What Is So Rare As A Day in June

AND what is so rare
as a day in June?

Then, if ever, come perfect days;
Then Heaven tries earth
if it be in tune,
And over it softly
her warm ear lays;
Whether we look,
or whether we listen,
We hear life murmur,
or see it glisten;

Every clod feels a stir of might,
An instinct within it that
reaches and towers,
And, groping blindly above it for light,
Climbs to a soul in grass and flowers;
The flush of life may well be seen
Thrilling back over hills and valleys;

The cowslip startles in meadows green,
The buttercup catches
the sun in its chalice,
And there's never a leaf
nor a blade too mean
To be some happy creature's palace;
The little bird sits at his door in the sun,
Atilt like a blossom among the leaves,

And lets his illumined
being o'errun
With the deluge of
summer it receives;
His mate feels the eggs
beneath her wings,
And the heart in her dumb breast
flutters and sings;
He sings to the wide world,

and she to her nest,-
In the nice ear of Nature
which song is the best?

Now is the high-tide of the year,
And whatever of life hath ebbed away
Comes flooding back with a ripply cheer,
Into every bare inlet and creek and bay;
Now the heart is so full that a drop overfills it,
We are happy now because God wills it;

No matter how barren
the past may have been,
'Tis enough for us now
that the leaves are green;
We sit in the warm shade and feel right well
How the sap creeps up and
the blossoms swell;
We may shut our eyes but
we cannot help knowing
That skies are clear and grass is growing;

The breeze comes whispering in our ear,
That dandelions are blossoming near,
That maize has sprouted,
that streams are flowing,
That the river is bluer than the sky,
That the robin is plastering
his house hard by;
And if the breeze kept the good news back,

For our couriers

we should not lack;
We could guess it all
by yon heifer's lowing,-
And hark! How clear bold chanticleer,
Warmed with the new wine of the year,
Tells all in his lusty crowing!

Joy comes, grief goes, we know not how;
Everything is happy now,
Everything is upward striving;
'Tis as easy now for the heart to be true
As for grass to be green or skies to be blue,-
'Tis for the natural way of living:

Who knows whither the clouds have fled?
In the unscarred heaven they leave not wake,
And the eyes forget the tears they have shed,
The heart forgets its sorrow and ache;
The soul partakes the season's youth,
And the sulphurous rifts of passion and woe

Lie deep 'neath a silence pure and smooth,
Like burnt-out craters healed with snow.

James Russell Lowell

as in roses

There are many different meanings for red in every culture. It always means "blood" but even then it can be either blood shed heroically or the blood of a victim. In Asia, red is almost always good luck. Red (as with all colors) means different things depending upon the context in which it is used. In Japan, red ink is a traditional method of writing a letter than ends a relationship (like a dear

john, or a pink slip). A red sports car in the US might be thought of as a fun and "sexy" car, but if a middle-aged bald guy is driving it, it's seen as a pathetic display of male menopause. In most cultures, red is used to get attention. It's been a banner of revolution since the French Revolution (and probably before) and as a flag has become a symbol of populist, usually communist, revolts.


The Chinese, for example, have more than 30 single characters describing different kinds of red. Red of wine, red of silk, red of wood, red of meat.... Even more phrases are used to describe different levels of red. All these are not just about words, but how the meaning of colors evolves from daily life, not just for a single color RED. At least, we can know when is not a right time to use a color with right meaning

(wedding in Japanese uses white, while in Chinese is red.) 1

Colour was important in Hindu science and religion. For example, the spirit of red cloth, or redness itself, could combine with a person’s moral substance and transform it, such that a “red man” might be a sorcerer. Soldiers wore red turbans in battle, women wore red clothes and reddened their hands and hair during

marriage or fertility festivals. Influenced by soldiers of the East India Company’s ‘red coats’, Indian rulers in the eighteenth century adopted scarlet English broadcloth to make their own armies more impressive. The ‘red coats’ were appropriate to the tra- ditional colour-coding of the Indian warrior classes, and the use of red serge spread from Nawab of Awadh’s 60,000 man army to those of his competitors and others. 2

Cultures and Meanings:
Red

• Australian Aboriginals: Land, earth
• Celtic: Death, afterlife

• China: Good luck, celebration, summoning
• Cherokees: Success, triumph. Represents the East.
• Hebrew: Sacrifice, sin
• India: Purity
• South Africa: Color of mourning
• Russia: Bolsheviks and Communism
• Eastern: Worn by brides, happiness and prosperity
• Western: Excitement, danger, love, passion, stop, Christmas (with green), Valentine's Day
• Feng Shui: Yang, fire, good luck, money, respect, recognition, vitality
• Psychology: Stimulates brain wave activity, increases heart rate, increases blood pressure
• Roses: Love, respect - red and yellow together means


gaiety, joviality
• Stained Glass (Dante): Divine love, the Holy Spirit, courage, self-sacrifice, martyrdom. A warm, active color. 3

COLOR RED IN JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

Red bibs, robes, scarfs, and caps are related to certain deities:

Monkey. Sannou Gongen. Expels Demons of Sickness; Deity of Fertility

Fox (Kitsune) is the
messenger of Oinari (Inari), Deity of Rice Harvest

Bindorabaradaja (J); Also called Binzuru (J). Pindola Bharadraja (Skt). Binzuru; Healer; Most Revered Arhat in Japan

Koyasu Kannon - The Child-Giving Bosatsu, Goddess of Mercy



Jizo and Koyasu Jizo - Patron of Children, Giver of Children

Daruma, Zen Patriarch, Protector Agains Illness, Bringer of Good Luck

Shishi Lion Dogs Guard the Gates to Shinto Shrines

The Nio Kings Guard the Gates to Buddhist Temples 4