https://3speak.tv/watch?v=raj808/tgrlclmt
This morning I wrote a song called I’m Grateful that my Eyes are Clear.

The Buddhist sentiment of acceptance and gratitude runs deep through the verses of this song, however there is an element of sadness to it.

"The mind is the source of happiness and unhappiness by what it chooses to compare the experience with. If it chooses to compare it to something worse then it will create happiness, gratitude and pride but if it chooses to compare it to something better then it will create unhappiness, bitterness and envy."

I hope though, that in the main the song is uplifting.

While recognizing the negatives of humankind's duality, I hope that it shows the equal positive nature of our continuing evolution. The quote from Buddha above exemplifies how I see gratitude: the sad (or negative) things in life teach us needed lessons, while the posative things bring our attention to the joy that is at the heart of life.

This is how I view acceptance and gratitude 🙂🌿

Below are the lyrics and chords if anyone wants to play the song themselves.

C F

C F

C F

C

C F

C F

C

C F

C

All Lyrics are © @raj808, all rights reserved.

https://3speak.tv/watch?v=raj808/pqimwqcw
The salt air kissed my face,

The boat sailed on

Day waning, the sun burned low,

I scanned the water

Relief, pearly brine on port side,

As the anchor descended

I placed my face in the water,

I strapped my goggles on

Beaked parrot fish sailed by

I set off into the turquoises sheen,

Poetry is © raj808, all rights reserved.

The Breath of the Sea is a poem which employs various free-verse poetic techniques such as in-line rhymes, alliteration, assonance and experimentation with language/grammar.

It is also a persona poem, a type of poetry where you take on the mind-set of another person, or even as some poets have attempted an object.

In the case of 'The Breath of the Sea' it is inspired by my own scuba diving adventures, knowledge and love of tropical reefs. I have also been spearfishing in Belize, a somewhat dangerous undertaking as the local bull sharks are known for stealing spear fishers catches.

Although this didn't happen to me, I was told “just give up the fish and the shark will leave you alone” 🦈😂

These experiences have gifted me the memories to write this poem from the perspective one of the many tribes of South East Asian sea gypsies, some of whom subsists by free diving on reefs and spear fishing for their daily meals.

Thanks for reading 😉 🌿

CC license Media used:

**Thumbnail: **

'Filaments' by Scott Buckley is under a Creative Commons license Attribution 3.0 Shared by BreakingCopyright — Royalty Free Music

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In the whispers of the sea

The beach a prairie of sand

The ocean a mirror of fantasy,

As I wade into those waves

Waves, rhythmic like a heartbeat,

Seagulls cried in freedom's symphony,

Sandcastles like medieval keeps,

As the sun began its melting decent,

A memory etched into my soul,

Thanks for reading 🙂🌿

All poetry is © raj808, all rights reserved.

Creative Commons Sources:

Title picture by kordula vahle from Pixabay

Video 1: Video by Taryn Elliott: https://www.pexels.com/video/a-mother-and-child-standing-in-the-beach-water-throwing-rocks-3327105/

Music:

'Filaments' by Scott Buckley is under a Creative Commons license Attribution 3.0 Shared by BreakingCopyright — Royalty Free Music

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To fast forward to the performance of the song skip to 0.45 in the video.

As I mentioned in the video with this week's theme - "Let's Defeat The Distance" (Derrotemos A La Distancia)" - I could only go with one artist, and that's the king of good vibes Bob Marley, and a cover of his song One Love People Get Ready.

This was actually the first time I have ever played this tune on guitar, so please forgive me if my chord skills aren't quite as polished as other open mic entries... as to my singing voice 😂 I am trying to become more confident singing while playing guitar, but I still feel like I have a long way to go.

Lyrics included below.

