A DREAM WITHIN A DREAM
"Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow:
You are not wrong who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.
I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand--
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep--while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?"
- Edgar Allan Poe
EL DORADO
Gaily bedight,
A gallant knight,
In sunshine and in shadow,
Had journeyed long,
Singing a song,
In search of Eldorado.
But he grew old,
This knight so bold,
And o'er his heart a shadow
Fell as he found
No spot of ground
That looked like Eldorado.
And, as his strength
Failed him at length,
He met a pilgrim shadow;
"Shadow," said he,
"Where can it be,
This land of Eldorado?"
"Over the mountains
Of the moon,
Down the valley of the shadow,
Ride, boldly ride,"
The shade replied,--
"If you seek for Eldorado!"
- Edgar Allan Poe
Friday, August 25, 2006
Robert Frost Poetry
BOND AND FREE
"Love has earth to which she clings
With hills and circling arms about—
Wall within wall to shut fear out.
But Thought has need of no such things,
For Thought has a pair of dauntless wings.
On snow and sand and turf, I see
Where Love has left a printed trace
With straining in the world’s embrace.
And such is Love and glad to be.
But Thought has shaken his ankles free.
Thought cleaves the interstellar gloom
And sits in Sirius’ disc all night,
Till day makes him retrace his flight,
With smell of burning on every plume,
Back past the sun to an earthly room.
His gains in heaven are what they are.
Yet some say Love by being thrall
And simply staying possesses all
In several beauty that Thought fares far
To find fused in another star."
-Robert Frost
THE ROAD NOT TAKEN
"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And, sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."
-Robert Frost
STOPPING BY WOODS ON A SNOWY EVENING
"Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake."
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
-Robert Frost
FIRE AND ICE
"Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favour fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice."
-Robert Frost
GOD'S GARDEN
"God made a beatous garden
With lovely flowers strown,
But one straight, narrow pathway
That was not overgrown.
And to this beauteous garden
He brought mankind to live,
And said: 'To you, my children,
These lovely flowers I give.
Prune ye my vines and fig trees,
With care my flowerets tend,
But keep the pathway open
Your home is at the end.'
Then came another master,
Who did not love mankind,
And planted on the pathway
Gold flowers for them to find.
And mankind saw the bright flowers,
That, glitt'ring in the sun,
Quite hid the thorns of av'rice
That poison blood and bone;
And far off many wandered,
And when life's night came on,
They still were seeking gold flowers,
Lost, helpless and alone.
O, cease to heed the glamour
That blinds your foolish eyes,
Look upward to the glitter
Of stars in God's clear skies.
Their ways are pure and harmless
And will not lead astray,
Bid aid your erring footsteps
To keep the narrow way.
And when the sun shines brightly
Tend flowers that God has given
And keep the pathway open
That leads you on to heaven."
-Robert Frost
INTO MY OWN
"One of my wishes is that those dark trees,
So old and firm they scarcely show the breeze,
Were not, as 'twere, the merest mask of gloom,
But stretched away unto the edge of doom.
I should not be withheld but that some day
into their vastness I should steal away,
Fearless of ever finding open land,
or highway where the slow wheel pours the sand.
I do not see why I should e'er turn back,
Or those should not set forth upon my track
To overtake me, who should miss me here
And long to know if still I held them dear.
They would not find me changed from him they
knew--Only more sure of all I thought was true."
-Robert Frost
RELUCTANCE
"Out through the fields and the woods
And over the walls I have wended;
I have climbed the hills of view
And looked at the world, and descended;
I have come by the highway home,
And lo, it is ended.
The leaves are all dead on the ground,
Save those that the oak is keeping
To ravel them one by one
And let them go scraping and creeping
Out over the crusted snow,
When others are sleeping.
And the dead leaves lie huddled and still,
No longer blown hither and thither;
The last lone aster is gone;
The flowers of the witch-hazel wither;
The heart is still aching to seek,
But the feet question 'Whither?'
Ah, when to the heart of man
Was it ever less than a treason
To go with the drift of things,
To yield with a grace to reason,
And bow and accept the end
Of a love or of a season?"
-Robert Frost
"Love has earth to which she clings
With hills and circling arms about—
Wall within wall to shut fear out.
But Thought has need of no such things,
For Thought has a pair of dauntless wings.
On snow and sand and turf, I see
Where Love has left a printed trace
With straining in the world’s embrace.
And such is Love and glad to be.
But Thought has shaken his ankles free.
Thought cleaves the interstellar gloom
And sits in Sirius’ disc all night,
Till day makes him retrace his flight,
With smell of burning on every plume,
Back past the sun to an earthly room.
His gains in heaven are what they are.
Yet some say Love by being thrall
And simply staying possesses all
In several beauty that Thought fares far
To find fused in another star."
-Robert Frost
THE ROAD NOT TAKEN
"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And, sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."
-Robert Frost
STOPPING BY WOODS ON A SNOWY EVENING
"Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake."
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
-Robert Frost
FIRE AND ICE
"Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favour fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice."
-Robert Frost
GOD'S GARDEN
"God made a beatous garden
With lovely flowers strown,
But one straight, narrow pathway
That was not overgrown.
And to this beauteous garden
He brought mankind to live,
And said: 'To you, my children,
These lovely flowers I give.
Prune ye my vines and fig trees,
With care my flowerets tend,
But keep the pathway open
Your home is at the end.'
Then came another master,
Who did not love mankind,
And planted on the pathway
Gold flowers for them to find.
And mankind saw the bright flowers,
That, glitt'ring in the sun,
Quite hid the thorns of av'rice
That poison blood and bone;
And far off many wandered,
And when life's night came on,
They still were seeking gold flowers,
Lost, helpless and alone.
O, cease to heed the glamour
That blinds your foolish eyes,
Look upward to the glitter
Of stars in God's clear skies.
Their ways are pure and harmless
And will not lead astray,
Bid aid your erring footsteps
To keep the narrow way.
And when the sun shines brightly
Tend flowers that God has given
And keep the pathway open
That leads you on to heaven."
-Robert Frost
INTO MY OWN
"One of my wishes is that those dark trees,
So old and firm they scarcely show the breeze,
Were not, as 'twere, the merest mask of gloom,
But stretched away unto the edge of doom.
I should not be withheld but that some day
into their vastness I should steal away,
Fearless of ever finding open land,
or highway where the slow wheel pours the sand.
I do not see why I should e'er turn back,
Or those should not set forth upon my track
To overtake me, who should miss me here
And long to know if still I held them dear.
They would not find me changed from him they
knew--Only more sure of all I thought was true."
-Robert Frost
RELUCTANCE
"Out through the fields and the woods
And over the walls I have wended;
I have climbed the hills of view
And looked at the world, and descended;
I have come by the highway home,
And lo, it is ended.
The leaves are all dead on the ground,
Save those that the oak is keeping
To ravel them one by one
And let them go scraping and creeping
Out over the crusted snow,
When others are sleeping.
