Earth & Tao
Proverb
Even the best cook can’t prepare a meal without rice.
Poem
Big rat, big king rat,
Do not gobble our srops!
We slaved three years for you
And you take no notice of us!
But we are going to flee,
To go to that happy land,
A happy land, a happy land,
Where no sad songs are sung!
Meditation
Troubles come and sometimes, despite all we do, they overwhelm us.
In China, rats are a plague,
but the Chinese have developed a method for controlling them.
They leave food out for them –
but only just enought so the rats do not over-breed.
This usually keeps the problem under control,
but occasionally even this does not work.
So with life.
If the basis of life – rice, in the proverb –
is being taken from you, it is time to move on.
©Loes Raaphorst 10/2005