Bewitched

Detail of "Hope Prevails" by Mary Josephson at Laura Russo Gallery.

Chantler63 Shakespeare Challenge, National Poetry Writing Month
Day 3: The Wyrd Sisters - the evil witches in ‘Macbeth’)

"Double, double toil and trouble"
— The three witches, 'Macbeth' Act IV Scene 1.
Could they be talking about trying to do too many challenges?

In his Yoga Sutras, Patanjali tells us how to practice: what we should renounce (violence, lies, etc.) and what we should observe (cleanliness, contentment, etc.).
I have been going through these ‘yamas’ and ‘niyamas’ with my yoga teacher as we practice on the mat, discussing how they apply to the poses and to life in general.

This week: santosha, or contentment.
In his book on Patanjali, Edwin F. Bryant quotes the sage Vyasa on santosha: “Whatever happiness there may be in enjoyment in this world, and whatever greater happiness there may be in the celestial world, they do not amount to one sixteenth of the happiness attained from the cessation of desire.”
Clearly, Vyasa never tried to write a novel.


SANTOSHA LATER

There’s lunch with Bill the Dean today,
And splashing in the pool,
And watching lily buds unfurl,
And Yoga Sutras school.

More pleasant ways I cannot think
To spend my precious time,
But there’s that novel to be writ
While I just blip and rhyme.

The novel, oh the novel, oh,
Its glorious end I see!
And till I reach that pinnacle
Contentment’s not for me.

I’ll nail that blasted novel soon—
I swear it’s do or die—
Or scribble it and edit it
Till a’ the seas gang dry.

Santosha, oh, santosha, oh,
Contentment I would seek,
But till that blasted novel’s done
Contentment’s chance is bleak.

When I let go they fall away
Like petals in the rain—
Santosha and the novel both,
A double dose of pain.

Just think if Avon’s Bard had said
“To be or not to be?
I’m tired of Hamlet and Macbeth.
It’s Vegas now for me.”

Just think if Robbie Burns had said,
Mopping his weary brow,
“Forget the red red roses, Luve,
I’m going fishing now.”

When Times bestseller I’ve become
Time for contentment’s nigh,
But till that day I’ll scribble on
Till a’ the seas gang dry.