Sunday, December 31, 2006

Happy New Year


There are years that ask questions, and years that answer.

~© Zora Neale Hurston~

Saturday, December 30, 2006

If


If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

~© Rudyard Kipling~

Friday, December 29, 2006

Certainty


I have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of certainty about different things, but I'm not absolutely sure of anything, and many things I don't know anything about, such as whether it means anything to ask why we're here, and what the question might mean. I might think about it a little bit, but if I can't figure it out, then I go on to something else. But I don't have to know an answer.... I don't feel frightened by not knowing things, by being lost in the mysterious universe without having any purpose, which is the way it really is, as far as I can tell, possibly. It doesn't frighten me.

~© Richard Phillips Feynman~

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Everyone Needs Someone


People need people and friends need friends
And we all need love for a full life depends
Not on vast riches or great acclaim,
Not on success or on worldly fame,
But just in knowing that someone cares
And holds us close in their thoughts and prayers-
For only the knowledge that we're understood
Makes everyday living feel wonderfully good,
And we rob ourselves of life's greatest need
When we "lock up our hearts" and fail to heed
The outstretched hand reaching to find
A kindred spirit whose heart and mind
Are lonely and longing to somehow share
Our joys and sorrows and to make us aware
That life's completeness and richness depends
On the things we share with our loved ones and friends.

~© Helen Steiner Rice~

Remember


Remember that a little love goes a long way.
Remember that a lot... goes forever.
Remember that friendship is a wise investment.
Life's treasures are people... together.
Realize that it's never too late.
Do ordinary things in an extraordinary way.
Have health and hope and happiness.
Take the time to wish upon a star.
And don't ever forget... for even a day...
How very special you are.

~© Douglas Pagels~

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

The Heart Prefers...


The heart prefers to move against the grain of circumstance; perversity is the soul's very life.

~© John Updike~

Monday, December 25, 2006

A Sense Of Humor


Nobody says you must laugh, but a sense of humor can help you overlook the unattractive, tolerate the unpleasant, cope with the unexpected, and smile through the day.

~© Ann Landers~

The Gift Of Christmas


Christmas is the one day of the year
that carries real hope and promise for all mankind.

It carries the torch of brotherhood.

It is the one day in the year when most of us
grow big of heart and broad of mind.

It is the single day when most of us
are as kind and as thoughtful of others
as we know how to be;

When most of us are as gracious and generous
as we would like always to be;

When the joy of home is more important
than the profits of the office;

When peoples of all races speak cheerfully
to each other when they meet;

When high and low wish each other well;

And the one day when even enemies forgive and forget.

~© Edgar Guest~

Sunday, December 24, 2006

Let Every Day Be Christmas


Christmas is forever, not for just one day,
for loving, sharing, giving, are not to put away
like bells and lights and tinsel, in some box upon a shelf.
The good you do for others is good you do yourself.

~© Norman W. Brooks~

Saturday, December 23, 2006

I Am Sure


But I am sure that I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round... as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely.

~© Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol~

Friday, December 22, 2006

Challenge to Winter


Come, Winter! Blow!
Your winds, with all their chill,
Do not scare me.
The power in your frost
Burns hot, impossibly, in my flesh.
I do not fear you, Winter,
For your might may thaw
Under the glow of the sun.

~© James Grengs~

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Those Moments...


There are moments in life, when the heart is so full of emotion
That if by chance it be shaken, or into its depths like a pebble
Drops some careless word, it overflows, and its secret,
Spilt on the ground like water, can never be gathered together.

~© Henry Wadsworth Longfellow~

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Nostalgia


Christmas - that magic blanket that wraps itself about us, that something so intangible that it is like a fragrance. It may weave a spell of nostalgia. Christmas may be a day of feasting, or of prayer, but always it will be a day of remembrance - a day in which we think of everything we have ever loved.

~© Augusta E. Rundel~

Monday, December 18, 2006

Isn't It Funny...


Isn't it funny that at Christmas something in you gets so lonely for - I don't know what exactly, but it's something that you don't mind so much not having at other times.

~© Kate L. Bosher~

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Our Hearts Grow Tender...


Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time.

~© Laura Ingalls Wilder~

Saturday, December 16, 2006

What's It All About


Life isn't about keeping score.
It's not about how many friends you have.
Not about if you have plans this weekend or if you're alone.
It isn't about who you're dating, who you used to date,
how many people you've dated,
or if you haven't been with anyone at all.
It isn't about who you have kissed, it's not about sex.
It isn't about who your family is or how much money they have.
Or what kind of car you drive.
Or where you went to school.
It's not about how beautiful or ugly you are.
Or what clothes you wear, what shoes you have on,
or what kind of music you listen to.
It's not about if your hair is blonde, red, black, or brown.
Or if your skin is too light or too dark.
Not about what grades you get, how smart you are,
how smart everybody else thinks you are,
or how smart standardized tests say you are.
It's not about what clubs you're in or how good you are at "your" sport.
It's not about representing your whole being on a piece of paper
and seeing who will "accept the written you."

But, life is about who you love and who you hurt.
It's about who you make happy or unhappy purposefully.
It's about keeping or betraying trust.
It's about friendship, used as a sanctity or a weapon.
It's about what you mean and say, maybe hurtful, maybe heartening.
About starting rumors and contributing to petty gossip.
It's about what judgments you pass and why.
And who your judgments are spread to.
It's about who you've ignored with full control and intention.
It's about jealousy, fear, ignorance, and revenge.
It's about carrying inner hate or love, letting it grow, and spreading it.

But most of all, it's about using your life to touch or poison other people's hearts in such a way that could have never occurred alone. Only you choose the way those hearts are affected, and those choices are what life's all about.