And the dead leaves lie huddled and still,
No longer blown hither and thither;
The last lone aster is gone;
The flowers of the witch-hazel wither;
The heart is still aching to seek,
But the feet question 'Whither?'
Ah, when to the heart of man
Was it ever less than a treason
To go with the drift of things,
To yield with a grace to reason,
And bow and accept the end
Of a love or of a season?"
-Robert Frost
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Emily Dickinson Poetry
CERTAINTY
"I never saw a moor,
I never saw the sea;
Yet know I how the heather looks,
And what a wave must be.
I never spoke with God,
Nor visited in heaven;
Yet certain am I of the spot
As if the chart were given."
-Emily Dickinson
BECAUSE I COULD NOT STOP FOR DEATH
"Because I could not stop for Death--
He kindly stopped for me--
The Carriage held but just Ourselves--
And Immortality.
We slowly drove--He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labour and my leisure too,
For His Civility--
We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess--in the Ring--
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain--
We passed the Setting Sun--
Or rather--He passed Us--
The Dews drew quivering and chill--
For only Gossamer, my Gown--
My Tippet--only Tulle--
We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground--
The Roof was scarcely visible--
The Cornice--in the Ground--
Since then--'tis Centuries--and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses Heads
Were toward Eternity--"
-Emily Dickinson
SUCCESS IS COUNTED SWEETEST
"Success is counted sweetest
By those who ne'er succeed.
To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need.
Not one of all the purple host
Who took the flag to-day
Can tell the definition,
So clear, of victory,
As he, defeated, dying,
On whose forbidden ear
The distant strains of triumph
Break, agonized and clear."
-Emily Dickinson
I HEARD A FLY BUZZ
"I heard a fly buzz when I died;
The stillness round my form
Was like the stillness in the air
Between the heaves of storm.
The eyes beside had wrung them dry,
And breaths were gathering sure
For that last onset, when the king
Be witnessed in his power.
I willed my keepsakes, signed away
What portion of me I
Could make assignable,--and then
There interposed a fly,
With blue, uncertain, stumbling buzz,
Between the light and me;
And then the windows failed, and then
I could not see to see."
-Emily Dickinson
AFTER GREAT PAIN...
"After great pain a formal feeling comes --
The nerves sit ceremonious like tombs;
The stiff heart questions - was it He that bore?
And yesterday - or centuries before?
The feet mechanical go round
A wooden way,
Of ground or air of Ought,
Regardless grown;
A quartz contentment like a stone.
This is the hour of lead
Remembered if outlived
As freezing persons recollect
The snow --
First chill, then stupor, then
The letting go."
-Emily Dickinson
"I died for beauty, but was scarce
Adjusted in the tomb,
When one who died for truth was lain
In an adjoining room.
He questioned softly why I failed?
“For beauty,” I replied.
“And I for truth,—the two are one;
We brethren are,” he said.
And so, as kinsmen meet at night,
We talked between the rooms,
Until the moss had reached our lips,
And covered up our names."
-Emily Dickinson
"The daisy follows soft the sun,
And when his golden walk is done,
Sits shyly at his feet.
He, waking, finds the flower near.
“Wherefore, marauder, art thou here?”
“Because, sir, love is sweet!”
We are the flower, Thou the sun!
Forgive us, if as days decline,
We nearer steal to Thee,—
Enamoured of the parting west,
The peace, the flight, the amethyst,
Night’s possibility!"
-Emily Dickinson
"Sleep is supposed to be,
By souls of sanity,
The shutting of the eye.
Sleep is the station grand
Down which on either hand
The hosts of witness stand!
Morn is supposed to be,
By people of degree,
The breaking of the day.
Morning has not occurred!
That shall aurora be
East of eternity;
One with the banner gay,
One in the red array,—
That is the break of day."
-Emily Dickinson
THE BATTLEFIELD
"They dropped like flakes, they dropped like stars,
Like petals from a rose,
When suddenly across the June
A wind with fingers goes.
They perished in the seamless grass,—
No eye could find the place;
But God on his repealless list
Can summon every face."
-Emily Dickinson
"Bless God, he went as soldiers,
His musket on his breast;
Grant, God, he charge the bravest
Of all the martial blest.
Please God, might I behold him
In epauletted white,
I should not fear the foe then,
I should not fear the fight."
-Emily Dickinson
"Adrift! A little boat adrift!
And night is coming down!
Will no one guide a little boat
Unto the nearest town?
So sailors say, on yesterday,
Just as the dusk was brown,
One little boat gave up its strife,
And gurgled down and down.
But angels say, on yesterday,
Just as the dawn was red,
One little boat o’erspent with gales
Retrimmed its masts, redecked its sails
Exultant, onward sped!"
-Emily Dickinson
THIRST
"We thirst at first,—’t is Nature’s act;
And later, when we die,
A little water supplicate
Of fingers going by.
It intimates the finer want,
Whose adequate supply
Is that great water in the west
Termed immortality."
-Emily Dickinson
"I never saw a moor,
I never saw the sea;
Yet know I how the heather looks,
And what a wave must be.
I never spoke with God,
Nor visited in heaven;
Yet certain am I of the spot
As if the chart were given."
-Emily Dickinson
BECAUSE I COULD NOT STOP FOR DEATH
"Because I could not stop for Death--
He kindly stopped for me--
The Carriage held but just Ourselves--
And Immortality.
We slowly drove--He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labour and my leisure too,
For His Civility--
We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess--in the Ring--
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain--
We passed the Setting Sun--
Or rather--He passed Us--
The Dews drew quivering and chill--
For only Gossamer, my Gown--
My Tippet--only Tulle--
We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground--
The Roof was scarcely visible--
The Cornice--in the Ground--
Since then--'tis Centuries--and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses Heads
Were toward Eternity--"
-Emily Dickinson
SUCCESS IS COUNTED SWEETEST
"Success is counted sweetest
By those who ne'er succeed.
To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need.
Not one of all the purple host
Who took the flag to-day
Can tell the definition,
So clear, of victory,
As he, defeated, dying,
On whose forbidden ear
The distant strains of triumph
Break, agonized and clear."
-Emily Dickinson
I HEARD A FLY BUZZ
"I heard a fly buzz when I died;
The stillness round my form
Was like the stillness in the air
Between the heaves of storm.
The eyes beside had wrung them dry,
And breaths were gathering sure
For that last onset, when the king
Be witnessed in his power.
I willed my keepsakes, signed away
What portion of me I
Could make assignable,--and then
There interposed a fly,
With blue, uncertain, stumbling buzz,
Between the light and me;
And then the windows failed, and then
I could not see to see."
-Emily Dickinson
AFTER GREAT PAIN...
"After great pain a formal feeling comes --
The nerves sit ceremonious like tombs;
The stiff heart questions - was it He that bore?
And yesterday - or centuries before?
The feet mechanical go round
A wooden way,
Of ground or air of Ought,
Regardless grown;
A quartz contentment like a stone.
