To the Virgins, Make Much of Time

Got another surprise after lunch, with a bunch of sweet smelling white lilies (one of my favourites) on my desk; from a colleague to brighten my mood during my last few days here. I love gifts for non- occasions – be it a chocolate bar, a stalk of flower, a pretty note, a sweet email. Many of which I have gotten in my two and a half years here (especially on highly stressful days), forming sweet memories and friendships that I will always treasure, insya allah.

The sweet flowers reminded me of one of my favourite poems (from one of my favourite movies). As I move on to a new career, may I make much of time; touching lives and healing hearts. Mine included.

To the Virgins, Make Much of Time - Robert Herrick

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,

Old time is still a-flying,

And this same flower that smiles today,

To-morrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,

The higher he's a-getting,

The sooner will his race be run,

And nearer he's to setting.

That age is best which is the first,

When youth and blood are warmer;

But being spent, the worse and worst

Times still succeed the former.

Then be not coy, but use your time,

and while ye may, go marry;

For having lost just once your prime,

You may for ever tarry.

Be Whole.

with the week zipping past by me; so busy with work i had hardly the time to sit at my desk. i deliberately took a break last night. i went to kino and got myself a book (ok, 2 books - i couldnt help myself).

poignant and profound, i'm delightfully lost in the world of melodious rhymes. just sharing with you my favourite lines thus far (i am only at page....70?).

The home we seek is in eternity;

The Truth we seek is like a shoreless sea,

Of which your paradise is but a drop.

This ocean can be yours;why should you stop

Beguiled by dreams of evanescent dew?

The secrets of the sun are yours, but you

Content yourself with motes trapped in its beams.

Turn to what truly lives, reject what seems -

Which matters more, the body or the soul?

Be whole: desire and journey to the Whole.

- The Conference of the Birds -

now, if only i have the time to sit at coffee bean with a friend and do a recital of the book...madame blossom? anyone?

.: Perfect ImPERFECTIONS :.

I couldn’t stop staring at a rather beautiful and attractive lady with an equally gorgeous boyfriend/fiancé/husband while on the way home from work. It has been a few weeks or is it months but visuals of her continue to linger in my mind. Anyway, I thought that the lady would’ve been more attractive with fuller lips, a broader smile. And I thought, she might have thought the same every other time she examines herself in the mirror.

We always want something more – to have bigger eyes, a smaller waist, a slimmer figure, to be taller/shorter. We always harp on our imperfections.

Truth is, we are created as the best creations – having the ability to discern, to have integrity, to rise above circumstances, to rise above others.

Lord, let us be humbled by our imperfections (not blinded by them) in our strive to attain perfection.

Verily, We create man in the best conformation

and thereafter We reduce him to the lowest of low

excepting only such as attain to faith and do good works: and theirs shall be a reward unending!

~The Noble Quran, Surah Tin 95:2-4 ~

Picture taken at the side of a canal/longkang. thought that the pretty flowers amongst the mess, dirt n chaos in the background was poignant.