Hope

Hoping for peace on Earth;
Wishing upon shooting stars;
Taking chances to make things right;
Helping others, and listening well;
Making problems disappear;
Giving heart in all we do;
To give love, and never take;
Will give us hope; and one day peace.

by Abegail Samson

Lost...

My Angel...
Where are you?
I'm lost, confused, alone...
I cannot see you...
There is darkness around me;
The fire has died, my light blown away
By an unwanted breeze...
I am wandering, going around and around
in circles...
Is there no end to this loneliness?

My Angel...
Where are you?
My heart is sad, it cannot hear your songs.
All I hear is the echo of your love,
Its melody fading...
Fading...
Fading...

Now there is only silence, maddening silence.
It is suffocating, draining my heart of your songs...
Is there no escape from this madness?

My Angel...
Where are you?
I am cold...
I cannot feel your wings around me,
Cannot feel your loving arms to embrace me...
There is only emptiness...
Emptiness that pulls, and pushes, and shoves...
The emptiness is within me, devouring me whole,
Leaving nothing left but an empty soul...
Where are you, my Angel? Come to me, fill me up with your love... Make me
whole again...
Do not leave me in this pit of despair...

My Angel...
Where are you?
I cannot see you, hear you, feel you...
Have you gone away from me? have you taken away my heart...

... My Angel,

... where are you?


by John Laset

Look Well to This Day

Look well to this day,
For it and it alone is life.
In its brief course
Lie all the essence of your existence:

The Glory of Growth
The Satisfaction of Achievement
The Splendor of Beauty

For yesterday is but a dream,
And tomorrow is but a vision.
But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness,
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.

by Anonymous, 50 B.C.

Touched by An Angel

We, unaccustomed to courage

exiles from delight

live coiled in shells of loneliness

until love leaves its high holy temple

and comes into our sight

to liberate us into life.

Love arrives

and in its train come ecstasies

old memories of pleasure

ancient histories of pain.

Yet if we are bold,

love strikes away the chains of fear

from our souls.

We are weaned from our timidity

In the flush of love’s light

we dare be brave

And suddenly we see

that love costs all we are

and will ever be.

Yet it is only love

which sets us free.

The Don't Quit Poem

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don't you quit. 


Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up though the pace seems slow--
You may succeed with another blow. 


Often the goal is nearer than,
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up,
When he might have captured the victor's cup,
And he learned too late when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown. 


Success is failure turned inside out--
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit--
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.

The Performance

The last time I saw Donald Armstrong   

He was staggering oddly off into the sun,   

Going down, off the Philippine Islands.   

I let my shovel fall, and put that hand

Above my eyes, and moved some way to one side

That his body might pass through the sun,

And I saw how well he was not

Standing there on his hands,

On his spindle-shanked forearms balanced,   

Unbalanced, with his big feet looming and waving   

In the great, untrustworthy air

He flew in each night, when it darkened.

Dust fanned in scraped puffs from the earth

Between his arms, and blood turned his face inside out,   

To demonstrate its suppleness

Of veins, as he perfected his role.

Next day, he toppled his head off

On an island beach to the south,

And the enemy’s two-handed sword   

Did not fall from anyone’s hands   

At that miraculous sight,

As the head rolled over upon

Its wide-eyed face, and fell

Into the inadequate grave

He had dug for himself, under pressure.   

Yet I put my flat hand to my eyebrows   

Months later, to see him again

In the sun, when I learned how he died,   

And imagined him, there,

Come, judged, before his small captors,

Doing all his lean tricks to amaze them—

The back somersault, the kip-up—

And at last, the stand on his hands,   

Perfect, with his feet together,

His head down, evenly breathing,

As the sun poured from the sea

And the headsman broke down   

In a blaze of tears, in that light   

Of the thin, long human frame   

Upside down in its own strange joy,

And, if some other one had not told him,   

Would have cut off the feet

Instead of the head,

And if Armstrong had not presently risen   

In kingly, round-shouldered attendance,   

And then knelt down in himself

Beside his hacked, glittering grave, having done   

All things in this life that he could.

by James L. Dickey

All Is Finished - Tribute to Russell Means

I wanted to give something of my past to my grandson.
I told him that I would sing the sacred wolf song over him.
In my song, I appealed to the wolf to come and preside over us, while I would perform the wolf ceremony.
So that the bondage between my grandson and the wolf would be life long.
I sang.
In my voice was the hope that clings to every heartbeat.
I sang.
In my words were the powers I inherited from my forefathers.
I sang.
In my cupped hands lay a spruce seed, the link to creation.
I sang.
In my eyes, sparkled love.
And the song floated on the sun's rays from tree to tree.
When I had ended, it was as if the whole world listened with us to hear the wolf's reply.
We waited a long time but none came.
Again I sang, humbly but as invitingly as I could, until my throat ached and my voice gave out.
All of a sudden I realized why no wolves had heard my sacred song.
There were none left!
My heart filled with tears.
I could no longer give my grandson faith in the past, our past.
I wept in silence.
All is finished!
...Chief Dan George Salish (1899-1981)

John F. Kennedy

They stood five men at the catafalque
Motionless and mute and still
Erect, alert, aware of the grief
Of the people on the hill;
But most of all the gallant heart
That's stilled, is lying there
Under the draped flag of old glory
In the coffin that is in their care.