This is the hour of lead
Remembered if outlived
As freezing persons recollect
The snow --
First chill, then stupor, then
The letting go."
-Emily Dickinson
"I died for beauty, but was scarce
Adjusted in the tomb,
When one who died for truth was lain
In an adjoining room.
He questioned softly why I failed?
“For beauty,” I replied.
“And I for truth,—the two are one;
We brethren are,” he said.
And so, as kinsmen meet at night,
We talked between the rooms,
Until the moss had reached our lips,
And covered up our names."
-Emily Dickinson
"The daisy follows soft the sun,
And when his golden walk is done,
Sits shyly at his feet.
He, waking, finds the flower near.
“Wherefore, marauder, art thou here?”
“Because, sir, love is sweet!”
We are the flower, Thou the sun!
Forgive us, if as days decline,
We nearer steal to Thee,—
Enamoured of the parting west,
The peace, the flight, the amethyst,
Night’s possibility!"
-Emily Dickinson
"Sleep is supposed to be,
By souls of sanity,
The shutting of the eye.
Sleep is the station grand
Down which on either hand
The hosts of witness stand!
Morn is supposed to be,
By people of degree,
The breaking of the day.
Morning has not occurred!
That shall aurora be
East of eternity;
One with the banner gay,
One in the red array,—
That is the break of day."
-Emily Dickinson
THE BATTLEFIELD
"They dropped like flakes, they dropped like stars,
Like petals from a rose,
When suddenly across the June
A wind with fingers goes.
They perished in the seamless grass,—
No eye could find the place;
But God on his repealless list
Can summon every face."
-Emily Dickinson
"Bless God, he went as soldiers,
His musket on his breast;
Grant, God, he charge the bravest
Of all the martial blest.
Please God, might I behold him
In epauletted white,
I should not fear the foe then,
I should not fear the fight."
-Emily Dickinson
"Adrift! A little boat adrift!
And night is coming down!
Will no one guide a little boat
Unto the nearest town?
So sailors say, on yesterday,
Just as the dusk was brown,
One little boat gave up its strife,
And gurgled down and down.
But angels say, on yesterday,
Just as the dawn was red,
One little boat o’erspent with gales
Retrimmed its masts, redecked its sails
Exultant, onward sped!"
-Emily Dickinson
THIRST
"We thirst at first,—’t is Nature’s act;
And later, when we die,
A little water supplicate
Of fingers going by.
It intimates the finer want,
Whose adequate supply
Is that great water in the west
Termed immortality."
-Emily Dickinson
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Quotes About COURAGE
"Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear."
Mark Twain
"Courage is not the absence of fear, but the conquest of it."
Author Unknown
"Courage is a special kind of knowledge; the knowledge of how to fear what ought to be feared and how not to fear what ought not to be feared."
David Ben-Gurion
"Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point."
C. S. Lewis
"Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak, Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen." Sir Winston Churchill
"Courage is fear that has said its prayers."
Dorothy Bernard
"Courage is the power to let go of the familiar."
Raymond Lindquist
"Courage is the price that Life exacts for granting peace."
Amelia Earhart
"Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."
Harold Wilson
"Courage is the ladder on which all the other virtues mount."
Clare Booth Luce
"A timid person is frightened before a danger, a coward during the time, and a courageous person afterward."
Jean Paul Richter
"Many would be cowards if they had courage enough."
Thomas Fuller
"The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority."
Ralph W. Sockman
"The only courage that matters is the kind that gets you from one moment to the next."
Mignon McLaughlin
"I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what."
Harper Lee, "To Kill a Mockingbird"
"You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do."
Eleanor Roosevelt
"Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads."
Erica Jong
"But in the end one needs more courage to live than to kill himself."
Albert Camus
"God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things which should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other."
Reinhold Niebuhr
"Don't let life discourage you; everyone who got where he is had to begin where he was."
Richard L. Evans
"Success is that old ABC -- ability, breaks, and courage."
Charles Luckman
"The man who has strong opinions and always says what he thinks is courageous – and friendless."
Author Unknown
"It takes far less courage to kill yourself than it takes to make yourself wake up one more time.
Judith Rossner
"Some have been thought brave because they were afraid to run away."
Thomas Fuller
Mark Twain
"Courage is not the absence of fear, but the conquest of it."
Author Unknown
"Courage is a special kind of knowledge; the knowledge of how to fear what ought to be feared and how not to fear what ought not to be feared."
David Ben-Gurion
"Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point."
C. S. Lewis
"Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak, Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen." Sir Winston Churchill
"Courage is fear that has said its prayers."
Dorothy Bernard
"Courage is the power to let go of the familiar."
Raymond Lindquist
"Courage is the price that Life exacts for granting peace."
Amelia Earhart
"Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."
Harold Wilson
"Courage is the ladder on which all the other virtues mount."
Clare Booth Luce
"A timid person is frightened before a danger, a coward during the time, and a courageous person afterward."
Jean Paul Richter
"Many would be cowards if they had courage enough."
Thomas Fuller
"The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority."
Ralph W. Sockman
"The only courage that matters is the kind that gets you from one moment to the next."
Mignon McLaughlin
"I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what."
Harper Lee, "To Kill a Mockingbird"
"You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do."
Eleanor Roosevelt
"Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads."
Erica Jong
"But in the end one needs more courage to live than to kill himself."
Albert Camus
"God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things which should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other."
Reinhold Niebuhr
"Don't let life discourage you; everyone who got where he is had to begin where he was."
Richard L. Evans
"Success is that old ABC -- ability, breaks, and courage."
Charles Luckman
"The man who has strong opinions and always says what he thinks is courageous – and friendless."
Author Unknown
"It takes far less courage to kill yourself than it takes to make yourself wake up one more time.
Judith Rossner
"Some have been thought brave because they were afraid to run away."
Thomas Fuller
Quotes About GOD
"There is polish for everything that takes away rust; and the polish for the heart is the remembrance of God."
~Mohammad~
"What we believe about God is the most important part of us."
~A.W. Tozer~
"One on God's side is a majority."
~Wendell Phillips~
"An atheist is one who hopes the Lord will do nothing to disturb his belief."
~Franklin P. Jones~
"If there was no God, there would be no atheists."
~G.K. Chesterton
"Nobody talks about God as much, as those who insist that there is no God."
~Heywood Brown~
"An atheist does not find God, for the same reason a thief does not find a policeman."
"The value of persistant prayer is not that He will hear us, but that we finally hear Him."
"If you knew who walks beside you on the way you have chosen, fear would be impossible."
~A Course in Miracles~
"A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word 'darkness' on the walls of his cell."
~C. S. Lewis~
"God is love, and if you lose yourself in Him, you will find yourself."
"All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson~
God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.
~C. S. Lewis~
"We are all pencils in the hand of God."
~Mother Teresa~
"I believe in God like I believe in the sun, not because I can see it, but because of it all things are seen."
~C. S. Lewis~
"God had not promised us a pleasant journey, but a safe arrival."