~© Author Unknown~

Friday, December 15, 2006

Friendship


A ruddy drop of manly blood
The surging sea outweighs;
The world uncertain comes and goes,
The lover rooted stays.
I fancied he was fled,
And, after many a year,
Glowed unexhausted kindliness
Like daily sunrise there.
My careful heart was free again-
O friend, my bosom said,
Through thee alone the sky is arched,
Through thee the rose is red,
All things through thee takes nobler form
And look beyond the earth,
The mill-round of our fate appears
A sun-path in thy worth.
Me too thy nobleness has taught
To master my despair;
The fountains of my hidden life
Are through thy friendship fair.

~© Ralph Waldo Emerson~

Thursday, December 14, 2006

The Sun's Couch


. . . feathery curtains,
Stretching o'er the sun's bright couch.

~© Percy Bysshe Shelley~

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

You...


You listen to so much more than I can say. You hear consciousness. You go with me where the words I say can't carry you.

~© Kahlil Gibran~

Monday, December 11, 2006

Risk


To laugh is- to risk appearing the fool.
To weep is- to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach out is- to risk involvement.

To expose your feelings is-
to risk exposing your true self.
To place you ideas, your dreams before the crowd is-
to risk their loss.

To love is- to risk not being loved in return.
To live is- to risk dying.
To hope is- to risk despair.

To try is- to risk failure.
But risks must be taken,
because the greatest hazard in life
is to risk nothing.

The person who risks nothing,
does nothing, has nothing, and
is nothing.
He may avoid suffering and sorrow,
but he simply cannot learn, feel,
change, grow, live- love.

Chained by his certitudes,
he is a slave,
he has forfeited freedom.
Only a person who risks is free.

~© Author Unknown~

Sunday, December 10, 2006

From "The Stranger"


Well we all have a face
That we hide away forever
And we take them out and
Show ourselves
When everyone has gone
Some are satin some are steel
Some are silk and some are leather
They're the faces of the stranger
But we love to try them on

Well we all fall in love
But we disregard the danger
Though we share so many secrets
There are some we never tell
Why were you so surprised
That you never saw the stranger
Did you ever let your lover see
The stranger in yourself?

You may never understand
How the stranger is inspired
But he isn't always evil
And he is not always wrong
Though you drown in good intentions
You will never quench the fire
You'll give in to your desire
When the stranger comes along.

~© Billy Joel~

Friday, December 08, 2006

A Welcome Surprise


As I rounded the corner, there he was, shining in all his glory.
An overwhelming warmth rose from within, flooding my cheeks with color.
Then, he smiled upon me, acknowledging my presence, and I nearly lost control.
How I do love the Sunshine.

~© Alis Volat Propiis~

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Winter


For the man sound in body and serene of mind there is no such thing as bad weather; every day has its beauty, and storms which whip the blood do but make it pulse more vigorously.

~© George Gissing~

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

The Simple Things


I find pleasure in things that are simple.

~© Stephan Jenkins~

From "Fear Nothing"


Sometimes I dream that I am walking on a Caribbean beach in a rain of sunshine, and the white sand under my feet seems to be a cushion of pure radiance. The warmth of the sun on my skin is more erotic than a lover's touch. In the dream, I am not merely bathed in the light but pierced by it.

~© Dean Koontz~

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

The West


We are from the West. The world we suggest should be of a new wild West, a sensuous, evil world, strange and haunting-the path of the sun.

~© Jim Morrison~

Monday, December 04, 2006

Happy Birthday, Daddy!


You may have thought I didn't see,
Or that I hadn't heard,
Life lessons that you taught to me,
But I got every word.

Perhaps you thought I missed it all,
And that we'd grow apart,
But Dad, I picked up everything,
It's written on my heart.

Without you, Dad, I wouldn't be
The woman I am today;
You built a strong foundation
No one can take away.

I've grown up with your values,
And I'm very glad I did;
So here's to you, dear father,
From your forever grateful kid.

~© Joanna Fuchs~

Sunday, December 03, 2006

Emotions


If emotions had shape,
they'd look like clouds.

Happiness would wander across deep blue.
Small and fluffy
with no grey hue,
just bright and white
and light with the joy of it all.

Sadness would be dull and flat,
Covering all with deadpan still.
Heavy and low.
An oppressive pall
that stills and removes the reason for all.

Anger would billow up mighty and high,
both screaming white and threatening black.
Flashing and roaring
and threatening the world,
diminishing all in it’s track.

Love would be smeared across calm grey blue
like watercolour smudged with tears.
With tints of orange, pink and red
as the fiery sun finally calms
and leaves us to be content.

Hatred would be roiling low
with turbulent tones of black and grey.
Rumbling past at tree top height,
spitting and glowering
and dulling the light.

Jealousy would be hazy and thin.
Oppressive, confusing with Turner sun
corrupting the light,
distorting our sight
and leaving truth limpid.

Compassion would settle gentle and still.
A quiet white mist
on the valleys and hills
and cause us to stop
and consider the ills of the world.

Hope would be high and textured and white.
Bright lacy ribbons stretched across blue.
Threads of potential
with definite shape
that hold new promise of change in the wind.

Fear would be fog, silent and dark.
Obscuring the truth, sly moving stillness,
drifting around us to get round behind us.
Sinister spirits that steal our judgement
and make us like fools, lost.

~© David Kitching~

Saturday, December 02, 2006

The True Harvest


The true harvest of my life is intangible - a little star dust caught, a portion of the rainbow I have clutched.

~© Henry David Thoreau~

Friday, December 01, 2006

Hitting The Mark


Unexpected til we came & saw it
Unbelievable as soon as seen
Hit the mark despite not aiming for it
Isn't that how things have always been?

~© Bertolt Brecht~