Seasons of the Soul

Poetry

Angels
by Alix Taylor

Those creatures with
The lovely wings,
We call angels,
Do not need time.
They work on the instant.
They pick up God’s little
Telegrams and Immediately fly to
Our side to help us read them.

Food for Thought

It is some fundamental certainty which a noble soul has about itself,

something which is

not to be sought,

is not to be found,

and perhaps, also,

is not to be lost.

The noble soul has

reverence for itself.

    ~Friedrich Nietzsche

A Prayer of Return

We give our loved ones back to God.
And just as He first gave them to us
and did not lose them in the giving,
So we have not lost them
in returning them to Him…
for life is eternal, love is immortal,
death is only a horizon…
and a horizon is nothing
but the limit of our earthly sight.

Quotable Quotes

Slight not what is near though aiming at what is far.
-- Euripides

A friend hears the song in my heart and sings it to me when my memory fails.
~Anonymous

I am only one; but still I am one.               
I cannot do everything, but still I can do something:
I will not refuse to do the something I can do.   
~ Helen Keller

The web of life is woven with      
dewdrops of grace—our challenge is to recognize them.
~K.J.

You see things; and you say, “Why?”  But I dream things that never were;    
and I say, “Why not?”
~George Bernard Shaw

He is a man of  sense who does not grieve for what he has not,                              
but rejoices in what he has.                                             
~Epictetus

Quotable Quotes

A pessimist sees only the
dark side of the clouds, and
mopes; a philosopher sees both
sides, and shrugs; an optimist
doesn't see the clouds at all --
he's walking on them.

~Leonard Louis Levinson

The greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising up every time we fall.

-- Confucius (551-479 BC) Chinese Philosopher

Life is no brief candle to me. It is sort of a splendid torch which I have got hold of for a moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.

-- George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Irish Playwright

Food for Thought

Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world. --John Milton

Take your needle, my child, and work at your pattern; it will come out a rose by and by. Life is like that - one stitch at a time taken patiently and the pattern will come out all right like the embroidery. --Oliver Wendell Holmes

What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us. --Ralph Waldo Emerson

Miracles, Poem by Walt Whitman

Why, who makes much of a miracle?
As to me, I know of nothing but miracles,
Whether I walk the streets of Manhattan,
Or dart my sight over the roofs of houses towards the sky,
Or wade with naked feet along the beach just in the ledge of the water
Or stand under the trees in the woods,
Or talk by day with any one I love, or sleep in the bed at night with any one I love,
Or sit at table at dinner with the rest,
Or look at strangers opposite me riding in the car,
Or watch honey-bees busy around the hive of a summer forenoon,
Or animals feeding in the fields,
Or birds, or the wonderfulness of insects in the air,
Or the wonderfulness of the sundown, or of stars shining so quiet and bright,
Or the exquisite delicate thin curve of the new moon in spring,
These with the rest, one and all, are to me miracles,
The whole referring, yet each distinct and in its place.
To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle,
Every cubic inch of space is a miracle,
Every square yard of the surface of the earth is spread with the same,
Every foot of the interior swarms with the same,
To me the sea is a continual miracle,
The fishes that swim - the rocks - the motion of the waves - the ships with men in them,
What stranger miracles are there?
      
~Walt Whitman

Wisdom

Wisdom, you ask

Yes, there are wise ones. Very few

Some say they are in the mountains,

Others say they are hidden in caves.

Some talk of the moon, but no,

They are here, somewhere.

How did they come to be wise?

Was their journey short? Were

They here too long? We do not know.

But age does not bring it. Even if every old person

Ran with a spoon in the hand

From north to south, even south to north,

There is no way they could pick up wisdom

The way one can scoop up sand.

Even with a flashlight they could not see precisely where it lies.

Wise ones talk of the silence, but where is it?

On the mountain top, in the river, inside?

~Alix Taylor

Poems for Thought

O Gift of God!
A perfect day
Whereon shall no man
work but play,
Whereon it is enough
for me
Not to be doing
but to be.
~Henry Wordsworth   Longfellow

 
Your vision                
will become clear 
only when you can look into your heart. 
Who looks outside, dreams.                     
Who looks inside, awakes.
~Carl Jung

Summer Rain

Today you are driving along

A curving country lane.

Ah! It begins to rain!

A steady drenching rain.

All the bushes, trees and grass

Happily receive it.

Behold the life-giving rain!

You stop the car, get out,

And stand in the rain

With arms outstretched, palms upward.

You look upward,

And feel the sweet rain on your face.

Your lips taste the rain.

The air is fresh and new.

Behold the life-giving rain!

"He sendeth rain on the just and the unjust."

And standing there with face upturned

And arms outstretched –

And feeling the rain on your face,

And breathing in the fresh smell of a new rain –

How can you judge another person?

For if He sends rain on the just and the unjust;

Can we not do likewise with our love?

These are your thoughts

As you stand in a summer rain,

Sending out love to all the earth.

Breathing in love,

And breathing out love.

~Stanley Peele