To be empty is not to be lost
But to be free
Free of vanity and of despair
Free of worry and of care
Free of bother on a windy night
When the cloud is thick
And there is rain in sight
An insight into what?
That which is full is hard to see into
Just a mass
Just confusing
Empty be easier to see
Easier to be with
And of far greater use
The bucket that's full
Is of no use to you
When what you do
Requires that you need a bucket
An empty bucket though
Will help you
An empty mind will help you too
Empty of desire
Thus free of pain
You can walk in peace
In the wind
In the rain
Please tell me what you think
Comments
1 - 38 of 38
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Stunning
Wow. I was just blown away by this piece. The language used is VERY strong, very clear as well. And it flowed fairly well; flow is usually where poems disappoint me. Yes, though, this is an exceptionally well-written piece, keep up the good work!
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very deep
I found this piece very interesting and thoughtful. I usually don't like rhyme because I find the poet lets the impact of thier meaning go for the sake of the rhyme. You however very skillfully weaved your rhyme in in, it subtle yet effective. I can't say that I totally agree with the whole idea of the poem because I think that we can not truely appreiciate the joy of life and love without growing through the pain. Overall though I think this was a really good write!!
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you should have been CLINTON's (D^CKHEAD not his never-done pretend wifey) speechwriter - explaining 'nothingness' with allusions/metaphors to a bucket a philosophy major huh? ending was very good first declarative sentence sets up the poem nicely "...emptiness recquires forgiveness" eh? in one of your addendae/answers to as commentary this phrase:"An empty bucket though
Will help you" must have confounded them as much as asking the seven forces that take place on a yo-yo string ALL-IN-ALL a good write on a very specious position/tenet listen does an empty bucket make any noise? amswer it does from the force of the winds traveling through the supposed emptiness thanks for sharing emptiness with us regards zaj
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well, heard of this theory of emptiness before, but your words are beautifull and make it easier to be understood. i wish i could do this.
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Thanks for your kind comment!
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I like this poem. It's simple to understand and the words flow lightly.
I like how you turned empty, something that is normally looked at as a negative thing, as something that is positive. To be empty is to have a release of most thoughts and emotions. It's just being content. Indifferent. Just being, without thought or emotion.
Actually, that sound kind of appealing. I sometimes get sick of all my thoughts and emotions. I rather be brain dead and I'm not overreacting.
Nicely written. EXCELLENT!
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Wonderful
Wow- and I don't say that lightly!
There are so many things right with this...where to begin? I love to find poetry that isn't about love, love lost, rainbows and moonbeams- or worse. This is original, beautiful, poignant and oddly enough- something I really needed to hear (er, read). What a delightful find! I like the way your mind works, and your 'style' (thus far -I've only read two of your poems so forgive me if I'm jumping to conclusions) is simple and free of clutter. The simplicity lends a certain elegance and concentrates the message.
Brilliant little gem, this.
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I really loved this poem, maybe because I'm currently emptying my own bucket, LOL, and it ain't easy, but at least the buckets getting lighter as I go, which is the point I guess. Nothing worthwhile is easy right? I like the way you express your ideas, you simplify what is actually a very unsimple idea, unsimple in practise at least! I don't think unsimple is a word. Whatever.
LOL-I've read this before-have imaginary clappy hands from me. Wonder if I read it differently now? Hmm.
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Different but Good
I am the Master of Too Much so Empty is not in my neighborhood. I don't understand where you think an empty mind will help you. I can see but nothng to help anyone. Granted I am much older so my mind has not been empty in a very long time.
Still - all in all I find this a very good write.
W W
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This is fascinating, I like the concept of emptiness as a waiting vessel, as openness. Excellent write!
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Ah!
Philosopically Poetry! I loved this. And I know what you say ... Empty has the possibility to be filled. Of course we know nothing is really empty -- it is just a matter of perspective, really. But oh! I remember lazy "empty" days ... Did you try it? None really miss you, you know. The blue sky does not turn to crimson. Slip away for a while, into an "empty" dream, and return filled with wondrous silence ...
Take care, Poet, and thank you for reading my work.
