The only EP (extended play vinyl record) I ever owned had, on the A side, Lee Marvin singing I Was Born a Wand’rin’ Star, from the film Paint Your Wagon. And on the B side Clint Eastwood ‘singing’ I Talk to the Trees and he went on to (have to say) groan the following words But they don’t listen to me!

Ever thought, been upset about, got really angry about, feeling like, somebody isn’t listening to you? Never mind about talking to the trees, your cat or your plants which I suspect ‘hear’ our words, spoken or unspoken, very well indeed. The felt sense of being heard is heart-rending, when it is not there and most heartening when it is. Enough said!

While I have been thinking about listening and speaking the Clint Eastwood piece has been playing in my brain. Now I’ve share it, it has gone! As if it were that easy to let go of ones persistent thoughts, feelings, emotions etc. etc. etc. Anyway here is a quote for today from Krishnamurti who was very influential in my spiritual growth in my teens and early twenties.

So when you are listening to somebody, completely, attentively, then you are listening not only to the words, but also to the feeling of what is being conveyed, to the whole of it, not part of it.
Jiddu Krishnamurti

As a bubble in
a stream
a phantasm
a dream.

Who knows how and where
the sweet dew
of mortal life
will…make manifest.

In life do we notice?
Yes! But life is eternal
Isn’t it?
Right now never ends!

With a crash or a thud
or a slow dribbling
away.
Life breath stops

Eternal night? – a fantasy.

Opening palms skywards
the sweet dew
remains
in our deepest Heart.

This is for Rosie who met a tragic end the other day and for Grant, My Luminous Friend, who took his last breath a year ago. My thoughts for those who watched the breathing stop. And still the ‘sweet dew’ remains. In the words of Neil Sedaka, Breaking up is hard to do.

And thanks to Mark, once again, for his photograph.