"True or False," John Ciardi

                                    Real emeralds are worth more than synthetics
                                     but the only way to tell one from the other
                                     is to heat them to a stated temperature,
                                     then tap. When it’s done properly
                                     the real one shatters.

                                     I have no emeralds.
                                     I was told this about them by a woman
                                     who said someone had told her. True or false,
                                      I have held my own palmful of bright breakage
                                      from a truth too late. I know the principle.

"Deus ex Machina," A. E. Stallings

Because we were good at entanglements, but not
Resolution, and made a mess of plot,
Because there was no other way to fulfill
The ancient prophesy, because the will
Of the gods demanded punishment, because
Neither recognized who the other was,
Because there was no difference between
A tragic ending and a comic scene,
Because the play was running out of time,
Because the mechanism of the sublime
Was in good working order, but needed using,
Because it was a script not of our choosing,
Because we were actors, because we knew for a fact
We were only actors, because we could not act.

Sonnet XIX, Edna St. Vincent Millay

And you as well must die, belovéd dust,

And all your beauty stand you in no stead;

This flawless, vital hand, this perfect head,

This body of flame and steel, before the gust

Of Death, or under his autumnal frost,

Shall be as any leaf, be no less dead

Than the first leaf that fell, - this wonder fled.

Altered, estranged, disintegrated, lost.

Nor shall my love avail you in your hour.

In spite of all my love, you will arise

Upon that day and wander down the air

Obscurely as the unattended flower,

It mattering not how beautiful you were,

                                Or how belovéd above all else that dies.

"The Art of Disappearing," Naomi Shihab Nye

When they say Don’t I know you? say no.

When they invite you to the party

remember what parties are like

before answering.

Someone telling you in a loud voice

they once wrote a poem.

Greasy sausage balls on a paper plate.

Then reply.

If they say we should get together.

say why? It’s not that you don’t love them any more.

You’re trying to remember something

too important to forget.

Trees.

The monastery bell at twilight.

Tell them you have a new project.

It will never be finished. When someone recognizes you in a grocery store

nod briefly and become a cabbage.

When someone you haven’t seen in ten years

appears at the door,

don’t start singing him all your new songs.

You will never catch up.

Walk around feeling like a leaf. Know you could tumble any second.

Then decide what to do with your time.

From "Letters to a Young Poet," Rainer Maria Rilke

"Child Holding a Dove," Picasso

        Have patience with everything unresolved          in your heart and try to love the questions      themselves ... Don't search for the answers,         which could not be given to you now, because       you would not be able to live them. And the       point is, to live everything. Live the questions       now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future,      you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.

"Free and Easy," Lama Gendun Rinpoche

                                   Happiness cannot be found through great effort and willpower,

                                   but is already there, in relaxation and letting go.

                                  Don't strain yourself, there is nothing to do.

                                  Whatever arises in the mind has no importance at all,

                                  because it has no reality whatsoever.

                                  Don't become attached to it.

                                  Don't pass judgement.

                                  Let the game happen on its own, springing up and falling back

                                  without changing anything --

                                  and all will vanish and reappear, without end.

                                 Only our searching for happiness prevents us from seeing it.

                                 It is like a rainbow which you run after without ever catching it.

                                 Although it does not exist,

                                 it has always been there and accompanies you every instant.

                                Don't believe in the reality of good and bad experiences;

                                they are like rainbows.

                               Wanting to grasp the ungraspable, you exhaust yourself in vain.

                               As soon as you relax this grasping, space is there

                               -  open, inviting, and comfortable.

                               So, make use of it.  All is yours already.

                               Don't search any further.

                               Don't go into the inextricable jungle looking for the elephant

                               who is already quietly at home.

                               Nothing to do,

                               nothing to force,

                               nothing to want,

                               -  and everything happens by itself.

"The Guest House," Rumi

This being human is a guest house.

Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,

some momentary awareness comes

as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!

Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,

who violently sweep your house

empty of its furniture,

still, treat each guest honorably.

He may be clearing you out

for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,

meet them at the door laughing,

and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,

because each has been sent

as a guide from beyond.