Post poems, quotes, artful images, or songs that I want everyone to know about, or have had some significant meaning to me

Where injustice speaks with the voices
of justice and of power
where injustice speaks with the voices
of benevolence and of reason
where injustice speaks with the voices
of moderation and of experience
help us not to become bitter

And if we do despair
help us to see that we are desperate
and if we do become bitter
help us to see that we are becoming bitter
and if we shrink with fear
help us to know that it is fear
despair and bitterness and fear

So that we do not fall
into the error
of thinking
we have had a new revelation
and found the great way out
or the way in
and that alone had changed us.

-Erich Fried, ‘Prayer at Night’ (1978)

Sometimes it seems to me that America went off the track somewhere-back around the time of the Civil War or pretty soon afterwards. Instead of going ahead and developing along the line in which the country started out, it got shunted off in another direction-and now we look around and see we’ve gone places we didn’t mean to go. Suddenly we realize that America has turned into something ugly-and vicious-and corroded at the heart of its power with easy wealth and graft and special privilege…And the worst of it is the intellectual dishonesty which all this corruption has bred. People are afraid to think straight-afraid to face themselves-afraid to look at things and see them as they are…

-Thomas Wolfe, You Can’t Go Home Again (1934)

...The United States, which seemed predestined by Providence to rain down misery on the Americas in the name of liberty…

-Simon Bolivar, ‘Letter to Patrick Campbell’ (1829)

I was conceived in a night of suffering
The rain and the wind were my cradle
No one pities my suffering
Cursed be my birth
Cursed the world
Cursed myself

(Indigenous lament)

With the smoke and with the fire, many people muffled and silent
On a street, on a corner,
In the high city, pondering the future in search of a past…

-Jamie Saenz, ‘The City’, 1970

I Have
by Nicolás Guillén
Translated by J.A. Sierra

When I see and touch myself,
I, Juan with Nothing only yesterday,
and Juan with Everything today,
and today with everything,
I turn my eyes and look,
I see and touch myself,
and ask myself, how this could have been.

I have, let’s see,
I have the pleasure of going about my country,
owner of all there is in it,
looking closely at what
I did not or could not have before.
I can say cane,
I can say mountain,
I can say city,
say army,
now forever mine and yours, ours,
and the vast splendor of
the sunbeam, star, flower.

I have, let’s see,
I have the pleasure of going,
me, a farmer, a worker, a simple man,
I have the pleasure of going
(just an example)
to a bank and speak to the manager,
not in English,
not in “Sir,”but in compañero as we say in Spanish.

I have, let’s see,
that being Black
no one can stop meat the door of a dance hall or bar.
Or even on the rug of a hotel
scream at me that there are no rooms,
a small room and not a colossal one,
a tiny room where I can rest.

I have, let’s see,
that there are no rural police
to seize me and lock me in a precinct jail,
or tear me from my land and cast me
in the middle of the highway.

I have that having the land I have the sea,
no country clubs,
no high life,
no tennis and no yachts,
but, from beach to beach and wave on wave,
gigantic blue open democratic:
in short, the sea.

I have, let’s see,
that I have learned to read,
to count,
I have that I have learned to write,
and to think,
and to laugh.
I have… that now I have
a place to work
and earn
what I have to eat.
I have, let’s see,
I have what I had to have.

So many of these were written ages ago and hold relevant today. I love the timelessness found in so many writings and how eloquent they can be.

I’ve been thinking of you
Meeting there by the willow tree.
Softness would fall around us
Cloaking all we could be.
Your eyes fill with tears
Before long, my eyes fill too.
We’ve hit the barrier with fears
The tiniest of cracks has appeared
There wasn’t any fight, nor any fuss.
Snap! Just like that we were done
All is gone, along with the fun.
The mist fills the air around us
Slowly it clears…and life moves on.

Thinking about relationships and things to be, things that were meant to be. Pondering many things I guess.

If interested in more writings go to www.angelfire.com/nv/mythoughts/writings.html
Feel free to comment in the guestbook and let me know what you think.

