Musing while sweeping up leaves...

Warrigal

Warrigal

SF VIP
Location
Sydney, Australia
It is a lovely Spring day today after several days of strong winds. In Australia this means that the yard becomes littered with dried gum leaves and small twigs if you are lucky, and dried, dead branches if your luck has run out.

I decided to do something about the mess before my daughter returns from her trip to the UK. I want her to rest and catch up on her sleep. She will surely have jetlag after a direct flight overnight.

I am aware that Buddhist monks recommend being mindful to the task at hand but my mind wanders all over the place. Today, stimulated by adverts for tickets to a new ballet, Oscar, I was reminded of a long poem by Oscar Wilde that we studied in high school. It is titled "The Ballad of Reading Gaol" and was written when Wilde was in prison for his relationship with the son of an English nobleman.

He notices another prisoner who has been sentenced to death for killing his wife. Wilde identifies with him in the line :
"Yet each man kills the thing he loves,"

It is truly a ballad in which Wilde laments the Victorian justice and penal system. A very long ballad.

You can read it here in its entirety:- The Ballad of Reading Gaol

It is the last two verses that I have always remembered:-

And there, till Christ call forth the dead,
In silence let him lie:
No need to waste the foolish tear,
Or heave the windy sigh:
The man had killed the thing he loved,
And so he had to die.

And all men kill the thing they love,
By all let this be heard,
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word,
The coward does it with a kiss,
The brave man with a sword.
Click to expand...
 

I'm confused about sweeping leaves. Seems very ineffective and likely to garner stares of amazement if not concern about what you might do next.

Or is your yard bare dirt, or maybe entirely paved? Maybe you don't really get many leaves?
 

I think about all sorts of things but I’m able to think about things more deeply when I’m out for a walk or doing some simple repetitive task.

I suppose it’s a form of meditation. 🤔

“There are days when I’m alone with my thoughts, which is to say, not alone enough.”
- Robert Breault
 
dilettante said:
I'm confused about sweeping leaves. Seems very ineffective and likely to garner stares of amazement if not concern about what you might do next.

Or is your yard bare dirt, or maybe entirely paved? Maybe you don't really get many leaves?
Click to expand...
Eucalypts, like a lot of Australian trees, do not lose all their leaves at the end of Summer. They shed their bark, and a lot of dry leaves, all through the year. It is necessary to deal with them pretty much all year because they can fall on the roof and block the gutterings. I have a man who comes regularly to blow leaves and twigs off the roof and flush out the gutterings and down pipes.

My back yard is indeed mostly paved, with a small bit of lawn under the clothesline, a concrete slab under the entertainment area and some garden area towards the back fence. Most people use a blower to deal with the fallen leaves but I welcome the exercise that comes with sweeping.
 
My neighborhood is strewn with acorns. Squirrels and birds inhabit the street. Sometimes I like to sit down and listen to the thuds of acorns falling and hitting the ground, or cars. When I walk the dog, they crunch under my feet.

As I get older, I'm more aware of cyclical nature of things.
 
It depends on the chore. In my early days as a monk they had me picking up large stones in our long gravel driveway. For weeks! It about drove me nuts at first. I felt I was completely useless, and my mind raced to find something I could think about to pass the time. Then one day I came in afterward just as calm as content as can be, and was asked how it went today. I said I barely remember the time, and it was a pleasant day. That was the last time I did that chore. :)
 

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