Tuesday, September 16, 2008

recipe for blissful living

have you ever watched an ant
going nonhalant on its way
ignoring you totally

or maybe it doesn't see you at all

and why should you expect it to

yet you call yourself strong
and invincible
although
even a mere ant
does not give you
a second thought
or for that matter
even a first glance

with singular linearity
it traverses on its path

maybe you need to learn from it

acknowledging it as your guru

19 comments:

sage said...

The life of an ant... following other ants, but hey, they can lift far more than they weigh, that's something to brag about

venuss66 said...

Nice thought. Thank you.

Art and Poetry said...

Nice idea! I will have to think about this.

anthonynorth said...

You place us nicely in the scheme of things there.

Anonymous said...

My dear friend,

I wanted to tell you that you have my support in your recent struggles. I've been much the same and commenting sometimes seems too hard. But like your ant, I keep moving forward and when I am able I'll say hello.

(((((hugs)))))

Tumblewords: said...

Nice take on the prompt - this piece offers words for thought!

Barb said...

Beautifully written. I wish I could adopt this philosophy.

ShannonW said...

Deep thoughts.

Susan Helene Gottfried said...

Good point. I'm going to have to think about that some.

gP said...

ill take this as an wise advice in life. so much to learn here.

hugs.

Anonymous said...

What a great reminder that we are not as all important as we think sometimes!

Also a fantastic take on Heads Or Tails.

Hootin Anni said...

yes...so true. ants have been around for eons, and won't disappear when humans do.

Great idea for a poem.

Steve said...

Obviously you have never seen the movie "THEM"

WithinWithout said...

The thing is, ants have no expectations and they're driven to do one thing: help their colony survive.

It's a life that has allowed them to thrive. Unfortunately, it doesn't adapt well to humans.

Which I guess was one of the observations that couldn't be avoided reading this.

Could we learn from them? I guess. But would it be much fun if we did? Probably not.

WithinWithout said...

HA! And I find it strangely funny that one of the ads on your blog sidebar is from a company selling the concept, "How to get rid of ants."

Now THAT'S human!

- A - C - said...

Very interesting and deep.
In small things, the essence manifests itself more clearly.

A.

Anonymous said...

Very nicely done.

There's a quote from the Talmud that your poem reminded me of -- "If ever a man becomes proud, let him remember that the mosquito preceded him in the Divine order of creation." Lords of the earth? No, not we.

Anonymous said...

Hi there! I have not even begun visiting OSI folks yet (I prefer, I have decided to wait till the end of the week and not miss anybody). I love the ironies in this poem. Great work!

Philip Thrift said...

That Frank Sinatra song comes to mind :-)

Just what makes that little ole ant
Think he'll move that rubber tree plant?
Anyone knows an ant can't
Move a rubber tree plant
(But he's got hi-i-igh hopes, he's got hi-i-igh hopes)
(He's got high apple pi-i-ie-in-the-sk-y-y hopes)
So, any time you're gettin' low, 'stead of lettin' go, just remember that ant
Oops, there goes another rubber tree plant