This is from the Epic of Gilgamesh and it just speaks to me.

What you seek, you shall never find.
For when the Gods made man,
They kept immortality for themselves.
Fill your belly,
Day and night make merry,
Let Days be full of joy.
Love the chlid that holds your hand.
Let your wife delight in your embrace.
For these alone are the concerns of man.

Now the rest is from Let’s Face It by Kirk Douglas.

The Discarded Ship (his first attempt at poetry)
Above me have flown many flags
But now my sails are torn to rags
My bows are white from swirling foam
As o’er the many seas I roam
But now there’s nothing left for me
I live in days that used to be.
I find this lovely and feel like there are times that I live in days that used to be too.

He reminisces about being poor and waiting in Salvation Army center ofr a Thanksgiving dinner, but by the time he got to the window, they were all gone. “I was already down. I had nowhere to go but up. I do think that you have more of an incentive to achieve your goals in life when you’re born poor.”

Kirk writes about figuring out what his epitaph would be and he knows what it will be: “I tried, dammit, I tried!” That made me laugh and nod.

A bit of prayers written in Hebrew, but translated here-”Who among us is righteous enough to say I have not sinned? We have confessed, we have gone astray, we have sinned, we have trespassed.” Mental screams of Yes! Yes! Yes! resounds in my head.

Poet Siegfried Sassoon wrote this-
Does it matter?—losing your legs?...
For people will always be kind,
And you need not show that you mind
When the others come in after hunting
To gobble their muffins and eggs.

Does it matter?—losing your sight?...
There’s such splendid work for the blind,
And people will always be kind,
As you sit on the terrace remembering
And turning your face to the light.

Do they matter?—those dreams from the pit?...
You can drink and forget and be glad,
And people won’t say that you’re mad;
For they’ll know you’ve fought for your country
And no one will worry a bit.

After that he states “Let’s face it: the world is in a mess.” With the poem-it’s a nice sentiment I think, and a hope for the rest of us to truly treat those like that. As for his comment, I totally agree.

Kahlil Gibran(whom I also adore) wrote this:
But let there be spaces in your togetherness
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you
Love one another but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your soul.
So beautiful and as Kirk states “eloquently expressed!”

Kirk made some comments about the whole cell-phone craze & technology bit and I just felt like rah rah yes yes yes with him about it, so I’m posting it here too. “You walk along a street and many people you see are not there. Like zombies, they walk with cell phones pressed to their ears. In the cars that whiz by, many drivers are using cell phones. People riding bicycles are talking on cell phones! Mentally, they are somewhere else as they cause accidents. Men, women, and children at home don’t talk much with one another, they watch TV or use the computer…Modern technology dominates their lives. I have often thought that technology is a curse.”

**just added
Oscar Wilde described drinking absinthe as such: “After the first glass, you see things as you wish they were. After the second, you see things as they are not. Finally, you see things as they really are, and that is the most horrible thing in the world.” (interesting eh?)

life to the fullest. Carpe diem!

Other wonderful things from another book I read entitled Playing House by Patricia Pearson.

pg. 277

His pleasure was a lifeline.

“For a while I was at the center of my being, entirely within my element and in my light.”

pg. 278

“I’m thinking about what a gift you are. My someone to love.”

pg. 280

My love is my weight, wrote St. Augustine. Because of it I move.

Wonderful stuff from Little Earthquakes by Jennifer Weiner who also wrote In Her Shoes-another great book.

pg. 414

Bye and bye, bye and bye,

My darling baby, don’t you cry.

The moon is still above the hill.

The soft clouds gather in the sky.

The country spread itself beneath me like a lady’s skirt, patches of brown and green stitched together with forgiveness, with hope, with love. I heard the wind blow through the open nursery window. Beside me, I felt my husband turning his body toward me, his breath gentle against my cheek, his hand warm over mine. In my dream, in my arms, my baby opened his eyes and smiled.

