Birthday books ~ and a poem (or two)

I learned from Jan @ Yearning for God that today (my birthday!) is Poem in Your Pocket Day.  The idea is simple:  select a poem you love during National Poetry Month then carry it with you to share with co-workers, family, and friends. You readers are my friends, so-o-o-o-o .......

I'll share Emily Dickinson's poem "I'm Nobody!  Who are you?"

I'm nobody!  Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there's a pair of us — don't tell!
They'd banish us, you know.

How dreary to be somebody!
How public, like a frog
To tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!

Oh, wait!  I can't let this day (my "birth day," as in this poem) go by without something by e. e. cummings, whose poetry is absurdly fun.  How about this one?

i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any—lifted from the no
of all nothing—human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

Last year, I posted a list of books I got for my birthday.  It seems like a good "tradition" to start, so yesterday, I bought some more books for myself.  Here are my newest birthday books to myself:

Tao Te Ching: A New Translation and Commentary ~ by Lao Tzu, translated by Ralph Alan Dale, photographs by John Cleare, 2002

To live life in accordance with "Tao" (life-force or the way) is to be in harmony with others, with the environment, and with oneself.  This book of wisdom is the sacred book of Taoism  This version has beautiful illustrations, and I had to have it.

Tao Te Ching ~ by Lao Tzu, translated by Charles Muller, notes by Yi-Ping Ong, 2005

When I shop for different versions of this book, I always read number eleven (or chapter 11, if you prefer) because I've found so many translations, and each one gives us a different way of looking at this bit of wisdom.

Tao Te Ching: A Book About the Way and the Power of the Way ~ by Lao Tzu, rendition by Ursula K. Le Guin, with the collaboration of J. P. Seaton, 1997

Even thought she doesn't speak Chinese, Ursula K. Le Guin has studied the Tao for over forty years.

Why, you ask, do I need three versions of the same book?  Different translations, mainly.  I already have (I think) about eleven.  When I teach Religions of the World, I hand out my copies and ask students to read the various versions.  We are enriched by the different ways of thinking about the same thing.

Bhagavad Gita: A New Translation ~ by Stephen Mitchell, 2000

Although I didn't go looking for this core text of the Hindu tradition, Mitchell is such a wonderful translator that I went ahead and got it.  (His is my favorite translation of the Tao Te Ching.)  Hinduism has several sacred books, including the Upanishads (or Vedanta, the end of the Vedas) and the Bhagavad Gita.  When I studied Hinduism in college, we looked mainly at the Upanishads, so I need to read this book to broaden my understanding.

Living Buddha, Living Christ ~ by Thích Nhất Hạnh, introduction by Elaine Pagels, 1995, religion

I wrote about this book in yesterday's library loot post.  I quickly decided it's one I want to keep, so I got this used paperback copy (the red one is the hardback version).

Helen @ Helen's Book Blog noticed (see comments below this post) I've been writing about lots of books about religion, and she's right.  I don't read exclusively about religion, but I am — after all — an ordained United Methodist minister (retired) and have taught Religions of the World as an adjunct at Chattanooga State since about 1992.  In other words, this is where my studies have led me.

I leave you now with a kaleidoscope of color shared today by Colleen @ Loose Leaf Notes.  Use your mouse to play with these colors.