 2022. (KJ Rosale/PPA POOL)

From The Manila Times

It’s not only in the recent times that the Philippines is visited by typhoons. But the typhoons are gettimg stronger. It used to be that we feared storm signal number 3, now we get signal number 4, even 5. Flooding brought by typhoons occurs more often.

I leave to the experts the explanations on why some countries are more vulnerable than others.

Two factors are our landform and our geographical location . We are an archipelago located beside the North West Pacific basin which is the most active basin on earth for storms to form. 

There are…

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High Coo – Oct 1 – Feast Day of St. Therese of Lisieux

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St. Therese of Lisieux b.1873 – d.1897

Known as the Little Flower who practiced the Little Way, Marie Françoise-Thérèse Martin was born in Alencon, Orne, France and died twenty-four years later in Lisieux, France. In her very short life, cut short due to tuberculosis, she composed her autobiography, The Story of a Soul, which, after extensive editing, went on to become a highly circulated publication. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Therese_of_Lisieux)

Singer/songwriter Billy Joel released his hit song “Only the Good Die Young” in 1977. His lyrics may provide a hint of the significant influence of the Little Flower on young Catholic women of the 20th Century.

For her part, St. Therese wrote:

“I will seek out a means of getting to Heaven by a little way – very short and very straight little way that is wholly new. We live in an age of inventions; nowadays the rich need not trouble to climb the stairs, they have lifts (elevators) instead. Well, I mean to try and find a lift by which I may be raised unto God, for I am too tiny to climb the steep stairway of perfection. […] Thine Arms, then, O Jesus, are the lift which must raise me up even unto Heaven. To get there I need not grow. On the contrary, I must remain little, I must become still less.”

Saint Thérèse de Lisieux (2012). The Story of a Soul (L’Histoire d’une Âme). The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux with Additional Writings and Sayings of St. Therese. 

My humble haiku response is: Happy Day, St. Therese

Born to be a saint

you achieved your death’s desire –

happy day, Therese

Therese at age 15. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%C3%A9r%C3%A8se_of_Lisieux#Holy_Face_of_Jesus_devotion

High Coo – Sept 30 – Rumi Day

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Statue of Rumi in Buca, Turkey

Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī, more popularly known simply as Rumi, was born on this day in 1207 in present-day Afghanistan. He later died on December 17, 1273 in present-day Turkey. He was a 13th-century Persian poet and Sufi Mystic.  Rumi’s influence transcends national borders and ethnic divisions. His poems have been widely translated into many of the world’s languages and he has been described as the “most popular poet” and the “best selling poet” in the United States. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumi)

Rumi was a firm believer in the use of music, poetry, and dance as a means of approaching God. His poetry is divided into common themes: mystical, passion, and life and death. Madonna and Philip Glass are among his many admirers: Madonna recorded readings of Rumi’s poetry, and Glass’s “Monsters of Grace” is based on Rumi’s art. (See https://nationaltoday.com/rumi-day/)

Rumi’s poetry speaks of love which infuses the world. Rumi’s longing and desire to attain the ideal of Love is evident in this excerpt from his book the Masnavi:

“I died to the mineral state and became a plant.

I died to the vegetal state and reached animality.

I died to the animal state and became a man,

Then what should I fear? I have never become less from dying.”

(See Ibrahim Gamard (with gratitude for R.A. Nicholson’s 1930 British translation). The Mathnawî-yé Ma’nawî – Rhymed Couplets of Deep Spiritual Meaning of Jalaluddin Rumi.)

My humble haiku response: Rumi Day

overwhelmed by love

devastated by love’s loss

love seeks love always

Rumi’s tomb in Konya, Turkey

Michaelmas: a sonnet for St. Michael the Archangel

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Today is Michaelmas Day. Please enjoy this sonnet from Malcolm Guite

malcolmguite's avatarMalcolm Guite

St. Michael at Mont St. Michell -photo by Margot Krebs Neale

The end of September brings us to the feast of St. Michael and All Angels which is known as Michaelmas in England, and this first autumn term in many schools and universities is still called the Michaelmas term. The Archangel Michael is traditionally thought of as the Captain of the Heavenly Host, and, following an image from the book of Revelation, is often shown standing on a dragon, an image of Satan subdued and bound by the strength of Heaven. He is also shown with a drawn sword, or a spear and a pair of scales or balances, for he represents, truth, discernment, the light and energy of intellect, to cut through tangles and confusion, to set us free to discern and choose. He is celebrated and revered in all three Monotheistic religions. There is a good, full account…

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High Coo – Sept 29 – Confucius Day

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The Temple of Confucius in Jiading, now a suburb of Shanghai. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucius

Confucius Day is celebrated on September 29. See https://nationaltoday.com/confucius-day/

Confucius, or Master Kong, was born on September 28, 551 BCE and lived for nearly 72 years before dying in 479 BCE. Known as a philosopher and master teacher, Confucius presented himself as a “transmitter who invented nothing” yet considered himself a transmitter of values which emphasized personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice, kindness, and sincerity.

