inspirational poems

A New Year’s Song ~ A Poem by Edgar Albert Guest

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Welcoming the New Year with Gratitude, Generosity, and Joy

What if the secret to a fulfilling year isn’t ambition or hustle—but kindness, gratitude, and the courage to let go?

A New’s Year’s Song

Edgar Albert Guest

Love and laughter lead you 
Down the pathways of the year, 
And may each morning feed you 
From the golden spoon of cheer; 
May every eye be shining,
And every cheek aglow, 
And may the silver lining
Of the clouds forever show.

May peace and plenty find you,
May pain and grief depart ;
And may you leave behind you
The little cares that smart; 
May no day be distressful,
No night be filled with woe, 
And may you be successful
Wherever you may go.

May June bring you her roses,
May summer poppies bloom, 
And may each day that closes
Be fragrant with perfume. 
May you have no regretting
When evening is begun, 
No vain and idle fretting
O’er what you might have done.

May envy quit your dwelling
And hatred leave your heart ; 
May you rejoice in telling
Your brother’s better part. 
May you be glad you’re living
However dark your way, 
And find your joy in giving
Your service to the day.

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Reflection

Edgar Guest’s A New Year’s Song reminds us that a good life is not built from grand gestures, but from daily choices—choosing cheer over complaint, generosity over envy, and gratitude over regret. The poem gently invites us to travel the year lightly, unburdened by needless worries and heavy resentments. It encourages us to notice beauty as it arrives, to celebrate the success of others, and to find purpose in service rather than self-absorption. This is a vision of renewal rooted in kindness and attention. Read slowly, and you may realize the poem is less a wish—and more a quiet roadmap.

As you read this poem, ask yourself:

Which “little cares” or hidden resentments might I leave behind this year to make room for peace, joy, and generosity?

Journey’s End ~ A Poem by J. R. R. Tolkien

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Journey’s End: Tolkien’s Vision of Hope Beyond Darkness

Even at life’s edge, Tolkien reminds us that light and stars endure, and endings hold the seed of new beginnings.

Journey’s End

J. R. R. Tolkien

In western lands beneath the Sun
The flowers may rise in Spring,
The trees may bud, the waters run,
The merry finches sing.
Or there maybe ’tis cloudless night,
And swaying branches bear
The Elven-stars as jewels white
Amid their branching hair.

Though here at journey’s end I lie
In darkness buried deep,
Beyond all towers strong and high,
Beyond all mountains steep,
Above all shadows rides the Sun
And Stars for ever dwell:
I will not say the Day is done,
Nor bid the Stars farewell.

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🌟 Reflection

Tolkien’s Journey’s End speaks to the soul when shadows seem final. The poem recognizes the inevitability of weariness, endings, and the deep silence that life’s darkest valleys bring. Yet, it refuses despair. Even when the speaker lies “in darkness buried deep,” he asserts that the Sun and Stars continue beyond his reach—symbols of hope, continuity, and eternal beauty. The poem insists that the end of one journey is not the end of light. We are reminded that while human strength falters, creation itself bears witness to something greater and more enduring. This reflection invites us to lift our gaze from the heaviness of endings toward the eternal constellations of meaning. Hope is not extinguished; it rides above every shadow.

❓ Three Questions for Reflection

  1. What do the Sun and Stars symbolize for you in times of struggle or endings?
  2. How does Tolkien’s refusal to “bid the Stars farewell” challenge the way we view death or loss?
  3. In what ways can we carry hope even when we feel “buried deep” in our own journeys?

Today’s Poem ~ To Melancholy

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To Melancholy

John Kendrick Bangs

 Melancholy,
  Melancholy,
  I’ve no use for you, by Golly!
  Yet I’m going to keep you hidden
  In some chamber dark, forbidden,
  Just as though you were a prize, sir,
  Made of gold, and I a miser—
  Not because I think you jolly,
          Melancholy!
  Not for that I mean to hoard you,
  Keep you close and lodge and board you
  As I would my sisters, brothers,
  Cousins, aunts, and old grandmothers,
  But that you shan’t bother others
  With your sniffling, snuffling folly,
          Howling,
          Yowling,
  Melancholy.