"I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish He didn't trust me so much." ~Mother Teresa~
"Don't be afraid, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will stregthen you, I will help you. I will up hold you with My victorious right hand."
~Isaiah 41:10~
"I would rather live my life as if there is a God, and die to find out there isn't, than to live my life as if there isn't, and die to find out there is."
~Albert Camus~
"There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, in the end, 'Oh, all right then- have it your way.' "
~C. S. Lewis~
“God is at home; it is we who have gone for a walk.”
~Meister Eckhart~
~Mohammad~
"What we believe about God is the most important part of us."
~A.W. Tozer~
"One on God's side is a majority."
~Wendell Phillips~
"An atheist is one who hopes the Lord will do nothing to disturb his belief."
~Franklin P. Jones~
"If there was no God, there would be no atheists."
~G.K. Chesterton
"Nobody talks about God as much, as those who insist that there is no God."
~Heywood Brown~
"An atheist does not find God, for the same reason a thief does not find a policeman."
"The value of persistant prayer is not that He will hear us, but that we finally hear Him."
"If you knew who walks beside you on the way you have chosen, fear would be impossible."
~A Course in Miracles~
"A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word 'darkness' on the walls of his cell."
~C. S. Lewis~
"God is love, and if you lose yourself in Him, you will find yourself."
"All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson~
God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.
~C. S. Lewis~
"We are all pencils in the hand of God."
~Mother Teresa~
"I believe in God like I believe in the sun, not because I can see it, but because of it all things are seen."
~C. S. Lewis~
"God had not promised us a pleasant journey, but a safe arrival."
"I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish He didn't trust me so much." ~Mother Teresa~
"Don't be afraid, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will stregthen you, I will help you. I will up hold you with My victorious right hand."
~Isaiah 41:10~
"I would rather live my life as if there is a God, and die to find out there isn't, than to live my life as if there isn't, and die to find out there is."
~Albert Camus~
"There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, in the end, 'Oh, all right then- have it your way.' "
~C. S. Lewis~
“God is at home; it is we who have gone for a walk.”
~Meister Eckhart~
Alfred Lord Tennyson Poetry
Lines From "IN MEMORIAM"
CXXIII
There rolls the deep where grew the tree,
O earth, what changes thou hast seen!
There, where the long street roars hath been
The stillness of the central sea.
The hills are shadows and they flow
From form to form and nothing stands;
They melt like mist, the solid lands
Like clouds they shape themselves and go.
But in my spirit will I dwell,
And dream my dream, and hold it true;
For tho' my lips may breathe adieu,
I cannot think the thing farewell.
CXXIV
That which we dare invoke to bless;
Our dearest faith; our ghastliest doubt;
He, They, One, All, within, without;
The Power in darkness whom we guess;
I found Him not in world or sun,
Or eagle's wing, or insect's eye;
Nor thro' the questions men may try,
The petty cobwebs we have spun:
If ever when faith had fallen asleep,
I heard a voice 'believe no more'
And heard an ever-breaking shore
That tumbled in the Godless deep;
A warmth within the breast would melt
The freezing reason's colder part,
And like a man in wrath the heart,
Stood up and answered ' I have felt.'
No, like a child in doubt and fear:
But that blind clamor made me wise;
Then was I as a child that cries,
But, crying, knows his father is near;
And what I am beheld again
What is and no man understands;
And out of darkness came the hands
That reach thro' nature, molding men."
-Alfred Lord Tennyson
THE LADY OF SHALLOT
"In the stormy east-wind straining,
The pale yellow woods were waning,
The broad stream in his banks complaining,
Heavily the low sky raining,
Over tower’d Camelot;
Down she came and found a boat
Beneath a willow left afloat,
And round about the prow she wrote
The Lady Of Shallot.
And down the river’s dim expanse
Like some bold seer in a trance,
Seeking all his own mischance,
With a glassy countenance,
Did she look to Camelot;
And at the closing of the day,
She loosed the chain and down she lay,
The broad stream bore her far away
The Lady Of Shallot.
Lying, robed in snowy white,
That loosely flew to left and right,
The leaves upon her falling light,
Through the noises of the night,
She floated down to Camelot
And as the boat-head wound along,
The willowy hills and fields among,
They heard her singing her last song,
The Lady Of Shallot.
Heard a carol mournful, holy,
Chanted loudly, chanted lowly,
Till her blood was frozen slowly,
And her eyes were darkened wholly,
Turn’d to tower’d Camelot;
For ere she reached upon the tide
The first house by the water-side,
Singing in her song she died,
The Lady Of Shallot.
Under tower and balcony,
By garden-wall and gallery,
A gleaming shape she floated by,
Dead-pale between the houses high
Silent into Camelot;
Out upon the wharfs they came,
Knight and burgher, lord and dame
And round the prow they read her name,
The Lady Of Shallot.
Who is this? and what is here?
And in the lighted palace near,
Died the sound of royal cheer,
And they crossed themselves for fear,
All the knights of Camelot;
But Lancelot mused a little space;
He said, 'She has a lovely face,
God in His mercy lend her grace,
The Lady Of Shallot.' "
-Alfred Lord Tennyson
CXXIII
There rolls the deep where grew the tree,
O earth, what changes thou hast seen!
There, where the long street roars hath been
The stillness of the central sea.
The hills are shadows and they flow
From form to form and nothing stands;
They melt like mist, the solid lands
Like clouds they shape themselves and go.
But in my spirit will I dwell,
And dream my dream, and hold it true;
For tho' my lips may breathe adieu,
I cannot think the thing farewell.
CXXIV
That which we dare invoke to bless;
Our dearest faith; our ghastliest doubt;
He, They, One, All, within, without;
The Power in darkness whom we guess;
I found Him not in world or sun,
Or eagle's wing, or insect's eye;
Nor thro' the questions men may try,
The petty cobwebs we have spun:
If ever when faith had fallen asleep,
I heard a voice 'believe no more'
And heard an ever-breaking shore
That tumbled in the Godless deep;
A warmth within the breast would melt
The freezing reason's colder part,
And like a man in wrath the heart,
Stood up and answered ' I have felt.'
No, like a child in doubt and fear:
But that blind clamor made me wise;
Then was I as a child that cries,
But, crying, knows his father is near;
And what I am beheld again
What is and no man understands;
And out of darkness came the hands
That reach thro' nature, molding men."
-Alfred Lord Tennyson
THE LADY OF SHALLOT
"In the stormy east-wind straining,
The pale yellow woods were waning,
The broad stream in his banks complaining,
Heavily the low sky raining,
Over tower’d Camelot;
Down she came and found a boat
Beneath a willow left afloat,
And round about the prow she wrote
The Lady Of Shallot.
And down the river’s dim expanse
Like some bold seer in a trance,
Seeking all his own mischance,
With a glassy countenance,
Did she look to Camelot;
And at the closing of the day,
She loosed the chain and down she lay,
The broad stream bore her far away
The Lady Of Shallot.
