Today’s Poem
I Am Bound, I Am Bound for a Distant Shore
Henry David Thoreau
I am bound, I am bound, for a distant shore,
By a lonely isle, by a far Azore,
There it is, there it is, the treasure I seek,
On the barren sands of a desolate creek
Month: September 2023
Thinking Out Loud ~ Don’t Give Up – A Message in Aesop’s Fable
Don’t Give Up – Don’t Ever Give Up
Today’s Thinking Out Loud reflection is on Aesop’s Fable, The Crow and the Pitcher. Aesop’s Fables is available for free download here.
The Fable
“A thirsty Crow found a Pitcher with some water in it, but so
little was there that, try as she might, she could not reach it
with her beak, and it seemed as though she would die of thirst
within sight of the remedy. At last she hit upon a clever plan. She
began dropping pebbles into the Pitcher, and with each pebble the
water rose a little higher until at last it reached the brim, and
the knowing bird was enabled to quench her thirst.”
Note: I enjoyed this fable. The crow didn’t give up. The crow discovered a workaround. When we’re confronted with challenges, there is a temptation to give up. Some inner voice speaks to us and tell us it is not worth the effort. Or, the inner voice tells us that it is impossible. When our inner voice gives us negative appraisals it is deceiving us. Our challenge may be daunting, but if we continue to endure and not give up, we have a chance. We may succeed or we may discover something more vital on the journey. Never quit, never give up. You’ve always a chance if you don’t quit.
Mind Sharpening Anagrams
Match Wits With the Anagram
Each time you succeed against the anagram, your mind becomes stronger.
Today’s Anagram:
Joke of the Day ~ Laugh Out Loud with Joe and Pete
Today’s Joke With Joe and Pete
Joe: “My girlfriend is a biologist and she took me shopping yesterday.”
Pete: “What did she buy?”
Joe: “Skinny genes.”
Today’s Health Quiz ~ Did You Know this About Cashews?
Health Quiz testing your knowledge about cashews
Today’s Health Quiz:
Today’s Inspiring Photo – You’ll Find a Way
Love Always Finds a Way
Poem for Today ~ It Was Not Fate
It Was Not Fate
William Moore
It was not fate which overtook me,
Rather a wayward, wilful wind
That blew hot for awhile
And then, as the even shadows came, blew cold.
What pity it is that a man grown old in life’s dreaming
Should stop, e’en for a moment, to look into a woman’s eyes.
And I forgot!
Forgot that one’s heart must be steeled against the east wind.
Life and death alike come out of the East:
Life as tender as young grass,
Death as dreadful as the sight of clotted blood.
I shall go back into the darkness,
Not to dream but to seek the light again.
I shall go by paths, mayhap,
On roads that wind around the foothills
Where the plains are bare and wild
And the passers-by come few and far between.
I want the night to be long, the moon blind.
The hills thick with moving memories,
And my heart beating a breathless requiem
For all the dead days I have lived.
When the Dawn comes—Dawn, deathless, dreaming—
I shall will that my soul must be cleansed of hate,
I shall pray for strength to hold children close to my heart,
I shall desire to build houses where the poor will know
shelter, comfort, beauty.
And then may I look into a woman’s eyes
And find holiness, love and the peace which passeth understanding.
