Tag Archive | white

My tea cup

Jan10

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My tea cup is white

And the word tea is written on it

Just in case I forget what it’s for

It has a rounded bottom which is pleasant to hold

Especially to warm my fingers on days that are cold

Many times when I pick up this tea cup

I’m transported to my youth in Vancouver

I taught English and this cup was the one

That sat on my desk during those years

I taught immigrants

I taught international students

And all the while my tea cup kept me company

Ready for when it was needed

This tea cup is around thirty years old

It has been with me in the various countries and cities

I have lived in

It has witnessed many things

It is one of the constants in all the changes in my life

Let’s have some tea!

January 10th, 2022

Less than

Jun3

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The first time I realized I was black was long ago

Someone had to point that out to me

To tell me that I was different from them

To tell me that I was less than them

 

And at that moment

My whole world changed

I saw the divide

I realized that  the colour of my skin

Has put me in a different class

A class that is less than

 

Can you imagine how I felt?

Can you imagine the confusion and the pain?

Can you imagine me realizing

That I would be treated based on the colour of my skin?

 

And the sad thing is it doesn’t have to be this way

The superiority of one race over another is taught

It’s taught by family and friends

It doesn’t have to be this way

 

June 3rd, 2020

Shades of grey

Feb28

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Wouldn’t if be easier if life
Were black and white
Something was either right or wrong
But life’s not like that
And things come in all shades of grey

And what is one to do
How is one to behave?
Does is depend on the shade of grey?
Or is grey moving into the territory of black
And we kid our selves?

The life’s questions are many
And the answers sometimes are illusive
Perhaps the passage of time
Will shed some light
On the dark recesses of life

 

February 27th, 2018

Blue and white

Aug4

Blue and white
Is the house of the Beloved
Where He stayed
Where hardship rained
Where verses were revealed

I look out the window
At the blue sea
See white clouds in the sky
The sun streaming in
Sending assurance
That it will not set
For a long time

A cool breeze comes from the sea
A welcome relief from the heat
The heat of summer
Reminiscent of the tribulations
That befell the Holy family here
Reminiscent of the heat radiating
From the revealed Word
Ready to set ablaze the hearts

I try to forget the heat
And realize how privileged I am
Realize where I’m standing

From this muddy water
The lotus bloomed
And appeared in great beauty
In great majesty!

Blue and white
The land and the sea
The sky and the clouds
Blue and white
The house of Abud, in Akka!

Lida Berghuis
July 2011

Written during our pilgrimage this July to the Baha’i Holy places in Israel, after visiting the House of Abud, in which the founder of the Baha’i Faith lived under house arrest, prisoner of the Ottoman empire for several years.