Lilies of the field —
what the world calls
doing nothing
Published by
Sylvia Forges-Ryan
Sylvia Forges-Ryan is a former Editor of Frogpond, the international journal of the Haiku Society of America. Her poems have been published in many countries and in six continents. Writing in various Japanese forms, she has won many international prizes, including the Harold G. Henderson Award from the Haiku Society of America, the R.H. Blyth Award from the World Haiku Association, the Grand Prix from the Kyoto Museum for World Peace, the Azsacra Poetry Award from the Taj Mahal Review in India, and First Prizes in the Mainichi Times Contest in Tokyo, the California Ukiah Festival, and the Key West Robert Frost Haiku Competition. She has published three books: Take a Deep Breath, the Haiku Way to Inner Peace, co-authored with her husband, Edward R. Ryan, PhD, was cited by poet, editor, and translator Jane Reichhold as “the perfect haiku book,” and was given an Honorable Mention from the World Haiku Review. What Light There Is was described by Susumu Takiguchi, World Haiku Editor, as “One of the best books of haiku ever produced in English, a treasure.” In addition, the book was awarded a Distinguished Touchstone Award HM from the Haiku Foundation and has a Russian edition. Both books, along with her third book, Side by Side< Poems Prints, have been selected for permanent inclusion in the American Literature Collection of the Beinecke Rare Book Library at Yale University. View all posts by Sylvia Forges-Ryan
I like your poem!
my own backyard
I forget
to love it
Simply wonderful!
Works on so many levels.
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Lilies of the field —
what the world calls
doing nothing
—SYLVIA FORGES-RYAN
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This certainly continues to resonate with me.
Of course behind the scenes 'Nature' is always very busy, but it seems so effortless to humans who attempt to emulate, but fall so short.
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Thankfully some of us are happy to witness simplicity in the raw.
Alan
Wonderful is what I thought too, when I read this poem. Thank you
A moment in life when the world seems to come to standstill.
Ah, from the mists of memory I'm certain I studied this parable in an RE lesson many years ago.
I've just Googled it: Matthew 6:28 'Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin.'
Sometimes it's enough just to watch the flowers grow, isn't it.
Very effective, Sylvia.