All that passes descends,and ascends again unseeninto the light: the rivercoming down from skyto hills, from hills to sea,and carving as it moves,to rise invisible,gathered to light, to returnagain. “The river’s injuryis its shape.” I’ve learned no more.We are what we are givenand what is taken away;blessed be the nameof the giver and taker.For everything…
Day’s sweetest moments are at dawn;Refreshed by his long sleep, the LightKisses the languid lips of Night,Ere she can rise and hasten on.All glowing from his dreamless restHe holds her closely to his breast,Warm lip to lip and limb to limb,Until she dies for love of him.– Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Dawn Sleeping in is relative…
The sun set in the sea; the same odd sunrose from the sea,and there was one of it and one of me.– Elizabeth Bishop, Crusoe in England An old work acquaintance moved to the city, and walks to an embarrassment of great restaurants just down the street. I asked her about the noise and such…
“Whose woods these are I think I know.His house is in the village though;He will not see me stopping hereTo watch his woods fill up with snow. My little horse must think it queerTo stop without a farmhouse nearBetween the woods and frozen lakeThe darkest evening of the year. He gives his harness bells a…
How many hoursdo I sit hereaching to do what I do not dowhen, suddenly,he throws a single note higher than the othersso that I feelthe green field of hope, and then, descending,all this world’s sorrow,so deadly, so beautiful.– Mary Oliver, Schubert Today is the anniversary of the death of Franz Schubert, who passed away at…
“Ask yourself: What is the best I can do? And then do that.” – Cheryl Strayed “The unifying theme is resilience and faith. The unifying theme is being a warrior and a motherfucker. It is not fragility. It’s strength. It’s nerve. And ‘if your Nerve deny you—,’ as Emily Dickinson wrote, ‘Go above your Nerve.’”…
Time drops in decay, Like a candle burnt out, And the mountains and woods Have their day, have their day; What one in the rout Of the fire-born moods Has fallen away?– WB Yeats, The Moods The Moods, as I understand it, are the messengers from God (God, in turn, is fire). Whatever your beliefs,…
Out-worn heart, in a time out-worn,Come clear of the nets of wrong and right;Laugh, heart, again in the gray twilight;Sigh, heart, again in the dew of the morn.Thy mother Eire is always young,Dew ever shining and twilight gray,Though hope fall from thee or love decayBurning in fires of a slanderous tongue.Come, heart, where hill is…
Aren’t there moments that are better than knowing something, and sweeter? At 4:30 in the morning, I realized I was unable to sleep any longer as I became increasingly aware of the fan tap-tap-tapping me to alertness. This wake-up hour is becoming a disturbing trend, and I fought it as long as I felt reasonable…
We are reconciled, I think,to too much.Better to be a bird, like this one-An ornament of the eternal.As he came down once, to the nest of the grass,“Squander the day, but save the soul,”I heard him say.– Mary Oliver, The Lark We become especially adept at committing ourselves to activities with the least return on…