The measured tread of the changing guard
The click of the leader's heel
And five others take the place
Of the watchers over the steel,
For what was once the spirit brave
An idealist heart so proud,
Lies now in the rotunda of the hall
javascript:; Passed by a grieving crowd.

They gave their farewells to a brave spirit
A leader of freedoms call
Cut down in his prime, victim
He has paid his all.

by Bernice Brigham

When You Are Old

When you are old and gray and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true;
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face.

And bending down beside the glowing bars
Murmur, a little sadly, how love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And his his face amid a crowd of stars.

W. B. Yeats (1865-1939)

I Told Myself

I stand alone    

I told myself that life
With all its misgivings
Had much to offer, I struggled
I wept into my hands,
Feeling the cold winds
Of change and transition blow
I equivocated, whispering
Sweet nothings to myself
To carry on.
To believe in myself.
To embrace independence.
Mayhaps it was never enough.
No matter who told me that
It would be alright,
That I was smart and kind
That I was special
I never believed a word.
Whispering those same words
I tremble violently with
Uncertainty and fear.
I stood alone and felt helpless
I braced against my desire
To renounce the courage I had felt
Remembering how I felt alive again
Knowing that I was worth it
Enough to believe in
Enough to hold on to
Having faith in what I will become.
I cannot stand behind the safety
Of what is familiar and comfortable.
I feel empty and torn, standing alone
But I will fill that void
With my hopes and dreams
And know that I am strong.

...for everything.

by  ♪ Erica ♪

http://ericawonderswhy.livejournal.com/ 

Abou Ben Adhem - written by Leigh Hunt (Classic poetry recitation by David Olney)

http://www.davidolney.com

Another classic poetry recitation from DAVID OLNEY interpreting Leigh Hunt's "Abou Ben Adhem"

Be sure to witness David Olney's presentation of Samuel Coleridge's "Kubla Kahn"; "The Rime Of the Ancient Mariner" (in seven parts!); Robert Browning's "My Last Dutchess"; ee cummings "anyone lived in a pretty how town"; Dylan Thomas' "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" and other s also available on YouTube.

http://www.davidolney.com

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

There are two days in every week that we should not worry about, two days that should be kept free from fear and apprehension.

One is yesterday, with its mistakes and cares, its faults and blunders, its aches and pains. Yesterday has passed, forever beyond our control.

All the money in the world cannot bring back yesterday. We cannot undo a single act we performed. Nor can we erase a single word we've said - yesterday is gone!

The other day we shouldn't worry about is tomorrow, with its impossible adversaries, its burden, its hopeful promise and poor performance. Tomorrow is beyond our control.

Tomorrow's sun will rise either in splendor or behind a mask of clouds - but it will rise. And until it does, we have no stake in tomorrow, for it is yet unborn.

This leaves only one day - today. Any person can fight the battles of just one day. It is only when we add the burdens of yesterday and tomorrow that we break down.

It is not the experience of today that drives people mad - it is the remorse of bitterness for something which happened yesterday, and the dread of what tomorrow may bring.

Let us, therefore, live one day at a time!

Thousands of Feet Below You

Thousands of feet
Below you
There is a small
Boy
Running from
Your bombs.

If he were
To show up
At your mother's
House
On a green
Sea island
Off the coast
Of Georgia

He'd be invited in
For dinner.

Now, driven,
You have shattered
His bones.

He lies steaming
In the desert
In fifty or sixy
Or maybe one hundred
Oily, slimy
Bits.

If you survive
& return
To your island
Home
& your mother's
Gracious
Table
Where the cup
of lovingkindness
Overflows
The brim
(&
From which
No one
In memory
Was ever
Turned)

Gather yourself.

Set a place
for him.


by Alice Walker

DO WE NEED THIS KIND?

A wind of change is in the air.
Do we need this kind?
Is it really fair?
Do we really need bailouts?
Along with many, I have my doubts!

We are living in perilous times.
Too much greed, too much crimes.
Poor are poorer, rich are richer.
Are you finally getting the picture?

