My loneliness was born when men praised my talkative faults and blamed my silent virtues.
I am a stranger, and I shall remain a stranger until the white and friendly wings of Death carry me home into my beautiful country. There, where light and peace and understanding abide, I will await the other strangers who will be rescued by the friendly trap of time from this narrow, dark world.
Khalil Gibran
Khalil Gibran
Other things may change us, but we start and end with the family.
Family life is too intimate to be preserved by the spirit of justice.
It can be sustained by a spirit of love which goes beyond justice.
Anthony Brandt
Reinhold Niebuhr
I yearn for pebbles on the beach
I am half alive
Each telling me their tale of
Endless wearing away by incessant waves
So they become more rounded
Lose their sharp edges
Display their colours more fully
Deeply connected
To those stratas
Where they were formed over millennia
Rising like providence to be shaped
And need smoothing off
And smelling them
They are authentic and real
Oh God
I thirst
For that.
Excerpt From"Fireflies"
"Fireflies" is a collection of proverbs, aphorisms, and maxims from India, China, and Japan. Collected by Rabindranath Tagore over many years.
My fancies are fireflies,—
Rabindranath Tagore
Specks of living light
twinkling in the dark.
The voice of wayside pansies,
that do not attract the careless glance,
murmurs in these desultory lines.
In the drowsy dark caves of the mind
dreams build their nest with fragments
dropped from day's caravan.
Spring scatters the petals of flowers
that are not for the fruits of the future,
but for the moment's whim.
Joy freed from the bond of earth's slumber
rushes into numberless leaves,
and dances in the air for a day.
My words that are slight
my lightly dance upon time's waves
when my works havy with import have gone down.
Mind's underground moths
grow filmy wings
and take a farewell flight
in the sunset sky.
The essence of our effort to see that every child has a chance must be to assure each an equal opportunity, not to become equal, but to become different -- to realize whatever unique potential of body, mind and spirit he or she possesses.
John Fischer
Thou shalt not lay stripes upon these Roman citizens; for their docility is such, they are guided without rein or lash; they go or come, halt or march on, at a whisper. So grave, dignified, gentlemanly, and courteous did these fine truck-horses look - so full of calm intelligence and sagacity, that often I endeavored to get into conversation with them, as they stood in contemplative attitudes while their loads were preparing.
But all I could get from them was the mere recognition of a friendly neigh; though I would stake much upon it that, could I have spoken in their language, I would have derived from them a good deal of valuable information touching the docks, where they passed the whole of their dignified lives.
Herman Melville, Redburn. His First Voyage, 1849
IF I KNEW
If I knew it would be the last time
Norma Cornett Marek
That I'd see you fall asleep,
I would tuck you in more tightly
and pray the Lord, your soul to keep.
If I knew it would be the last time
that I see you walk out the door,
I would give you a hug and kiss
and call you back for just one more.
If I knew it would be the last time
I'd hear your voice lifted up in praise,
I would video tape each action and word,
so I could play them back throughout my days.
If I knew it would be the last time,
I could spare an extra minute
to stop and say "I love you,"
instead of assuming you would KNOW I do.
If I knew it would be the last time
I would be there to share your day,
Well I'm sure you'll have so many more,
so I can let just this one slip away.
For surely there's always tomorrow
to make up for an oversight,
and we always get a second chance
to make everything just right.
There will always be another day
to say "I love you,"
And certainly there's another chance
to say "Anything I can do?"
But just in case I might be wrong,
and today is all I get,
I'd like to say how much I love you
and I hope we never will forget.
Tomorrow is not promised to anyone,
young or old alike,
And today may be the last chance
you get to hold your loved one tight.
So if you're waiting for tomorrow,
why not do it today?
For if tomorrow never comes,
you'll surely regret the day,
That you didn't take that extra time
for a smile, a hug, or a kiss
and you were too busy to grant someone,
what turned out to be their one last wish.
So hold your loved ones close today,
and whisper in their ear,
Tell them how much you love them
and that you'll always hold them dear
Take time to say "! I'm sorry,"
"Please forgive me," "Thank you," or "It's okay! ."
And if tomorrow never comes,
you'll have no regrets about today.
It Will Pass
A student went to his meditation teacher and said, "My meditation is horrible! I feel so distracted, or my legs ache, or I'm constantly falling asleep. It's just horrible!" "It will pass," the teacher said matter-of-factly.
A week later, the student came back to his teacher. "My meditation is wonderful! I feel so aware, so peaceful, so alive! It's just wonderful!'
"It will pass,"
the teacher replied matter-of-factly.
Two monks were washing their bowls in the river when they noticed a scorpion that was drowning. One monk immediately scooped it up and set it upon the bank. In the process he was stung. He went back to washing his bowl and again the scorpion fell in. The monk saved the scorpion and was again stung.
The other monk asked him, "Friend, why do you continue to save the scorpion when you know it's nature is to sting?"
"Because," the monk replied, "to save it is my nature."
The Nature of Things
Scepticism is the chastity of the intellect, and it is
shameful to surrender it too soon or to the first comer:
there is nobility in preserving it coolly and proudly
through long youth, until at last, in the ripeness of
instinct and discretion, it can be safely exchanged
for fidelity and happiness.