“His teachings require examination and context to be understood. A good example is found in this famous anecdote:

廄焚。子退朝，曰：傷人乎？不問馬。

When the stables were burnt down, on returning from court Confucius said, “Was anyone hurt?” He did not ask about the horses.

— Analects X.11 (tr. Waley), 10–13 (tr. Legge), or X-17 (tr. Lau)

By not asking about the horses, Confucius demonstrates that the sage values human beings over property (which animals seem to represent in this example); readers are led to reflect on whether their response would follow Confucius’s and to pursue self-improvement if it would not have.” (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucius)

My humble haiku response is Confucius Day

horses are horses,

humans are humans – are not

both worth honoring?

calendarinspirationdesign.com

High Coo – Our First O-bon

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https://stoneanddust.com/2018/08/11/japans-days-of-the-dead-celebrating-o-bon/

There is an annual Japanese holiday which remembers deceased ancestors. The actual date varies by region but usually falls between mid-July to mid-August. It is not an official holiday, rather a religious and traditional holiday which includes using lanterns to guide the dead, making food offerings to temples and celebrating with dancing. See https://www.jrailpass.com/blog/obon-festival-in-japan

Here is today’s humble haiku which recognizes this holiday, past and future, yet also celebrates the life still happening on this side of existence.

Our First O-bon

our day of the dead

has not yet arrived – still time

to explore this shore

Obon – Japan’s Day of the Dead @ asiahighlights.com

High Coo – Sept 27 – What’s in a Name?

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell,_Michigan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell,_Norway

My mother wanted to name me Christopher but my father preferred Patrick.

Today’s haiku: What’s in a Name?

In life there is pain,

suffering consequences,

maybe finding truth

@ Pinterest – See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_or_Consequences,_New_Mexico

High Coo – Sept 26 – Happy Birthday T.S. Eliot

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T. S. Eliot (b. 9/26/1888 d. 1/4/1965) photo from HuffPost

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Thomas Stearns (T. S.) Eliot moved to England at the age of 25 and became an English citizen at 39 thus renouncing his American citizenship.

“During an interview in 1959, Eliot said of his nationality and its role in his work: ‘I’d say that my poetry has obviously more in common with my distinguished contemporaries in America than with anything written in my generation in England. That I’m sure of. … It wouldn’t be what it is, and I imagine it wouldn’t be so good; putting it as modestly as I can, it wouldn’t be what it is if I’d been born in England, and it wouldn’t be what it is if I’d stayed in America. It’s a combination of things. But in its sources, in its emotional springs, it comes from America.'” (See  Hall, Donald (Spring–Summer 1959). “The Art of Poetry No. 1” (PDF). The Paris Review. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 October 2009. Retrieved 7 November 2009.)

Awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1948, (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Nobel_Prize_in_Literature), Eliot was known as one of the most famous and influential poets of the last century. Among many others, he is credited for his influence on Virginia Woolf, Ezra Pound, F. Scott Fitzgerald, James Joyce, Bob Dylan and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Note the musical Cats is based on Eliot’s book of poetry Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats (1939) and the movie Tom and Viv recounts his life with his first wife. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._S._Eliot)

His most famous poems include The Waste Land, Hollow Men, Ash Wednesday and Four Quartets. However, my current favorite of his is Journey of the Magi which is a short 43-line poem. This poem recounts the original trip to the Bethlehem manger and it’s last 8 lines are:

Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.

https://allpoetry.com/The-Journey-Of-The-Magi

Here is my humble haiku response: Happy Birthday T.S. Eliot

Bridging two countries,

two lives, two wives and two deaths –

this is that and that

Blue plaque, 3 Kensington Court Gardens, Kensington, London, home from 1957 until his death in 1965

Reposting Today’s Message from Poetry.org

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poetry.org

The birthday of the world

On the birthday of the world I begin to contemplate what I have done and left undone, but this year not so much rebuilding  

of my perennially damaged psyche, shoring up eroding friendships, digging out stumps of old resentments that refuse to rot on their own.  

No, this year I want to call myself to task for what I have done and not done for peace. How much have I dared in opposition?  

How much have I put on the line for freedom? For mine and others? As these freedoms are pared, sliced and diced, where   have I spoken out?

Who have I tried to move? In this holy season, I stand self-convicted of sloth in a time when lies choke   the mind and rhetoric bends reason to slithering choking pythons.

Here I stand before the gates opening, the fire dazzling   my eyes, and as I approach what judges me, I judge myself. Give me weapons of minute destruction. Let my words turn into sparks.
Marge Piercy, “The Birthday of the World” from The Crooked Inheritance. Copyright © 2006 by Marge Piercy. Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Random House LLC. All rights reserved.

A Note from the Editor

Today is the beginning of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year celebration. Three unique sets of prayers are added to the morning service during Rosh Hashanah: Malkhuyot, which address the sovereignty of God; Zikhronot, which present God as the one who remembers past deeds; and Shofarot, in which participants stand in nervous anticipation of the future. Each of these sections culminates in blasts of the shofar or horn, the most potent symbol of the holiday.