Lying, robed in snowy white,
That loosely flew to left and right,
The leaves upon her falling light,
Through the noises of the night,
She floated down to Camelot
And as the boat-head wound along,
The willowy hills and fields among,
They heard her singing her last song,
The Lady Of Shallot.
Heard a carol mournful, holy,
Chanted loudly, chanted lowly,
Till her blood was frozen slowly,
And her eyes were darkened wholly,
Turn’d to tower’d Camelot;
For ere she reached upon the tide
The first house by the water-side,
Singing in her song she died,
The Lady Of Shallot.
Under tower and balcony,
By garden-wall and gallery,
A gleaming shape she floated by,
Dead-pale between the houses high
Silent into Camelot;
Out upon the wharfs they came,
Knight and burgher, lord and dame
And round the prow they read her name,
The Lady Of Shallot.
Who is this? and what is here?
And in the lighted palace near,
Died the sound of royal cheer,
And they crossed themselves for fear,
All the knights of Camelot;
But Lancelot mused a little space;
He said, 'She has a lovely face,
God in His mercy lend her grace,
The Lady Of Shallot.' "
-Alfred Lord Tennyson
Ella Wheeler Wilcox Poetry
CONVERSATION
God and I in space alone
and nobody else in view.
"And where are the people, O Lord," I said,
"the earth below and the sky o'er head
and the dead whom once I knew?"
"That was a dream," God smiled and said,
"A dream that seemed to be true.
There were no people, living or dead,
there was no earth, and no sky o'er head;
there was only Myself -- in you."
"Why do I feel no fear," I asked,
"meeting You here this way?
For I have sinned I know full well--
and is there heaven, and is there hell,
and is this the Judgment Day?"
"Nay, those were but dreams,"
the Great God said,
"Dreams that have ceased to be.
There are no such things as fear or sin;
there is no you -- you never have been--
there is nothing at all but Me."
-Ella Wheeler Wilcox
SOLITUDE
"Laugh, and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone.
For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth,
But has trouble enough of its own.
Sing, and the hills will answer;
Sigh, it is lost on the air.
The echoes bound to a joyful sound,
But shrink from voicing care.
Rejoice, and men will seek you;
Grieve, and they turn and go.
They want full measure of all your pleasure,
But they do not need your woe.
Be glad, and your friends are many;
Be sad, and you lose them all.
There are none to decline your nectared wine,
But alone you must drink life's gall.
Feast, and your halls are crowded;
Fast, and the world goes by.
Succeed and give, and it helps you live,
But no man can help you die.
There is room in the halls of pleasure
For a long and lordly train,
But one by one we must all file on
Through the narrow aisles of pain."
-Ella Wheeler Wilcox
"Don’t look for the flaws as you go through life;
And even when you find them,
It is wise and kind to be somewhat blind
And look for the virtue behind them.
For the cloudiest night has a hint of light
Somewhere in its shadows hiding;
It is better by far to hunt for a star,
Than the spots on the sun abiding.
The current of life runs ever away
To the bosom of God’s great ocean.
Don’t set your force ‘gainst the river’s course
And think to alter its motion.
Don’t waste a curse on the universe –
Remember it lived before you.
Don’t butt at the storm with your puny form,
But bend and let it go o’er you.
The world will never adjust itself
To suit your whims to the letter.
Some things must go wrong your whole life long,
And the sooner you know it the better.
It is folly to fight with the Infinite,
And go under at last in the wrestle;
The wiser man shapes into God’s plan
As water shapes into a vessel."
-Ella Wheeler Wilcox
GOING AWAY
"Walking to-day on the Common,
I heard a stranger say
To a friend who was standing near him,
'Do you know I am going away? '
I had never seen their faces,
May never see them again;
Yet the words the stranger uttered,
Stirred me with nameless pain.
For I knew some heart would miss him,
Would ache at his going away!
And the earth would seem all cheerless
For many and many a day.
No matter how light my spirits,
No matter how glad my heart,
If I hear those two words spoken,
The teardrops always start.
They are so sad and solemn,
So full of a lonely sound;
Like dead leaves rustling downward,
And dropping upon the ground,
Oh, I pity the naked branches,
When the skies are dull and gray,
And the last leaf whispers softly,
'Good-bye, I am going away.'
In the dreary, dripping autumn,
The wings of the flying birds,
As they soar away to the south land,
Seem always to say those words.
Wherever they may be spoken,
They fall with a sob and a sigh;
And heartaches follow the sentence,
'I am going away, Good-bye.'
O God, in Thy blessed Kingdom,
No lips shall ever say,
No ears shall ever harken
To the words 'I am going away.'"
-Ella Wheeler Wilcox
SMILES
"Smile a little, smile a little,
As you go along,
Not alone when life is pleasant,
But when things go wrong.
Care delights to see you frowning,
Loves to hear you sigh;
Turn a smiling face upon her –
Quick the dame will fly.
Smile a little, smile a little,
All along the road;
Every life must have its burden,
Every heart its load.
Why sit down in gloom and darkness
With your grief to sup?
As you drink Fate’s bitter tonic,
Smile across the cup.
Smile upon the troubled pilgrims
Whom you pass and meet;
Frowns are thorns, and smiles are blossoms
Oft for weary feet.
Do not make the way seem harder
By a sullen face;
Smile a little, smile a little,
Brighten up the place.
Smile upon your undone labour;
Not for one who grieves
O’er his task waits wealth or glory;
He who smiles achieves.
Though you meet with loss and sorrow
In the passing years,
Smile a little, smile a little,
Even through your tears."
-Ella Wheeler Wilcox
LISTEN
"Whoever you are as you read this,
Whatever your trouble or grief,
I want you to know and to heed this:
The day draweth near with relief.
No sorrow, no woe is unending,
Though heaven seems voiceless and dumb;
So sure as your cry is ascending,
So surely an answer will come.
Whatever temptation is near you,
Whose eyes on this simple verse fall;
Remember good angels will hear you
And help you to stand, if you call.
Though stunned with despair I beseech you,
Whatever your losses, your need,
Believe, when these printed words reach you,
Believe you were born to succeed.
You are stronger, I tell you, this minute,
Than any unfortunate fate!
And the coveted prize - you can win it;
While life lasts 'tis never too late!"
-Ella Wheeler Wilcox
I TOLD YOU
"I told you the winter would go, love,
I told you the winter would go,
That he'd flee in shame when the south wind came,
And you smiled when I told you so.
You said the blustering fellow
Would never yield to a breeze,
That his cold, icy breath had frozen to death
The flowers, the birds, and trees.
And I told you the snow would melt, love,
In the passionate glance o' the sun;
And the leaves o' the trees, and the flowers and bees,
Would come back again, one by one.
That the great, gray clouds would vanish,
And the sky turn tender and blue;
And the sweet birds would sing, and talk of the spring
And, love, it has all come true.
I told you that sorrow would fade, love,
And you would forget half your pain;
That the sweet bird of song would waken ere long,
And sing in your bosom again;
That hope would creep out of the shadows,
And back to its nest in your heart,
And gladness would come, and find its old home,
And that sorrow at length would depart.