One Love People Get Ready

One love, one heart

Let them all pass all their dirty remarks (one love)

One love, what about the one heart, one heart

Let's get together to fight this Holy Armagiddyon (one love)

Sayin', one love, what about the one heart? (one heart)

Give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right

I hope you enjoyed my rendition of 'One Love People Get Ready' by Bob Marley.

Let me know what you think of my cover in the comments.

Thanks for reading 🙂🌿

All media in this post is either my own, or shared for reference (as with the Hive and 3speak Logos) fair use.

I used DaVinci Resolve video editor to create this song and add some effects.

https://3speak.tv/watch?v=raj808/igdotmrh
To fast forward to the performance of the song skip to 1.56 in the video.

As I explained in the video I had a bit of thinking to do with the week's Hive Open Mic theme as I am an atheist, and so the theme - "Al Dios Que Adoramos" (The God We Worship) - seemed a none starter at first.

But when I thought about the central commonalities between all religions, once you get past the idea many religions push that 'their god' is the one true god (meaning everyone else is wrong 😂), once you get past that, the core idea that all religions share is that of faith.

I have religious friends - Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh and a practising Buddhist friend, and all of them describe faith in almost the same terms. Although they may express it in slightly different ways, it comes down to trust and love of their god along with the belief that their god is looking after them, or guiding them in some way out of love.

Once I realised this I decided to enter this edition despite not being religious, because the one thing I strive for in my life, and think that humanity as a whole needs to embrace and value more, is love.

Giving love unconditionally is one of the most positive and important human traits which we should nurture until it grows to become the dominant drive behind what we do as a species. Love negates conflict, if more people in the world expressed love rather than a constant need for competition; we’d live in a more peaceful and less divisive world.

Anyway, I don’t pretend to understand faith completely, it seems to me that you either have it or you don’t in a religious context. But I would strongly argue that non-religious people can have faith in ideas or concepts as I mentioned with my belief in the power of love as a force for good in the world.

I hope you enjoyed my rendition of 'Perfect Day' by Lou Reed.

Despite the fact Lou Reed wrote that song inspired by something completely different to what it inspires in me, I love that song. It encapsulates that feeling of a perfect day filled with love, laughter and joy.

But I'll stop now with all this before I reach level eight on the Richter scale of cheesiness 😂

Let me know what you think of my cover in the comments.

Thanks for reading 🙂🌿

All media in this post is either my own, or shared for reference (as with the Lou Reed song) fair use.

https://3speak.tv/watch?v=raj808/gzjupjng
I was inspired by the prompt for this week's Hive Open Mic "Hasta El Extremo" to cover The Pixies song 'Where is My Mind' as I explained in the video it seemed to fit nicely with the two translations I could find into English of 'To The Extreme' or 'To The End'.

I always remember the scene at the end of Fight Club where the buildings are blowing up all around while the character’s Tyler Durden and Marla Singer sit and watch from the top of a nearby skyscraper. Where is My Mind is playing in the background and as the financial system collapses along with half of the major corporations in a America, I realised that this film spoke to a lot of the hidden mechanisms of power that keep patterns of control alive in this world.

For those who don't know the movie or ending I'm talking about here is a version of the ending I found on YouTube:

The Pixies 'Where is my Mind' does seem to encapsulate the theme that author Chuck Palahniuk sets out in Fight Club. For me it expresses the prompt "Hasta El Extremo" in its translation 'To The Extreme' as the whole point of the movie is one man's splitting of personality and fracturing of societal conditioning, building a cult-like following who finally take down the major institutions of the American state.

It is an anarchists dream written expertly, to the extreme, with skill and pathos.

I am a massive fan of Chuck Palahniuk as an author and highly recommend his other books, especially Choke and Survivor both of which are stand out for me, but not for the faint of heart.

Thanks for reading and listening to my version of 'Where is my Mind'.

https://3speak.tv/watch?v=raj808/upwfdaaw
As I said in the introduction to this cover, some people might think me completely crazy to cover Hurt (originally written and performed by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails) with the theme of this week’s Hive Open Mic 153 as Tú Estás Conmigo (in English: “You Are With Me.”).