Today’s Poem ~ Friends of Mine

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Friends of Mine

James W. Foley

 Good-morning, Brother Sunshine,
    Good-morning, Sister Song,
  I beg your humble pardon
    If you’ve waited very long.
  I thought I heard you rapping,
    To shut you out were sin,
  My heart is standing open,
    Won’t you
      walk
        right
          in?

  Good-morning, Brother Gladness,
    Good-morning, Sister Smile,
  They told me you were coming,
    So I waited on a while.
  I’m lonesome here without you,
    A weary while it’s been,
  My heart is standing open,
    Won’t you
      walk
        right
          in?

  Good-morning, Brother Kindness,
    Good-morning, Sister Cheer,
  I heard you were out calling,
    So I waited for you here.
  Some way, I keep forgetting
    I have to toil or spin
  When you are my companions,
    Won’t you
      walk
        right
          in?

Today’s Poem ~ Love Is

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Love Is

Tagore

Love is an endless mystery,
for it has nothing else to explain it.

love is

Today’s Poem ~ Promise Yourself

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Promise Yourself

Christian D. Larson

Promise Yourself
To be so strong that nothing
can disturb your peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness, and prosperity
to every person you meet.

To make all your friends feel
that there is something in them
To look at the sunny side of everything
and make your optimism come true.

To think only the best, to work only for the best,
and to expect only the best.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others
as you are about your own.

To forget the mistakes of the past
and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times
and give every living creature you meet a smile.

To give so much time to the improvement of yourself
that you have no time to criticize others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear,
and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

To think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world,
not in loud words but great deeds.
To live in faith that the whole world is on your side
so long as you are true to the best that is in you.”

Today’s Poem ~ Questionnaire

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QUESTIONNAIRE
by Wendell Berry

How much poison are you willing
to eat for the success of the free
market and global trade? Please
name your preferred poisons.

For the sake of goodness, how much
evil are you willing to do?
Fill in the following blanks
with the names of your favorite
evils and acts of hatred.

What sacrifices are you prepared
to make for culture and civilization?
Please list the monuments, shrines,
and works of art you would
most willingly destroy.

In the name of patriotism and
the flag, how much of our beloved
land are you willing to desecrate?
List in the following spaces
the mountains, rivers, towns, farms
you could most readily do without.

State briefly the ideas, ideals, or hopes,
the energy sources, the kinds of security,
for which you would kill a child.
Name, please, the children whom
you would be willing to kill.

Today’s Poem ~ One By One

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One By One

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Little by little and one by one,
Out of the ether, were worlds created;
Star and planet and sea and sun,
All in the nebulous Nothing waited
Till the Nameless One Who has many a name
Called them to being and forth they came.

All things mighty and all things small,
Stone and flower and sentient being,
Each is an answer to that one call,
A part of Himself that His will is freeing-
Freeing to go on the long, long way
That winds back home at the end of the day.

Little by little does mortal man
Build his castles for joy and glory,
And one by one time shatters each plan
And lowers his palaces, story by story-
Story by story, till earth is just
A row of graves in the lowly dust.

One by one, whatever was called,
Must be called back to the primal Centre.
Let no soul tremble or be appalled,
For the heart of the Maker is where we enter-
Is where we enter to gain new force
Before we are sent on another course.

And one by one, as He calls us back,
We shall find the souls that we loved with passion,
In the great way-stations along the track,
And clasp them again in the old, sweet fashion-
In the old, sweet fashion when earth we trod-
And journey along with them up to God.

Today’s Poem ~ Love’s Philosophy

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Love’s Philosophy

Percy Bysshe Shelley

The fountains mingle with the river,
  And the rivers with the ocean;
The winds of heaven mix forever
  With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single;
  All things by a law divine
In another’s being mingle–
  Why not I with thine?

See, the mountains kiss high heaven,
  And the waves clasp one another;
No sister flower could be forgiven
  If it disdained its brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth,
  And the moonbeams kiss the sea;–
What is all this sweet work worth,
  If thou kiss not me?

  

Today’s Poem ~ Courage

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Courage

Sri Chinmoy

To speak ill of the world
Needs courage,  
But fortunately or unfortunately
Everybody has that courage.  
To love the world  
As one’s own,  
Very own,  
Needs courage.  
Unfortunately, most of us are wanting
In that courage.
The courage of the heart,
The courage of the soul
We badly need,  
And not the courage  
Of the unruly,  
Aggressive,  
Impure,  
Demanding vital.

Courage

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