I told you that grief seldom killed, love,
Though the heart might seem dead for awhile.
But the world is so bright, and full of warm light
That 'twould waken at length, in its smile.
Ah, love! was I not a true prophet?
There's a sweet happy smile on your face;
Your sadness has flown - the snow-drift is gone,
And the buttercups bloom in its place."
-Ella Wheeler Wilcox
SLIPPING AWAY
Slipping away---slipping away!
Out of our brief year slips the May;
And Winter lingers, and Summer flies;
And Sorrow abideth, and Pleasure dies;
And the days are short, and the nights are long;
And little is right, and much is wrong.
Slipping away is the Summer-time;
It has lost its rhythm and lilting rhyme---
For the grace goes out of the day so soon,
And the tired head aches in the glare of noon,
And the way seems long to the hills that lie
Under the calm of the western sky.
Slipping away are the friends whose worth
Lent a glow to the sad old earth:
One by one they slip from our sight;
One by one their graves gleam white;
Or we count them lost by the crueller death
Of a trust betrayed, or a murdered faith.
Slipping away are the hopes that made
Bliss out of sorrow, and sun out of shade;
Slipping away is our hold on life;
And out of the struggle and wearing strife,
From joys that diminish, and woes that increase,
We are slipping away to the shores of Peace.
-Ella Wheeler Wilcox
SONGS OF LOVE AND THE SEA
I
When first we met (the Sea and I),
Like one before a King
I stood in awe; nor felt nor saw
The sun, the winds, the earth, the sky
Or any other thing.
God's Universe to me,
Was just the Sea.
When next we met, the lordly Main
Played but a courtier's part;
Crowned Queen was I; and earth and sky,
And sun and sea were my domain,
Since love was in my heart.
Before, beyond, above,
Was only Love.
II
Love built me on a little rock,
A little house of pine;
At first, the Sea
Beat angrily
About that house of mine;
(That dear, dear home of mine).
But when it turned to go away
Beyond the sandy track,
Down o'er its wall
The house would call,
Until the Sea came back;
(It always hurried back).
And now the two have grown so fond,
(Oh, breathe no word of this),
When clouds hang low,
And east winds blow,
They meet and kiss and kiss;
(At night, I hear them kiss).
III
No man can understand the Sea until
He knows all passions of the senses, all
The great emotions of the heart, and each
Exalted aspiration of the soul.
Then may he sit beside the sea and say:
"I, too, have flung myself against the rocks,
And kissed their flinty brows with no return,
And fallen spent upon unfeeling sands.
I, too, have gone forth yearning, to far shores,
Seeking that something which would bring content,
And finding only what I took away;
And I have looked up through the veil of skies
When all the world was still, and understood
That I am one with Nature and with God."
IV
The Dawn was flying from the Night;
Swift as the wind she sped;
Her hair was like a fleece of light;
Her cheeks were warm and red.
All passion pale, the Night pursued;
She fled away, away;
And in her garments, rainbow hued,
She gained the peak of day.
And then, all shaken with alarms,
She leaped down from its crest
Into the Sea's uplifted arms,
And swooned upon his breast.
-Ella Wheeler Wilcox
God and I in space alone
and nobody else in view.
"And where are the people, O Lord," I said,
"the earth below and the sky o'er head
and the dead whom once I knew?"
"That was a dream," God smiled and said,
"A dream that seemed to be true.
There were no people, living or dead,
there was no earth, and no sky o'er head;
there was only Myself -- in you."
"Why do I feel no fear," I asked,
"meeting You here this way?
For I have sinned I know full well--
and is there heaven, and is there hell,
and is this the Judgment Day?"
"Nay, those were but dreams,"
the Great God said,
"Dreams that have ceased to be.
There are no such things as fear or sin;
there is no you -- you never have been--
there is nothing at all but Me."
-Ella Wheeler Wilcox
SOLITUDE
"Laugh, and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone.
For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth,
But has trouble enough of its own.
Sing, and the hills will answer;
Sigh, it is lost on the air.
The echoes bound to a joyful sound,
But shrink from voicing care.
Rejoice, and men will seek you;
Grieve, and they turn and go.
They want full measure of all your pleasure,
But they do not need your woe.
Be glad, and your friends are many;
Be sad, and you lose them all.
There are none to decline your nectared wine,
But alone you must drink life's gall.
Feast, and your halls are crowded;
Fast, and the world goes by.
Succeed and give, and it helps you live,
But no man can help you die.
There is room in the halls of pleasure
For a long and lordly train,
But one by one we must all file on
Through the narrow aisles of pain."
-Ella Wheeler Wilcox
"Don’t look for the flaws as you go through life;
And even when you find them,
It is wise and kind to be somewhat blind
And look for the virtue behind them.
For the cloudiest night has a hint of light
Somewhere in its shadows hiding;
It is better by far to hunt for a star,
Than the spots on the sun abiding.
The current of life runs ever away
To the bosom of God’s great ocean.
Don’t set your force ‘gainst the river’s course
And think to alter its motion.
Don’t waste a curse on the universe –
Remember it lived before you.
Don’t butt at the storm with your puny form,
But bend and let it go o’er you.
The world will never adjust itself
To suit your whims to the letter.
Some things must go wrong your whole life long,
And the sooner you know it the better.
It is folly to fight with the Infinite,
And go under at last in the wrestle;
The wiser man shapes into God’s plan
As water shapes into a vessel."
-Ella Wheeler Wilcox
GOING AWAY
"Walking to-day on the Common,
I heard a stranger say
To a friend who was standing near him,
'Do you know I am going away? '
I had never seen their faces,
May never see them again;
Yet the words the stranger uttered,
Stirred me with nameless pain.
For I knew some heart would miss him,
Would ache at his going away!
And the earth would seem all cheerless
For many and many a day.
No matter how light my spirits,
No matter how glad my heart,
If I hear those two words spoken,
The teardrops always start.
They are so sad and solemn,
So full of a lonely sound;
Like dead leaves rustling downward,
And dropping upon the ground,
Oh, I pity the naked branches,
When the skies are dull and gray,
And the last leaf whispers softly,
'Good-bye, I am going away.'
In the dreary, dripping autumn,
The wings of the flying birds,
As they soar away to the south land,
Seem always to say those words.
Wherever they may be spoken,
They fall with a sob and a sigh;
And heartaches follow the sentence,
'I am going away, Good-bye.'
O God, in Thy blessed Kingdom,
No lips shall ever say,
No ears shall ever harken
To the words 'I am going away.'"
-Ella Wheeler Wilcox
SMILES
"Smile a little, smile a little,
As you go along,
Not alone when life is pleasant,
But when things go wrong.
Care delights to see you frowning,
Loves to hear you sigh;
Turn a smiling face upon her –
Quick the dame will fly.
Smile a little, smile a little,
All along the road;
Every life must have its burden,
Every heart its load.
Why sit down in gloom and darkness
With your grief to sup?
As you drink Fate’s bitter tonic,
Smile across the cup.
