What positive emotion do you feel most often?
Joy & Woe
Joy and woe are woven fine,
A clothing of the soul divine;
Under every grief and pine,
Runs a joy of silken twine.
It is right it should be so;
Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know,
Safely through the world we go.
William Blake 1757~1827
If you were going to open up a shop, what would you sell?
That’s an easy one to answer WP. A thriving charity shop on a busy high street with lots of footfall and plenty of regular customers…
……… The sky had suddenly darkened as I looked out the street, which had become empty but for a few souls hurrying home before the downpour.
I’d just finished changing the window display, The clothes rails were tidy, and if I say it myself, the place looked good.
With a few minutes to spare before I shut up shop for the day, I ran my finger along the bookshelf to see what had been donated recently, something i may have missed.
And there it was The Collected Poems of Sara Teasdale. I was excited to see it. Quickly taking ownership ( yes, I did pay for it!) I popped it in my bag, locked up and left for the day. There was one poem especially I wanted to read again….
(War time)
There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground, And swallows circling with their shimmering sound.
And frogs in the pool singing at night, And wild plum trees in tremulous white.
Robins will wear their feathery fire, Whistling their whims on a low-fence wire.
And not one will know of the war, not one, Will care at last when it is done.
Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree if mankind perished utterly;
And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn, Would scarcely know that we were gone.
Sara Teasdale ( 1884~1933)
Are you seeking security or adventure?
Returning
Perhaps we only leave
So we can once again arrive,
To get a bird’s eye view
Of what it means to be alive.
For there is beauty in returning,
Oh, how wonderful, how strange
To see that everything is different
But know it’s only you who’s changed.’
Erin Hanson ( 1995~
What are your daily habits?
‘ It’s no bad thing to celebrate a simple life’ JJ Tolkien 1892- 1973
The Guest House~Rumi
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning, a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
of some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
as a guide from beyond.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
Jalal-al-Din Muhammad Rumi 1207~1273
What are you passionate about?
All nature has a feeling: woods, fields, brooks
Are life eternal: and in silence they
Speak happiness beyond the reach of books;
There’s nothing mortal in them all; their decay
Is the green life of change;to pass away
And come again in blooms revivified.
It’s birthday was heaven, eternal it its stay,
And with the sun and moon shall still abide
Beneath their day and night and heaven wide.
John Clare ( 1793-1864)
Do you remember your favorite book from childhood?
A favourite series of books of mine were The Famous Five by English writer Enid Blyton ( 1897-1968) Her books were best sellers around the world since the 1930’s.
Leisure
What is this life if, full of care
We have no time to stand and stare.
No time to stand beneath the boughs,
And stare as long as sheep or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can,
Enrich that smile her eyes began.
A poor life this, if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
By W.H. Davies, pub 1911.
‘ Time keeps on slipping into the future’ is taken from the album Fly Like an Eagle by the Steve Miller Band. Released in 1976.
Describe one simple thing you do that brings joy to your life.
Walking my dog on the beach. Seeing him in his element brings great joy to my life.
Black Cherries
Late in May as the light lengthens
towards summer the young goldfinches
flutter down through the day for the first time
to find themselves among fallen petals
cradling their day’s colours in the day’s shadows
of the garden beside the old house
after a cold spring with no rain
not a sound comes from the empty village
as I stand eating the black cherries
from the loaded branches above me
saying to myself Remember this
W. S Merwin 1927~2019
What jobs have you had?…… and when the work is over
The tide rises, the tide falls,
The twilight darkness, the curlew calls;
Along the sea-sands damp and brown
The traveller hastens towards the town,
And the tide rises, the tide falls.
Darkness settles on roofs and walls,
But the sea, the sea in darkness calls;
The little waves, with their soft, white hands,
Efface the footprints in the sand,
And the tide rises, the tide falls.
The morning breaks; the steed in their stalls,
Stamp and neigh, as the holster calls,
The day returns, but never more
Returns the traveller to the shore,
And the tide rises, the tide falls.
***************
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ~ 1807-1882
Daily Prompt….Have you ever broken a bone?
Let’s be wildflowers, let our souls be scattered by the wind.
Let us grow wild and free, tall and brave, in the places that we dream, in the places where our longings are filled.
Let us grow through the cracks of brokenness, and we will make everything beautiful.
J.R.R. Tolkien
I sit beside the fire and think of all that I have seen
of meadow-flowers and butterflies in summers that have been;
Of yellow leaves and gossamer in autumns that there were,
with morning mist and silver sun and wind upon my hair.
I sit beside the fire and think of how the world will be
when winter comes without a spring that I shall ever see.
For still there are so many things that I have never seen:
in every wood and every spring there is a different green.
I sit beside the fire and think of people long ago
and people who will see a world that I will never know.
But all all the while I sit and think of times there were before,
I listen for returning feet and voices at the door.
IN THE BOOMER PIGEON HOLE? 
You must be logged in to post a comment.