Love
Myra
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Very insightful! Nicely done! I have always said that ignorance is bliss! And this poem says it all! thank you for writing it!
K
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Unfortunately, this poem is not about ignorance being bliss. In fact, it takes a profound amound of understanding to realise the potential force of emptiness. To be ignorant is either to be unaware of something, in which case one would not be aware of being ignorant, or to be aware of something, but to pretend not to be (say like the modern awareness of sweatshop labour, or the exploitation of low-level workers).
Emptiness requires forgiveness at least as far as one has to be at peace with one's own perceived history in order to empty the emotional bucket. It is hard to do and not many try (I try, not always successfully though - but we keep on).
Holding on is a waste of energy if the grip is not right. Ignorance is a form of holding on, as if to deny the fact that we humans have the power of intelligence at our disposal. I wonder whether we ignore this power because we implicitly recognise that a lot of our individual and collective action is not in sync with what we might call intelligent or rational. TO face that in a world so full of blame and shame woudl be to be 'wrong' and we all want to be 'right'. These are useful words, but they do not contain the feigned morality that 'society' seems to attribute to them.
Bliss is at least bliss, ignorance, well...
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Yes holding on is a waste, but knowing when to hold on and not to is the hard part. Until we as humans realize when to let go and when to hold on is when we will truly achieve harmony in life.
K
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in the defense of emptiness is quite an odd thing, I would never have thought of this.
your rhythm was fantastically shiny and the diction was amazing.
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Great job,
You communicate your message well with this, but the irregular rhyming and cadence isn't somthing I'm familar with as a form. I'm no expert in form, just interested. Warm regards, Sultan
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Ah. Only one who experienced this ...
will understand the depth of this poem. To be stripped to silence. To pour out all which blocks. Tabula rasa -- the empty slate, a new start, rebirth of the mind ...
A Solo Dance on a Smooth Mirror ...
I reset myself often in this way. It is totally and completely rejuvenating. And you have penned it well.
Love
Myra
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Good . Very Good I like imagery of the bucket.
Sometimes there are too many things in our life that they become obstacles - particularly to being creative. It's then that we just seem to move through life as an inanimate bystander.
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AH, to be blissfully unaware. This would be the greatest gift. Void of feeling. It would be like the earth with no moon. Great write. BRAVO!
BLESSINGS ALWAYS,
LOWELL POE -
loved this! I love to declutter my head and just let ot all go- lol, the bucket part was so true-baggage ain't always a good thing, move forward, cos we all have to top up our spirits from time to time. xx
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Thanks for your comment!
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Im empty and its not as good as you'd think. you miss out on a lot of 'nice' feelings, which i think cant be made up for in all the bad things you don't feel.
I mean i should be really happy at the moment and instead I seem harsh for not caring.
Its a good piece though. really, good job
huggles
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Yes, I hear what you say about the good/bad thing. But if you take a browse around you will often find evidence of the negativity that fills up so many people nowadays.
So the argument about the good/bad seems to say that 'yes, I'll take the bad so that I can have the good'. If this is the case, then I'd love to see people living it day to day and not only when asked the question, or encouraged to consider it.
I have one question. Would you mind telling me what you mean by empty?
Thanks for your comment!
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Except it's not just the negative emotions that we don't feel, it's the good stuff aswell, feeling empty is like having a peice of your soul missing. I think I understand what you're trying to say though, and I agree for a part, I would rather feel nothing than feel only despair and misery, and if we didn't have any personal thoughts or feelings then life would be a lot easier.
I like the style of this poem, all the stanzas different lengths, but the layout is very simple and very plain, which kind of fits with what the poem is about.
xxx
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This comment is anything but empty
Wow, the way you present it, Empty is both good and bad. I mean, in this... it's like a new start sort of, a way of helping you... but there's either a point where you come to this realization or, a point where this realization comes to you. The stanzas leading up to the last one are pretty simplistic and fairly optimistic, but the last one, the way I read it... it seemed like there was more to it than that.
Poets normally leave their keys to the end of a poem, unless the subject is another human being or something to that effect. It's like this entire poem was just walking up the path to the last stanza, and it, strangely, made the poem bittersweet, even though it kept with the flow of the other stanzas.