Smile upon the troubled pilgrims
Whom you pass and meet;
Frowns are thorns, and smiles are blossoms
Oft for weary feet.
Do not make the way seem harder
By a sullen face;
Smile a little, smile a little,
Brighten up the place.
Smile upon your undone labour;
Not for one who grieves
O’er his task waits wealth or glory;
He who smiles achieves.
Though you meet with loss and sorrow
In the passing years,
Smile a little, smile a little,
Even through your tears."
-Ella Wheeler Wilcox
LISTEN
"Whoever you are as you read this,
Whatever your trouble or grief,
I want you to know and to heed this:
The day draweth near with relief.
No sorrow, no woe is unending,
Though heaven seems voiceless and dumb;
So sure as your cry is ascending,
So surely an answer will come.
Whatever temptation is near you,
Whose eyes on this simple verse fall;
Remember good angels will hear you
And help you to stand, if you call.
Though stunned with despair I beseech you,
Whatever your losses, your need,
Believe, when these printed words reach you,
Believe you were born to succeed.
You are stronger, I tell you, this minute,
Than any unfortunate fate!
And the coveted prize - you can win it;
While life lasts 'tis never too late!"
-Ella Wheeler Wilcox
I TOLD YOU
"I told you the winter would go, love,
I told you the winter would go,
That he'd flee in shame when the south wind came,
And you smiled when I told you so.
You said the blustering fellow
Would never yield to a breeze,
That his cold, icy breath had frozen to death
The flowers, the birds, and trees.
And I told you the snow would melt, love,
In the passionate glance o' the sun;
And the leaves o' the trees, and the flowers and bees,
Would come back again, one by one.
That the great, gray clouds would vanish,
And the sky turn tender and blue;
And the sweet birds would sing, and talk of the spring
And, love, it has all come true.
I told you that sorrow would fade, love,
And you would forget half your pain;
That the sweet bird of song would waken ere long,
And sing in your bosom again;
That hope would creep out of the shadows,
And back to its nest in your heart,
And gladness would come, and find its old home,
And that sorrow at length would depart.
I told you that grief seldom killed, love,
Though the heart might seem dead for awhile.
But the world is so bright, and full of warm light
That 'twould waken at length, in its smile.
Ah, love! was I not a true prophet?
There's a sweet happy smile on your face;
Your sadness has flown - the snow-drift is gone,
And the buttercups bloom in its place."
-Ella Wheeler Wilcox
SLIPPING AWAY
Slipping away---slipping away!
Out of our brief year slips the May;
And Winter lingers, and Summer flies;
And Sorrow abideth, and Pleasure dies;
And the days are short, and the nights are long;
And little is right, and much is wrong.
Slipping away is the Summer-time;
It has lost its rhythm and lilting rhyme---
For the grace goes out of the day so soon,
And the tired head aches in the glare of noon,
And the way seems long to the hills that lie
Under the calm of the western sky.
Slipping away are the friends whose worth
Lent a glow to the sad old earth:
One by one they slip from our sight;
One by one their graves gleam white;
Or we count them lost by the crueller death
Of a trust betrayed, or a murdered faith.
Slipping away are the hopes that made
Bliss out of sorrow, and sun out of shade;
Slipping away is our hold on life;
And out of the struggle and wearing strife,
From joys that diminish, and woes that increase,
We are slipping away to the shores of Peace.
-Ella Wheeler Wilcox
SONGS OF LOVE AND THE SEA
I
When first we met (the Sea and I),
Like one before a King
I stood in awe; nor felt nor saw
The sun, the winds, the earth, the sky
Or any other thing.
God's Universe to me,
Was just the Sea.
When next we met, the lordly Main
Played but a courtier's part;
Crowned Queen was I; and earth and sky,
And sun and sea were my domain,
Since love was in my heart.
Before, beyond, above,
Was only Love.
II
Love built me on a little rock,
A little house of pine;
At first, the Sea
Beat angrily
About that house of mine;
(That dear, dear home of mine).
But when it turned to go away
Beyond the sandy track,
Down o'er its wall
The house would call,
Until the Sea came back;
(It always hurried back).
And now the two have grown so fond,
(Oh, breathe no word of this),
When clouds hang low,
And east winds blow,
They meet and kiss and kiss;
(At night, I hear them kiss).
III
No man can understand the Sea until
He knows all passions of the senses, all
The great emotions of the heart, and each
Exalted aspiration of the soul.
Then may he sit beside the sea and say:
"I, too, have flung myself against the rocks,
And kissed their flinty brows with no return,
And fallen spent upon unfeeling sands.
I, too, have gone forth yearning, to far shores,
Seeking that something which would bring content,
And finding only what I took away;
And I have looked up through the veil of skies
When all the world was still, and understood
That I am one with Nature and with God."
IV
The Dawn was flying from the Night;
Swift as the wind she sped;
Her hair was like a fleece of light;
Her cheeks were warm and red.
All passion pale, the Night pursued;
She fled away, away;
And in her garments, rainbow hued,
She gained the peak of day.
And then, all shaken with alarms,
She leaped down from its crest
Into the Sea's uplifted arms,
And swooned upon his breast.
-Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Winston Churchill Quotes
"I am prepared to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter."
Sir Winston Churchill
"History will be kind to me for I intend to write it."
Sir Winston Churchill
"It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried."
Sir Winston Churchill
"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened."
Sir Winston Churchill
"A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject."
Sir Winston Churchill
"Personally I'm always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught."
Sir Winston Churchill
"From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put."
Sir Winston Churchill
"The reserve of modern assertions is sometimes pushed to extremes, in which the fear of being contradicted leads the writer to strip himself of almost all sense and meaning."
Sir Winston Churchill
"When I am abroad, I always make it a rule never to criticize or attack the government of my own country. I make up for lost time when I come home."
Sir Winston Churchill
"He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire."
Sir Winston Churchill
"There are a terrible lot of lies going around the world, and the worst of it is half of them are true."
Sir Winston Churchill
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm."
Sir Winston Churchill
"We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give."
Sir Winston Churchill
"One ought never to turn one's back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half."
Sir Winston Churchill
"Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb."
Sir Winston Churchill
"For myself I am an optimist - it does not seem to be much use being anything else."
Sir Winston Churchill
"It's not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what's required."
Sir Winston Churchill
"I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined this Government: 'I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat."
Sir Winston Churchill
"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."
Sir Winston Churchill
"I am reminded of the professor who, in his declining hours, was asked by his devoted pupils for his final counsel. He replied, 'Verify your quotations.'"
Sir Winston Churchill
"Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."
Sir Winston Churchill
"All great things are simple, and many can be expressed in single words: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope."
Sir Winston Churchill
"To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years. To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day."
Sir Winston Churchill
"The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter."
Sir Winston Churchill
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
Sir Winston Churchill
"The power of man has grown in every sphere, except over himself."