11 Timothy 3:1
''This know also,
that in the last days
perilous times shall come.''

But we don`t have to fear.
''And when these things begin
to come to pass; then look up,
and lift up your heads;
for your redemption draws near.''
( Luke 21:28 ) 


 By poetalthomas

Rended My Enemies

Such victory one can declare
Healing to the mind of every care.
Broken cords of entanglement
Are gone for good.

Freedom from all oppression,
Shattered depression.
Rended my enemies
In pieces!

Freedom as you go,
Rejoice for God is good.
It's grand to know
Fear not the oppression of the enemy
For it shall not stand.

Be joyful in the Lord
While He holds your hand.
Read My Word to grasp Truth
To learn I AM for you!
Forget things of old
Trust in the Truth told!


 by Anthony Reagan

MY PROMISE TO YOU

I'll never forget,
The first that we met,
I remember it like it was yesterday,
It's stays deep in my heart,
The day you found me.
~*~
We have promised that we would give
To each other all there is to give
For as long as we both shall live.
~*~
I never want wealth or fame,
I only want to have your name,
I only want to wear
That tiny band of gold
And always have to you hold.
~*~
I will keep my promise to you,
I will never be untrue,
Even though sometimes I will be
Away from you.
~*~
I will never break your heart,
I've always loved you from the start,
I must say to you this very special day,
I won't let it take my pride,
I want to be your bride.
~*~
I will never let you feel empty inside,
I will never break the ties that bind,
I will never leave you behind,
I will never let our love die.
~*~
So I make another promise to you, my love,
We will live and we will learn,
And where ever you may go,
My heart will always follow.
~*~
And now it's plain to see,
The the promise's that I have made to thee,
Will show in time, you see,
That you and I will never be lonely,
I love this you and me.


by  Sherri Emily Avery

Meet Me In The Stars

As I am saying good night at the end of the day,
And you are not here, but many miles away,
My heart is so empty and so lonely inside,
As I wipe away a tear I am trying to hide.

I close my eyes and try to go to sleep,
But with the sadness inside I begin to weep.
Suddenly I remember what you once said to me,
Just meet me in the stars, waiting for you I will be.

When distance tends to keep us apart,
Remember I still hold you near in my heart.
When the night together, can't be ours,
Just close your eyes and meet me in the stars.

Meet me in the stars, I'll be waiting there for you.
With a bottle of wine and glasses for two.
Just close your eyes and there you will see,
Waiting in the stars, just for you I will be.

Remembering those words, I begin to smile,
And gently close my eyes, lessening the miles.
I can see the stars, oh how beautifully arranged,
But you are not there, no hug to exchange.

I sit alone waiting, with hope in my heart,
No longer wanting to be kept apart.
Suddenly in the distance, a shadow appears,
A tear rolls down my face and the image is clear.

There is no question it is you that I see,
Waiting in the stars, just like you promised to me.
You hold out your hand as you become near,
And put it in mine saying, "I miss you, my dear. "

Suddenly there's gentle music, filled with romance,
You gently pull me close, we begin to dance.
Just meet me in the stars, that is where I will be.
A special place in the stars just for you and for me.

 by Geri Mooren

Alone

From childhood's hour I have not been
As others were- I have not seen
As others saw- I could not bring
My passions from a common spring-
From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow- I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone-
And all I lov'd- I lov'd alone-

Then- in my childhood- in the dawn
Of a most stormy life- was drawn
From ev'ry depth of good and ill
The mystery which binds me still-
From the torrent, or the fountain-
From the red cliff of the mountain-
From the sun that 'round me roll'd
In its autumn tint of gold-
From the lightning in the sky
As it passed me flying by-
From the thunder, and the storm-
And the cloud that took the form
(When all the rest of Heaven was blue)
Of a demon in my view.

by Edgar Allen Poe

Never Ending Rain

You had to go and that is understood.
Things just weren�t right here for you.
The feeling you have given me
Has left me alone, standing alone.
I�m almost certain that you can see.

During your absence it has given me time
To think of ways I can escape this.
To run away from the pain.
Nothing ever seems to work
It�s almost like a never ending rain.

With you there and me here standing alone
I worry for the day to come
The day when we are further apart
You won�t be there in the coming year,
To help me through things, but you�ll be in my heart.

There is also a fear of being detached,
Of being separate for so long.
We have progressed through the years.
The times we have shared merely brightened my day
And now all I can do is shed the tears.

The hurt that I am feeling right now,
I know that you can feel it inside.
But I want you to remember that once it�s through,
You�ll always be my big brother,
Someone whom I will forever look up to.

 by Kristi Maxim

Being Human

 This being human is a guest-house.

Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,

some momentary awareness comes

as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!

Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,

Who violently sweep your house

empty of its furniture.

Still, treat each guest honorably.

He may be clearing you out

for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,

meet them at the door laughing,

and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,

because each has been sent

as a guide from beyond.

                                                          Jalrudin Rumi