It's like, you're saying if we didn't lust, didn't dream, didn't desire for anything than we'd be happier people... which sounds like a desire to get what ever desires the nay sayer of fullness has in their head out because it hurts.
I'm probably reading way too much into it, but I thought it was a brilliant way of looking at things.
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Thank you for your comment, and no, I do not think you have read too much into it.
The point you make about simplicity is partly the point of the poem, although I believe it could be better put (I wrote this in about two minutes as a result of reading too much about the negative effects of emptyness).
But that's the paradox: the simple is often not so!
I think that many people confuse emptyness with being numbed. Thus the mind feels detached and confused and doesn't know what to do. We hear people equate loss to emptyness, but the mind is very rarely empty at such a time.
Yes, desire does hurt and it seems to be insatiable. If that is the case, then what is the point! -
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we grow from desire, the strength it takes just to reach our dreams or to just dream them up in the first place, it makes the pain of having them... worth it.
And that's a good point about confusing emptyness with being numbed. I see the emptyness as some what ignorance... not in a bad way, though if we connote ignorance, it's hardly a good thing. I see it like the saying, "Ignorace is bliss" Because if you don't know or you don't dare to dream or anything, then what have you to lose? You shall be happy and carefree for the rest of your days, or so you think.
It's still such an interesting way of viewing things. -
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I can see how you might equate emptiness with ignorance, but the two are distinct.
Emptiness is not to refuse to hear, see, feel, but rather to look at the origin of the thoughts that arise from the hearing, seeing, feeling and allowing them to pass naturally, it is to allow the self to be distanced from the ego enough so as to be free of its confines.
Also, things change, and one cannot expect to be empty all the time, but like a spring clean, we take everything out, dust it, and only return that which is helping us to be.
Thank you for your interest: you are helping me to explain myself and to understand what I mean when I use these words! -
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So... it's more of a passiveness? Like, you take it all in... but you don't keep it, you just allow it to flow out again?
Hmm... the more you explain, the more I feel there is to this poem... -
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Yes, there is an element of passivity to it. However, it is an active passivity (a paradox, I know).
Think about it as meditation. We sit, in silence, actively doing nothing. For in meditation we cannot allow ourselves to wander, or follow a train of thought because we are the train of thought.
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what melancholy was there is taken out by that last statement... now I see.
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You make an awesome point about the positive reprecussions about what emptiness can be and do. I had never thought of that before. I always saw the negative side. Obviously your write is VERY thought provoking.
Rhyme scheme is off a little, but it doesn't do too much damage to the poem itself, just the flow of the read. But always remember that a poem is never finished, just in revision.
Overall, I would say that this is an awesome write!!
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Indeed!
I think I posted this a little hastily, but the comments that I have received so far have given me inspiration and I will probably spend some more time on this theme.
Whether it results in a re-write or a new poem, I do not know, but either way it's the journey that counts.
Thanks...
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i think emptyness is good and bad. you say that emptyness is with good because its without care or worry and i think thats bad. i mean feeling anything at all is good. but when you say that its easier to see and less confusing, it is defentily.
you also describe emptyness as peace in the wind, but i dont think the wind is empty either because you can feel it. Still i love your poem and your view
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I do not agree that feeling anything at all is good. Without being trivial, feeling the lash of the whip of the dictator, or the effects of work-related stress would hardly be described as good.
With an empty mind, there is no restriction on feeling. One can feel what is going on around them, pay attention to the thoughts that arise, but just not be attached to them, let them pass as do the clouds. This way, any recurring patterns can be spotted and the source confronted, rather than the reaction that often follows strong feelings and desires.
What I say is idealised and I certainly am not so reflective all the time - I am human and fallible. But I have found myself in the past in the grip of repetition and, acting on feeling and impulse. This is good when the going is good, but what about when it is not?
Thank you for your comment and the communication that it has inspired. -
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i dont think you got what i ment though
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Would you mind explaining again, hopefully I will then pick up on your meaning. I find this subject fascinating! Thanks
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