George Santayana
LAY IT DOWN
I've been looking till my eyes are tired of looking
I know that You know that my heart is aching
All of my hopes and my dreams and my best laid plans
So I'm gonna lay it down, I'm gonna learn to trust You now
I've been walking through this world like I'm barely living
This room may be dark but I'm finally seeing
'Cause all of my hopes and my dreams and my best laid plans
So I'm gonna lay it down, I'm gonna learn to trust You now
Jaci Velasquez
Listening till my ears are numb from listening
Praying till my knees are sore from kneeling
On the bedroom floor
I'm running out of tears and my will is breaking
I don't think that I can carry the burden of it anymore
Are slowly slipping through my folded hands
What else can I do everything I am depends on You
And if the sun don't come back up,I know Your love will be enough
I'm gonna let it be, I'm gonna let it go, I'm gonna lay it down
Buried in the doubt of this hole I've been digging
But you're pulling me out and I'm finally breathing
In the open air
There's a new ray of hope and now I'm believing
That the past is the past and the future?s beginning
To look brighter now
Are safe and secure when I place them in Your hands
What else can I do everything I am depends on You
And if the sun don't come back up,Your love,Your love will be enough
I'm gonna let it be, I'm gonna let it go, I'm gonna lay it down
I'm gonna lay it down, I'm gonna lay it down
There is an eternal landscape, a geography of the soul;
When it comes, the Landscape listens - Shadows - hold their breath - When it goes, 'tis like the Distance on the look of Death
Life is like a landscape. You live in the midst of it but can describe it only from the vantage point of distance.
we search for its outlines all our lives.
Josephine Hart
Emily Dickinson
Charles Lindbergh
The Love Song
A poet once wrote a love song and it was beautiful. And he made many copies of it, and sent them to his friends and his acquaintances, both men and women, and even to a young woman whom he had met but once, who lived beyond the mountains.
And in a day or two a messenger came from the young woman bringing a letter. And in the letter she said, “Let me assure you, I am deeply touched by the love song that you have written to me. Come now, and see my father and my mother, and we shall make arrangements for the betrothal".
And the poet answered the letter, and he said to her, “My friend, it was but a song of love out of a poet's heart, sung by every man to every woman.”
And she wrote again to him saying, “Hypocrite and liar in words! From this day unto my coffin-day I shall hate all poets for your sake.”
Khalil Gibran
Hearts In Me
If I look to the world with hearts in my eyes
If I touch the world with hearts in my hands
If I listen to the world with hearts in my ears
If I speak with the world with hearts in my mouth
If I think of the world with hearts in my mind
If I reach for the world with hearts in my palms
Jay Woodman
Then surely I’ll be intrigued and inspired.
Then surely I’ll learn how to understand.
Then surely I’ll truly be able to hear.
Then surely I’ll be kind and gentle enough.
Then surely I’ll be awake to all life.
Then surely its love will flow through my arms.
The heart speaks every language,
Do not think you are weak when your heart feels heavy.
It means you have been strong for too long and now your
heart must weep.
For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart.
It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul.
knows only one word,
now…now…now…
All eternity is here.
Peter Hulen
Brigitte Nicole
Judy Garland
Friendship
Some Friendships are like leaves;when skies are fair
William Wilsey Martin
Their green flags flutter,making glad the day;
But when the chill winds blow,they fall away
And leave the quiv'ring branches cold and bare.
Break not an ancient friendship; keep it hale;
Stir round its roots, that it be green of heart;
Let not the spirit of its growth depart:
It is a power to brave the strongest gale.
The Arrow and the Song
I shot an arrow into the air,
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.
I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?
Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.
Stanzas to a Friend
And as the varying seasons glide away,
Mary Darby Robinson
This moral lesson shall my bosom learn,
How TIME steals on, while blissful hours decay
Like fleeting shadows;NEVER to return.
And when I see thy warm unspotted mind,
Torn with the wound of broken FRIENDSHIP'S dart;
When sickness chills thy breast with pangs unkind,
Or ruthless sorrow preys upon thy heart;
The task be MINE to soothe thee to repose,
To check the sigh, and wipe the trickling tear,
Or with soft SYMPATHY to share thy woes;
O, proudest rapture of the soul sincere !
And ye who flutter thro' the vacant hour,
Where tasteless Apathy's empoison'd wand
Arrests the vagrant sense with numbing pow'r,
While vanquish'd REASON bows at her command.
O say, what bliss can transient Life bestow,
What balm so grateful to the social mind,
As FRIENDSHIP'S voicewhere gentle precepts flow
From the blest source of sentiment refin'd?
When FATE'S stern hand shall close my weeping eye,
And seal, at length, my wand'ring spirit's doom;
Oh! may kind FRIENDSHIP catch my parting sigh,
And cheer with HOPE the terrors of the TOMB.
Portrait of a Friend
I can't give solutions to all of life's problems, doubts,
Unknown
or fears. But I can listen to you, and together we will
search for answers.
I can't change your past with all it's heartache and pain,
nor the future with its untold stories.
But I can be there now when you need me to care.
I can't keep your feet from stumbling.
I can only offer my hand that you may grasp it and not fall.
Your joys,triumphs,successes,and happiness are not mine;
Yet I can share in your laughter.
Your decisions in life are not mine to make, nor to judge;
I can only support you, encourage you,
and help you when you ask.
I can't prevent you from falling away from friendship,
from your values, from me.
I can only pray for you, talk to you and wait for you.
I can't give you boundaries which I have determined for you,
But I can give you the room to change, room to grow,
room to be yourself.
I can't keep your heart from breaking and hurting,
But I can cry with you and help you pick up the pieces
and put them back in place.
I can't tell you who you are.
I can only love you and be your friend.