There is no other time when I want my friends with me than at these times of loss, and although there is a strong overtone in the song Hurt (and there has been a lot of debate) whether the original artist Trent Reznor was writing about the loss incurred by, and caused to others, by drug addiction, the Johnny Cash version speaks to me of loss of a loved one, rather than loss of self.

It is literally the tune I play when I need a cathartic release, and it got me through the hardest loss I ever had to deal with when my best friend died eight years ago of alcoholic-related blood poisoning. It was Johnny Cash’s version I always play and was trying to emulate in my cover.

Johnny Cash Version:

So, I’d like to say to anyone else out there who has lost a loved one, or is morning right now “I Am With You.” I hope that through Hive we can reach across national divides, oceans and whole continents so that anyone reading or listening to this song can feel: You Are With Me, as I am with you!

It is a universal truth that we all grieve, and we all need support in this grief.

I’m sorry to be so depressing... I shall try to come up with a more upbeat song for the next hive open mic where I submit a song 😅

I include both YouTube versions of the original by Nine Inch Nails (which does contain a curse word) and the Johnny Cash cover which Trent Reznor praised for its “sincerity and meaning”, adding “that song isn’t mine anymore”.

Nine Inch Nails Version:

I can’t pretend to have done justice to either version.

I find it impossible to play the guitar and sing together while keeping my voice in tune. This is why I had to split the lyric audio and guitar before splicing them together in DaVinci Resolve video editor.

This was just my attempt to let out some of the hurt that I’ve felt the last two months with some more friends passing away, and maybe Tú Estás Conmigo (you are with me).

Thanks for reading 🌿

All photos and media design used in this post is my own.

I would also like to give a big shout-out to @stickupboys (because they asked me to tag them) and also for inspiring me to try my guitar-based busking once again on hive.

The last time I performed in the open mic we were still all posting to that suspect @ned owned network steemit rather than hive. If you want to check out the only other entry I ever made here is a YouTube version of an Irish folk Ballad called Shanagolden – an Irish folk song which is basically a love song from a widow to her deceased soldier husband, killed in the ancient wars against the English.

Skip to 1.09 to go right to the song without any intro.

I hope you enjoy/ed the music boys… after watching your entry I can see were on a whole different level. I.e. I’m the busker you see on the street and think ‘dude maybe think about another line of work’ and you guys are real musicians 😂

https://3speak.tv/watch?v=raj808/hbdwppcw
#### About the Poem

Diving with Dolphins is a poem I wrote many moons ago after a very special day’s scuba diving at the end of a weeklong Liveaboard scuba diving trip at the red sea in Egypt.

As we returned from diving open ocean sites such as Daedalus and Elphinstone Reef the captain stopped at a particular reef where he said a resident pod of dolphins often interacted with scuba divers.

The Egyptian boat crew had acted as lookouts and with smiles were shouting at us to gear up as dolphins were only twenty metres from the boat.

I can still remember the excitement as I put on all my gear and did my safety checks with my buddy at the time… I wasn’t to be disappointed.

After jumping in and descending to around ten metres the curious pod of dolphins passed above us at breakneck speed before circling back and swimming past us so close you could feel the backdraft from their powerful fins.

One young especially curious dolphin spent around fifteen minutes turning circles around us, hanging upside down above us and generally showing off how nimble it was to our clumsy human pod

I remember being sure that this guy was playing with us, and the intelligence in its eyes was undeniable. It is experiences like these that convince me that the majority of humankind has got it completely wrong in how they assess other animal species. Dolphins are perfectly adapted to their environment, highly social and exhibit both behaviours of teaching/learning and play.

We would do well to apply a different methodology in studying creatures like these by assuming they are as intelligent as we are, and then working backwards to find the truth of the matter rather than inventing experiments that assume they are of a lesser intelligence.