Sir Winston Churchill
I gather, young man, that you wish to be a Member of Parliament. The first lesson that you must learn is, when I call for statistics about the rate of infant mortality, what I want is proof that fewer babies died when I was Prime Minister than when anyone else was Prime Minister. That is a political statistic.
Sir Winston Churchill
For my part, I consider that it will be found much better by all parties to leave the past to history, especially as I propose to write that history myself.
Sir Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Churchill
"History will be kind to me for I intend to write it."
Sir Winston Churchill
"It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried."
Sir Winston Churchill
"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened."
Sir Winston Churchill
"A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject."
Sir Winston Churchill
"Personally I'm always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught."
Sir Winston Churchill
"From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put."
Sir Winston Churchill
"The reserve of modern assertions is sometimes pushed to extremes, in which the fear of being contradicted leads the writer to strip himself of almost all sense and meaning."
Sir Winston Churchill
"When I am abroad, I always make it a rule never to criticize or attack the government of my own country. I make up for lost time when I come home."
Sir Winston Churchill
"He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire."
Sir Winston Churchill
"There are a terrible lot of lies going around the world, and the worst of it is half of them are true."
Sir Winston Churchill
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm."
Sir Winston Churchill
"We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give."
Sir Winston Churchill
"One ought never to turn one's back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half."
Sir Winston Churchill
"Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb."
Sir Winston Churchill
"For myself I am an optimist - it does not seem to be much use being anything else."
Sir Winston Churchill
"It's not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what's required."
Sir Winston Churchill
"I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined this Government: 'I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat."
Sir Winston Churchill
"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."
Sir Winston Churchill
"I am reminded of the professor who, in his declining hours, was asked by his devoted pupils for his final counsel. He replied, 'Verify your quotations.'"
Sir Winston Churchill
"Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."
Sir Winston Churchill
"All great things are simple, and many can be expressed in single words: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope."
Sir Winston Churchill
"To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years. To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day."
Sir Winston Churchill
"The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter."
Sir Winston Churchill
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
Sir Winston Churchill
"The power of man has grown in every sphere, except over himself."
Sir Winston Churchill
I gather, young man, that you wish to be a Member of Parliament. The first lesson that you must learn is, when I call for statistics about the rate of infant mortality, what I want is proof that fewer babies died when I was Prime Minister than when anyone else was Prime Minister. That is a political statistic.
Sir Winston Churchill
For my part, I consider that it will be found much better by all parties to leave the past to history, especially as I propose to write that history myself.
Sir Winston Churchill
Mark Twain Quotes
"Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example."
Mark Twain, "Pudd'nhead Wilson" (1894)
"A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining, but wants it back the minute it begins to rain."
Mark Twain
"Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest."
Mark Twain
"Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint."
Mark Twain
"Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear."
Mark Twain
"Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first."
Mark Twain
"In Paris they simply stared when I spoke to them in French; I never did succeed in making those idiots understand their language."
Mark Twain
"It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt."
Mark Twain (attributed)
"The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them."
Mark Twain
"I was gratified to be able to answer promptly. I said 'I don't know.'"
Mark Twain
"Always tell the truth. That way, you'll never have to remember what you said last time."
Mark Twain
"Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time to stop and reconsider."
Mark Twain
"A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes."
Mark Twain (attributed)
"In order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to obtain."
Mark Twain, "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", Chapter 2
"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education."
Mark Twain
"Somehow, we are always more anxious to be distinguished for a talent which we do not possess, than to be praised for the fifteen which we do possess."
Mark Twain
"It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare."
Mark Twain
"Do something every day that you don't want to do; this is the golden rule for acquiring the habit of doing your duty without pain."
Mark Twain
"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great."
Mark Twain
"When in doubt, tell the truth."
Mark Twain
"When people do not respect us we are sharply offended; yet deep down in his private heart no man much respects himself."
Mark Twain
"Education: that which reveals to the wise, and conceals from the stupid, the vast limits of their knowledge."
Mark Twain
"[Humanity] has unquestionably one really effective weapon—laughter. Power, money, persuasion, supplication, persecution—these can lift at a colossal humbug—push it a little—weaken it a little, century by century; but only laughter can blow it to rags and atoms at a blast. Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand."
Mark Twain
"There is nothing so annoying as to have two people talking when you're busy interrupting."
Mark Twain
"I can teach anybody how to get what they want out of life. The problem is that I can't find anybody who can tell me what they want."
Mark Twain
"Whenever the literary German dives into a sentence, that is the last you are going to see of him until he emerges on the other side of his atlantic with his verb in his mouth."
Mark Twain
"Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow."
Mark Twain
"The miracle, or the power, that elevates the few is to be found in their industry, application, and perseverance under the prompting of a brave, determined spirit."
Mark Twain
"Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum (I think that I think, therefore I think that I am.)"
Mark Twain (attributed)
Mark Twain, "Pudd'nhead Wilson" (1894)
"A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining, but wants it back the minute it begins to rain."
Mark Twain
"Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest."
Mark Twain
"Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint."
Mark Twain
"Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear."
Mark Twain
"Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first."
Mark Twain
"In Paris they simply stared when I spoke to them in French; I never did succeed in making those idiots understand their language."
Mark Twain
"It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt."
Mark Twain (attributed)
"The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them."
Mark Twain
"I was gratified to be able to answer promptly. I said 'I don't know.'"
Mark Twain
"Always tell the truth. That way, you'll never have to remember what you said last time."
Mark Twain
"Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time to stop and reconsider."
Mark Twain
"A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes."
Mark Twain (attributed)
"In order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to obtain."
Mark Twain, "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", Chapter 2
"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education."
Mark Twain
"Somehow, we are always more anxious to be distinguished for a talent which we do not possess, than to be praised for the fifteen which we do possess."
Mark Twain
"It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare."
Mark Twain
"Do something every day that you don't want to do; this is the golden rule for acquiring the habit of doing your duty without pain."
Mark Twain
"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great."
Mark Twain
"When in doubt, tell the truth."
Mark Twain
"When people do not respect us we are sharply offended; yet deep down in his private heart no man much respects himself."
Mark Twain
"Education: that which reveals to the wise, and conceals from the stupid, the vast limits of their knowledge."
Mark Twain
"[Humanity] has unquestionably one really effective weapon—laughter. Power, money, persuasion, supplication, persecution—these can lift at a colossal humbug—push it a little—weaken it a little, century by century; but only laughter can blow it to rags and atoms at a blast. Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand."
Mark Twain
"There is nothing so annoying as to have two people talking when you're busy interrupting."
Mark Twain
"I can teach anybody how to get what they want out of life. The problem is that I can't find anybody who can tell me what they want."
Mark Twain
"Whenever the literary German dives into a sentence, that is the last you are going to see of him until he emerges on the other side of his atlantic with his verb in his mouth."
Mark Twain
"Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow."
Mark Twain
"The miracle, or the power, that elevates the few is to be found in their industry, application, and perseverance under the prompting of a brave, determined spirit."
Mark Twain
"Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum (I think that I think, therefore I think that I am.)"
Mark Twain (attributed)
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