Via this book I found out that I would like to sing lullabyes to my baby or my kids…or heck even my cats if kids don’t work out. Lovely ones can be found in a book called The Rainbabies

this made me go YES! and that that’s what I want for me too!

pg 287

This was the life I had built for myself. I had a career I loved, a self-confidence that was in the process of returning, and a group of the best friends in the world. And man or no man, I knew I’d be happy. I was me. Despite my generous helping of faults and shortcomings, despite the many things I wanted to change about myself despite the things I knew I needed to do to become a better person, I was glad about that.

At the end of the day, there was no one I’d rather be.

End of the book: Words of Wisdom From Five Famous Blondes

1) “Beauty to me, is about being comfortable in your own skin. That, or a kick-ass red lipstick.” -Gwyneth Paltrow

2) “It’s never too late—never too late to start over, never too late to be happy.” -Jane Fonda

3) To be brave is to love someone unconditionally, without expecting anything in return. To just give. That takes courage.” -Madonna

4) “There’s something liberating about not pretending. Dare to embarrass yourself. Risk.” -Drew Barrymore

5) “People think that at the end of the day a man is the only answer. Actually, a fulfilling job is better for me.” -Princess Diana (in a 1995 BBC interview)

pg 268

I like people and what the familiarity of family brings to a life.

Family does not mean people with the same last name or the same DNA. It means people who care about you, who you trust, who you care about—people you can count on.

Yes! I want more of these kinds of people in my life and hopefully along my journey I’ll find them…

“You’re alive, right here, right now, in the present moment. Seize it. Ride the adventure. Look at this cheesy fountain, these plastic trees, this bench with the fake birds. It’s an absolute comedy. Let yourself be amused. Every instant is like gold spilling through your hands. Spend it. Forget the past. Make yourself up as you go.”

and

This surf is done. The bets are closed, and it’s time to re-zero the clock. I’ve arrived at a place without past or future, and I ride this moment with frightening agonies of hope. Now is here.

Scripture from the New Jerusalem Bible found via the album of A Walk To Remember soundtrack.

Love is always
Patient and kind
It is never jealous
Love is never boastful
Nor conceited
It is never rude or selfish
It doesn’t take offense
It is not resentful

Love takes no pleasure
In other people’s sins
But, delights in the truth
It is always ready to excuse,
To trust, to hope
And to endure whatever comes.

definitely hoping to keep this in mind during this new time in my life

I was reminded of my love of it, when the rain came this evening. I love the sound of it on the roof, especially lulling me to sleep. I enjoy the coolness it brings with it and the scent of rain is wondrous.

I went to the beach, the ocean is beautiful and calming. The sound of the waves, and the feel of it on my skin. Thinking of lakes I’ve been to and pools, just continually remind me of my love affair with water. The reflections and the way the water is patterned on the pool floor.

The taste of water after a hard game of racquetball. Wanting to immerse myself in its coolness and clarity. The feel of it as it washes off the sweat and grime of the world.

Every painting I had in my apartment was with some element of water in it. Along with that, water has always been in my life. From living here by the beach in Florida back to summers in Maine by the river and in Michigan on the lake. Having fun in boats and taking trips out to where society wouldn’t go as civilization hadn’t reached those parts yet.

Water is the slice of heaven I can enjoy anytime.

The heroine is in a conversation with the woman who is like the mother figure in the book to all the kids and adults. She says to the heroine: “Just what do ye think love is, child? Me Liam and I were wed for forty-seven years, and the stubborn old cuss never once spoke the words. Yet not a day went by in all those years that he didn’t reach for me hand or sneak up behind me to give me a cuddle. Love isn’t a burst o’trumpets and a flock o’doves descendin’ out o’ the heavens to roost on yer hands. ‘Tis sharin’ a cup o’ tea by the hearth on a cold winter’s night. ‘Tis the look in yer husband’s eyes when ye lay yer first child in his arms.” Sorrow touched the old woman’s face. ”’Tis the ache in yer heart when ye watch the light in his eyes dim fer the last time, and know a part o’ye has gone out o’this world with him.”

A part of me so strongly wants this but at the same time fears it. I’m friends with Wes as well as being loved/in love with him. I wonder if our lives will be like the woman describes in this passage…