domicile fukuoka 2020

ReFresh (Day 1)

On The Pulse Of Morning'

An Inaugural Poem by Maya Angelou 


A  Rock, A River, A Tree

Hosts to species long since departed,

Marked the mastodon,

The dinosaur, who left dried tokens

Of Their sojourn here

On our planet floor,

Any broad alarm of their hastening doom

Is lost in the gloom of dust and ages. 

But today, the Rock cries out to us, clearly,

forcefully,

Come, you may stand upon my

Back and face your distant destiny, 

But seek no haven in my shadow,

I will give you no hiding place down here. 

You, created only a little lower than

The angels, have crouched too long in

The bruising darkness

Have lain too long

Facedown in ignorance,

Your mouths spilling words 

Armed for slaughter.

The Rock cries out to us today,

You may stand upon me;

But do not hide your face. 

Across the wall of the world,

A River sings a beautiful song. It says,

Come, rest here by my side. 

Each of you, a bordered country,

Delicate and strangely made proud,

Yet thrusting perpetually under siege.

Your armed struggles for profit

Have left collars of waste upon

My shore, currents of debris upon my breast.

Yet today I call you to my riverside,

If you will study war no more. 

Come, clad in peace,

And I will sing the songs

The Creator gave to me when I and the

Tree and the Rock were one.

Before cynicism was a bloody sear across your brow

And when you yet knew you still knew nothing.

The River sang and sings on. 

There is a true yearning to respond to

The singing River and the wise Rock.

So say the Asian, the Hispanic, the Jew

The African, the Native American, the Sioux

The Catholic, the Muslim, the French, the Greek, 

The Irish, the Rabbi, the Priest, the Sheik,

The Gay, the Straight, the Preacher,

The privileged, the homeless, the Teacher.

They hear. They all hear

The speaking of the Tree. 

They hear the first and last of every Tree

Speak to humankind today.

Come to me,

Here beside the River.

Plant yourself beside the River. 

Each of you, descendant of some passed-

On traveler, has been paid for. 

You, who gave me my first name, you,

Pawnee, Apache, Seneca, you

Cherokee Nation, who rested with me, then

Forced on bloody feet,

Left me to the employment of

Other seekers -- desperate for gain,

Starving for gold. 

You, the Turk, the Arab, the Swede,

The German, the Eskimo, the Scot,

The Italian, the Hungarian, the Pole,

You the Ashanti, the Yoruba, the Kru, bought

Sold, stolen, arriving on a nightmare

Praying for a dream. 

Here, root yourselves beside me.

I am that Tree planted by the River,

Which will not be moved.

I, the Rock, I, the River, I, the Tree

I am yours -- your passages have been paid.

Lift up your faces, you have a piercing need

For this bright morning dawning for you.

History, despite its wrenching pain,

Cannot be unlived, but if faced

With courage, need not be lived again. 

Lift up your eyes

Upon this day breaking for you.

Give birth again

To the dream. 

Women, children, men,

Take it into the palms of your hands,

Mold it into the shape of your most

Private need. Sculpt it into

The image of your most public self.

Lift up your hearts

Each new hour holds new chances

For a new beginning.

Do not be wedded forever

To fear, yoked eternally

To brutishness. 

The horizon leans forward,

Offering you space

To place new steps of change

Here, on the pulse of this fine day

You may have the courage

To look up and out and upon me,

The Rock, the River, the Tree, you country.

No less to Midas than the mendicant.

No less to you now than the mastodon then. 

Here on the pulse of this new day

You may have the grace to look up and out

And into your sister's eyes,

And into your brother's face,

Your country,

And say simply

Very simply

With hope --

Good morning. 

Wake up O sleeper

In 1577 Sir Francis Drake wrote :

Disturb us Lord ,
When we are too pleased with ourselves, when our dreams have come true ,
Because we dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely,
Because we sailed too close to the shore .

Disturb us , Lord ,
When with the abundance of things we poses ,
We have lost our thirst for the waters of life ;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity，
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
  We have allowed our vision of the
   new heaven to dim

New Years Poem

"What can be said in New Year rhymes,
That's not been said a thousand times?
The new years come, the old years go,
We know we dream, we dream we know.
We rise up laughing with the light,
We lie down weeping with the night.
We hug the world until it stings,
We curse it then and sigh for wings.
We live, we love, we woo, we wed,
We wreathe our prides, we sheet our dead.
We laugh, we weep, we hope, we fear,
And that's the burden of a year."

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Once upon a song

Each person who ever was or is or will be has a song. It isn't a song that anybody else wrote. It has its own melody, it has its own words. Very few people get to sing their song. Most of us fear that we cannot do it justice with our voices, or that our words are too foolish or too honest, or too odd. So people live their song instead.”

 Neil Gaiman, Anansi Boys

"Song of a Crazy Monk"

Where are the plum-lipped ladies of Tang? In beds of spider dust.

 O let them pass, O let them go, 
As the Long river eastward flow

Never to return nor backward flows.
O forget all, O forget none.

Julia Lin

The Ten Commandments of Working in a Hostile Environment by T.D. Jakes

Excerpts from “The Ten Commandments of Working in a Hostile Environment” by T.D. Jakes

1. Know that you are anointed for the job or position you now hold!
2. Do not expect to be appreciated
3. Embrace opportunities for change
4. Do the job well while remembering the vision
5. Do not let the environment get inside you!
6. Increase your capacity to work with difficult personalities
7. Where you are is not where you are going!
8. Achieve optimal results with minimal confusion
9. Do not pledge allegiance to cliques and groups!
10. Always keep your song near you

It is indeed ironic that out of our desire for stability, security, and predictability we set ourselves up for
instability, uncertainty, and surprises. Perhaps if we adjusted our expectations to be more realistic, we would not be so traumatized when change comes. And rest assured - it will come. We should expect change in our
workplace and know that only God can serve as our secure anchor, our unshakable, immovable rock.
The only way we can extend ourselves to reach the next level is to move beyond our comfort zone and utilize more of our talents and capabilities.

He introduces some change into our lives to spur us into action. The least we can do in turbulent times of
change is to give Him the opportunity to use us, even when what we face seems formidable or impossible to us. Time and time again, we must remember that when God anoints us for a position, then nothing can ultimately stand in our way. Our perceptions of ourselves, if not based on faith in what we cannot presently see, will cause us to limit ourselves and undermine the blessing and success that God has planned for us. We are short-circuiting our own destiny, pulling the plug before the on switch has been flipped; all because we do not think we are adequately equipped for the job.

 Do not put on airs of superiority, especially if you now oversee employees who were once your peers.
“In quiet and confidence shall be your strength. Thoughts are the final frontiers of privacy. If we always
speak our mind, we are violating our own privacy. When it is appropriate, speak up and speak right. But most of the time, we need to keep a guard on our lips.”

Responding requires first quietness and then reflecting. Reacting suggests that some action takes place following a comment or an incident. Negative attitudes, harmful behaviour, and insidious gossip can contaminate the believer and cause him/her to lose his/her witness, along with his/her peace, hope and joy.
Man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.
Make an effort to remain beyond reproach in your dealings with co-workers.

Consumerism is an epidemic in our society that we must attempt to resist. Finally, be strong in the Lord, relying on his mighty strength.

Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

Oh Preacher

Like wind in my ear or like lips that caress the reed of a flute If You are caressing my wish, I will not turn my back on the world.