Notes to Poem: Meditations on 69

NOTES TO POEM:
Meditations on 69:
Beautiful music, do not cease!

By Peter Y. Chou, WisdomPortal.com

Line in Poem	Literary Sources
I am the Radiant One, eldest of the gods— Bright, splendid, like Dawn's light of heaven. Let heaven and earth and the seas praise him and give thanks before the Lord of Spirits.	Egyptian Book of the Dead, Ch. 69 (1250 BC) Rig Veda, I. 69.1 (1500 BC) King David, Psalms 69.34 (1000 BC) Book of Enoch, LXIX (circa 105 B.C.-64 B.C.)
Take the Supreme Mind as thy guide— Enlarge my vision that I may see You, Grace works its mysteries within the soul blessings with boundless love and joy.	Pythagoras, Golden Verses, Verse 69 (500 BC) Marsilio Ficino, On the Soul, Letter 69 (1499) Saint Diadochos of Photiki, Philokalia, Text 69 (486) Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ, Chapter 69 (1908)
The correct principle is central and straight. Nothing goes beyond it— Only this. The awakened sage has renounced the world, purified & enlightened dwelling with the gods.	Ch'eng Hao, Selected Sayings Section 69 (1085) Master Kido, Every End Exposed, Koan 69 (1269) Ashtavakra Gita, 18.69 (400 BC) Plato, Phaedo, 69c (360 BC)
They look into the beauty of thy mind, remembered with what has gone before of the deep rivers, and the lonely streams— See, see that God is everywhere and whirling.	William Shakespeare, Sonnets LXIX (1616) James Joyce, Finnegans Wake, p. 69, line 31 (1939) William Wordsworth, "Tintern Abbey", Line 69 (1798), Hafiz, The Gift Poem 69 "The Millstone's Talents" (1389)
My whole head is a valley! valley! valley! I am one with the twilight's dream— through love I will be, you will be, we'll be a mystery which will never happen again.	Kenneth Koch, Collected Poems, Poem 69 (2006) A.E., Song and Its Fountains, Page 69 (1932) Pablo Neruda, 100 Love Sonnets, Sonnet 69 (1959) e.e. cummings, Xaipe, Poems 69 (1958)
We are like the sun shining in the blue sky— nothing deeper than our minds to call the stars. Penetrate the eternity of the moment— All things come from this source— the ONE.	Wei Wu Wei, Asked the Awakened, Chapter 69 (1963) e.e. cummings, 95 Poems, Poems 69 (1958) Subramuniyaswami, Merging with Siva, Lesson 69 (1999) Paul Brunton, Notebooks, Volume 16, Part 3, 2.69 (1988)
We are thirsty for the heron and the lake— Look within your heart, there you will find my shadow comes silently to meet me— my own shadow, a violin in its black case.	Robert Bly, Stealing Sugar, Poem 69 "The Heron" (2013) Kabir, Songs of Kabir, LXIX (1518) Anna Akhmatova, Selected Poems, Poem 69 (1921) Tomas Tranströmer, Half-Finished Heaven, Poem 68 (2000)
Stream of life dances in rhythmic measures caught for an instant like a snowflake— Sweet sounds, oh, beautiful music, do not cease! burst in thunder of oneness— dream! joy! soul!	Rabindranath Tagore, Gitanjali, Verse 69 (1912) Stephen Mitchell, Parables and Portraits, Poem 69 (1990) Edna St. Vincent Millay, Sonnet 69 (1941) e.e. cummings, 73 Poems, Poems 69 (1963)

Meditation Notes to Poem:

This poem was written for my friend Cathy's 69th birthday on August 5, 2020.
For context of sources for the lines, consult my web page On Number 69 to see
how this poem was constructed. Despite the difference in space and time of the
composition of each line, what unites these writers quoted is the number 69.
Writer's words appeared in verse 69, sonnet 69, chapter 69, line 69, or page 69.
The poem was arranged essentially in chronological order from "I am the Radiant One, eldest of the gods—" in Egyptian Book of the Dead, Ch. 69 (1250 B.C.) to Stephen Mitchell's "caught for an instant like a snowflake" from Poem 69 "Vermeer" in his Parables and Portraits (1990).