Quotes from "Stray Birds" which I read today:

God grows weary of great kingdoms, but never of little flowers.

The woodcutter's axe begged for its handle from the tree. The tree gave it. 


"I give my whole water in joy," sings the waterfall, "though little of it is enough for the thirsty."

If you shed tears when you miss the sun, you also miss the stars. 

Listen, my heart, to the whispers of the world with which it makes love to you.

What you are you do not see, what you see is your shadow. 

I cannot choose the best. The best chooses me.

The leaf becomes flower when it loves.
The flower becomes fruit when it worships.

By plucking her petals you do not gather the beauty of the flower.

"I have lost my dewdrop," cries the flower to the morning sky that has lost all its stars.
 
 "How may I sing to thee and worship, O Sun?" asked the little flower.
"By the simple silence of thy purity," answered the sun.
  
From "Stray Birds" 
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/tagore/strybrds.htm

“Look at the beauty and perfection of nature. Everything in nature is so joyful, even though it doesn’t have the intelligence of a human being. All of creation is rejoicing. The most beautiful flowers are picked by people-torn by their stems. Some are made into garlands while others are trampled heedlessly. A flower has such a short life span, and yet it offers itself wholeheartedly to others; it even offers its own nectar to the bees -and yet it is happy. The stars are twinkling in the sky, the rivers are flowing blissfully, the branches of the trees are dancing in the wind, and the birds are bursting into song. You should ask yourself, ‘Why, then, do I feel so miserable living in the midst of all this joyful celebration?’”Ask the question, ‘why,’ repeatedly, and you will find the answer. The answer is that the flowers, stars, rivers, trees and birds do not have an ego; and, being egoless, nothing can hurt them. When you are egoless, you can only rejoice. Even occasions that would normally be painful are transformed into moments of joy.”

Amma

It is true that the flowers are singing.  What makes their singing beautiful is their lack of ego.

I am reading Robert Frost and reflecting upon this.  What's the point of loving flowers, which we can only see during the day. We must learn to appreciate the leaves which we hear rustle in the dark and bark which we can lean against in the dark. Flowers don't support you in the night. Barks do. You don't hear flowers rustle at night.  You hear leaves.  Frost may have been a slave to a springtime passion for the earth once; but now his has better appreciation. Leaves are his darker mood!  



Leaves Compared with Flowers
- Robert Frost

I slept all day.
The birds do thus
That sing a while
At eve for us

To have you soon
I gave away --
Well satisfied
To give -- a day

Life's not so short
I care to keep
The unhappy days;
I choose to sleep.



Other poems by Robert Frost