“Tao Te Ching: Chapter 10”

Posted on September 13, 2016 by Christine Harkreader

In holding the soul and embracing oneness
Can one be steadfast, without straying?
In concentrating the energy and reaching relaxation
Can one be like an infant?
In cleaning away the worldly view
Can one be without imperfections?
In loving the people and ruling the nation
Can one be without manipulation?
In the heavenly gate’s opening and closing
Can one hold to the feminine principle?
In understanding clearly all directions
Can one be without intellectuality?

Bearing it, rearing it
Bearing without possession
Achieving without arrogance
Raising without domination
This is called the Mystic Virtue

watercolor/ink/acrylic, 9 x 12 in.

Source of translation: www.Taoism.net

Lucky Clover

Posted on March 17, 2016 by Christine Harkreader

Lucky Clover, 11x14 copyright CBHarkreader

Lucky Clover

11 x 14 in.

My friend, the talented poet Imani Marshall-Stephen, wrote this poem to accompany this painting:

Our hands intertwine
in that space
between love and hate.
It’s been called “Hope,”
that space.
And I feared
it would be snatched from us,
pulled like a rug
from underneath our feet,
taken by the fist they call
“the system”
as we lie there
breathless.
But it still beckons us,
that space.
And when strength finds us,
lifts us,
we meet there
to talk of lovely things:
a child’s laugh,
a full belly,
and
making love.
That’s where we come
to exhale
to simply be
without rubbing up against
the jagged edges
of our own brokenness.
We exist there
in that place
called Hope,
coexist there,
and our hands,
intertwined,
light the path.