Tales of Life in Light and Shadow: Heart-Songs Seeking Resonant Harmonies

By Y. Yi Pang

These verses are the intense songs that my awakened heart sang out while fully engaged in living. They are songs asking questions, songs seeking answers, songs expressing pain, songs celebrating love, songs of appreciation and gratitude, and songs on a quest to create harmony and reconciliation. However, while reaching for light, I recognized the importance also of shadow. For without either, the landscape of our lives becomes featureless, lacking texture and depth. So the songs always tell tales of both light and shadow. But I do not only speak through my heart-songs, they also speak through me and to me.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris UK
• Release date: Jun 25, 2013
• ISBN: 9781483646619

Y. Yi Pang

Y. Yi Pang was born in Hong Kong but spent most of her childhood in Hawaii and Washington State. She studied mathematics in Seattle and Vancouver, Canada. She went on to study philosophy of education, earning her doctorate in this field from the University of British Columbia. Life and love then took her to Heidelberg, Germany, where all aspects of life became her private study. She now lives with her husband and son near Heidelberg in a largely self-designed, ecologically built home with a library. Although previously published, this is her first book and non-academic work.

Book preview

CONTENTS

AUTHOR’S NOTE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Tales Of Life In Light And Shadow

This New Voice

Under The Smiling Sun

Most Treasured Gift

Inspiration

Thirst

Unexpected Journey

I Am Here To Stay

On The Boundary

The One Heart I Broke

Byways Of Life

The Rest Is Up To You

Don’t Lose Yourself

You’ve Hooked My Heart

You And I

A Life Well Lived

Unfolding Heart

Apart

Wallow

Get Unplugged

Love Wars

Lives Cut Short

In A Rush

Your Dancing Eyes

Get Earthed

Suddenly Happy

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T o my family,

y ou nurture me and challenge me,

a nd

t o NH for the inspiration

t hat started me on this journey.

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A s my inner space continues to grow

I am able to encompass the whole world

I n my heart and in my soul

T hus engaged, with passion and wit

T hrough light and shadow, and all shades betwixt

Y et let it be, as it would be

A nd so accepting, am set free.

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AUTHOR’S NOTE

AND

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

T hese heart-songs are verses without fixed form. They came to me as is, sometimes rhyming, sometimes not—loosely held together and following no fixed or explicit rules of meter or rhythm. I call them songs because they came to me with a vague sense of music in them. My musical talents are, unfortunately, much too limited to write accompanying music. I sometimes think of the verses as lyrics missing their music or as songs without audible music. The lyric designation sounds more poetic, and it makes me smile to envision my verses searching for their lost musical companions. But the second designation is more true to my original perception that music already exists there on the edge, somewhere just beyond what is audible to our ears. Maybe some readers will also perceive this music. And perhaps for each reader, the music will be different, as readers will bring to their reading rhythms and harmonies of their own. I see it as a kind of dance between my heart-songs and the poetic and musical minds and hearts of those who choose to engage with them. With this book, I invite the readers to participate in this dance. In the end, the readers will decide for themselves if and where music comes in, and they will co-create the music they perceive as they read.

The themes in these songs come from my reflections and ruminations on life. They were inspired by