Empty Shells

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Bcause it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.


One of my favorite poems for all and ...

EMPTY SHELLS
Leaving one life is beginning another,
They go together like days and nights,
like the roots of a tree and its fruits,
like empty shells
in the steel blue sands of twilight
when the near-full moon casts an eye
and a vagrant tide washes the soles
of my feet.

Leave softly, but leave -
then will you be complete
as you touch and receive
the rising moments
in their unabashed splendour -
and allow all fear in your heart
to dissolve forever.

Are we not then like these
tudong shells
that gather on the beaches
buffeted on the waves,
polished and refined in the depths?

Wandering the vast seas
we arrive, yes
we arrive in one majestic
breath on the shores
of freedom,
to cease at last, to rest,
smiling jewels
discretely reflecting
the unnameable Silence.
- Ayya Medhanandi October, 2003


Dear friends do not think that it is easy for me to leave. I have had to do a lot of leaving recently but travel is as much a part of me as breathing and I seem destined to go. I have found something unique here, something not to be expected in such a sort time as I have been here. I really find it hard to say what it is, to describe our life here and I know that my leaving changes that in some small way.(ok fine so I know it is a really small way, dont rub it in!!). Yet as I leave in body, dear dear friends,know that I do not leave in mind, or in heart (or sarcastic wit!! Brandy will keep up the bar I am sure). Please keep me in your hearts and dont let me get away with forgetting you, make me toe the line!!! Praying to make it back soon, all my love, Cristi (promise I am still not crying, no really I promise!!)

One last word from David

Psalm 16: 5 LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup;
you have made my lot secure.
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.
7 I will praise the LORD, who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.
8 I have set the LORD always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,