I have personally become convinced through interactions like these that it is not a matter of levels of intelligence, but rather types and applications of intelligence.

What do you think… does the poem and film adequately express the experience I had when scuba diving with a pod of wild dolphins?

Let me know in the comments 🙂

The poetry in this video is:

Attributions - All sources are creative commons.

Music: the music used in this track is in the public domain, free to use under copyright law. Link: Source

The digital art used as thumbnail in this post was made by me using a combination of deep dream generator & to GIMP to add titles. If you have enjoyed this poem you can check out my other work on my homepage @raj808.

Video Sources from Pexels.com:

https://www.pexels.com/video/a-pod-of-dolphins-hunting-sardines-5607991/

Thanks for watching 🌿

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#### Editing Poetry Videos

I spent some time today learning how to use DaVinci Resolve basic video editing suit for this poetry video, and I've got to say it is one hell of a decent bit of kit for a free editor.

No watermarks, plenty of effects/transitions and an intuitive user interface. Anyway, I'm not working on commission from blackmagicdesign.com who made the software, so I'll leave the big ups to a minimum 😂

Opus of the Seasons is an original poem I wrote about the feelings inspired by the cyclic nature of reality and the changing of the seasons. It explores themes of renewal and the rhythmic patterns that nature engenders in the soul. The unending cycle of growth and decay that takes on a beautiful significance as we get older.

I find that the natural rhythms of the turning seasons can bring great comfort throughout life, in observing them we can come to terms with our own mortality on a much more profound level.

Anyway, enough of my poetic ramblings… the poem says it better than I can in prose.

Please do check out the video reading, and let me know what you think in the comments.

The poetry in this video is:

Attributions - All sources are creative commons.

Music: the track is called Ashes, by Radical Face from noisetrade.com

The picture used to create the art in this post is from pixabay.com, creative commons. Please follow link to credit. I used deep dream generator to modify the image and GIMP to add titles. If you have enjoyed this poem you can check out my other work on my homepage @raj808.

Video Sources from Pexels.com:

https://www.pexels.com/video/a-raft-of-ducks-paddling-in-a-lake-4094960/

https://www.pexels.com/video/side-view-of-a-rapid-in-the-fast-flowing-river-5605957/

https://www.pexels.com/video/leaf-floating-on-water-854420/

Thanks for reading 🌿

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I have a tradition of selecting and creating a video reading of a famous poem at Christmas.

This year I’d like to share Ring Out Wild Bells by Alfred Tennyson, which I chose for its uplifting theme of redemption.

Although Tennyson was describing a religious redemption, and return to Christ, I find this poem ultimately profound in the context of our modern day society. Lines such as “Ring out the narrowing lust of gold” and “Ring out the thousand wars of old, Ring in the thousand years of peace” speak to a universal hope for humankind. Even outside of a religious context, these hopes hold true.

This is the power of Tennyson’s Christmas poem – to remind us of those truths eternal.

Ring Out, Wild Bells is part of Tennyson’s long elegy ‘In Memoriam’, which was published in 1850. This poem pretty much concludes Alfred Tennyson‘s elegy for his friend Arthur Henry Hallam, who died suddenly in 1833.

The poem encompasses themes of redemption and rebirth, reminding us of the new life that springs forth from the shadow of dying. In more immediate terms this poem shows the poet regaining his faith and overcoming his grief when hearing the bells ringing in Christmas Day.

Source: poets.org

Creative Commons Licence Resources used to create this video:

Video by cottonbro studio: https://www.pexels.com/video/hands-festival-party-music-4440821/

Image by Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke: https://pixabay.com/illustrations/bell-jar-gold-golden-ring-1015468/

Image by Gerhard Janson: https://pixabay.com/photos/bells-chains-isolated-christmas-2988754/

Image by Gerd Altmann: https://pixabay.com/illustrations/christmas-stars-ice-crystal-935458/