Brookside Poetry

A dear friend sent this to me.  It made my heart sing and hope it does the same for you.

HOKUSAI SAYS

by Roger Keyes

Hokusai says look carefully.
He says pay attention, notice,
He says keep looking, stay curious.
He says there is no end to seeing.

He says look forward to getting old.
He says keep changing-
You just get more who you really are.
He says, get stuck, accept it, repeat
yourself as long as it is interesting.

He says keep doing what you love
He says keep praying.

He says every one of us is a child
every one of us is ancient,
every one of us has a body.
He says every one of us is frightened,
He says every one of us has to find
a way to live with fear.

He says everything is alive-
shells, buildings, people, fish, mountains, trees.
Wood is alive. Water is alive.

Everything has it’s own life.
Everything lives inside of us.

He says live in the world inside you. He says it doesn’t matter if you draw
or write books. It doesn’t matter if you saw wood
or catch fish. It doesn’t matter if you sit at home
and stare at the ants on your veranda
or the shadows of the trees
and the grasses in your garden.

It matters that you care.
It matters that you feel.
It matters that you notice.
It matters that you attend to the life that lives through you.