Joy, how I sought thee!
Silver I spent and gold,
On the pleasures of this world,
In splendid garments clad;
The wine I drank was sweet,
Rich morsels I did eat—
Oh, but my life was sad!
Joy, how I sought thee!
Joy, I have found thee!
Far from the halls of Mirth,
Back to the soft green earth,
Where people are not many;
I find thee, Joy, in hours
With clouds, and birds, and flowers—
Thou dost not charge one penny.
Joy, I have found thee!
Some days the sky is so thick with clouds you wonder if the sun is still shining above them. When those days stretch on for a week or more the need for feeling the sun’s warmth surges through us. When the sun finally breaks through the clouds and the clouds give way to a blue sky, everything seems better. Life is once again joyful. That’s how it is with love. When we know we are loved and love surrounds us, life is good no matter where we are. When love is absent, we feel it. We know that something important is missing from our lives. Don’t be afraid to love or be loved. Love is as essential as the air we breathe.
Harry Breaker Morant
The sun may shine, the rain may fall,
And the world roll round about, –
The king’s men and king’s horses all
Can never rub one thing out.
Skies may darken – clouds will flit –
Troubles may gather and go:
For my sweetheart loves me “just a bit!
And, oh! I love her so.
The vapour vanishes in the sun!
So pass cures, doubts, and pains –
For I’m “loved a bit” by the dearest one,
And the best the world contains.
(_Prologue to “The Two Poets of Croisic.”_)
Such a starved bank of moss
Till, that May-morn,
Blue ran the flash across:
Violets were born!
Sky–what a scowl of cloud
Till, near and far,
Ray on ray split the shroud:
Splendid, a star!
World–how it walled about
Life with disgrace,
Till God’s own smile came out:
That was thy face!
Thoreau writes in “Walking,” “I, who cannot stay in my chamber for a single day without acquiring some rust, and when sometimes I have stolen forth for a walk at the eleventh hour or four o’clock in the afternoon, too late to redeem the day, when the shades of night were already beginning to be mingled with the daylight, have felt as if I had committed some sin to be atoned for.” Pg. 736
Walking is available online and gutenberg.org under the Harvard Classics.
NOTE: When I read this passage I felt that Thoreau was speaking of me. I’ve always been an early riser. Once I wake, the sooner i get out of the house the happier I am. It may be one reason I moved to South Texas. I love the sunshine. If I go two or three days without sunshine I begin to get antsy. I recall extended periods of cloudiness when I lived in a northern climate and my joy when the sun returned. There is something to getting outside and letting one’s feet touch the earth and one’s eyes seeing the beauty that has always surrounded us.
“Behind the clouds is the sun still shining (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow).”
We all have tough moments and tough days. Sometimes the tough times stretch out seeming to never end. Tough moments, tough days, and tough stretches all have a time limit. They’ll end. The clouds will break and the sun will shine.
l lived in a northern climate where I experienced long periods of cloudiness. There were times when the clouds seemed so thick I thought that I’d never feel the sunshine again. When the weather pattern changed and the clouds released their grip the sun flooded the area. The bright sunshine renewed the spirit of people oppressed by the gloomy weather. We have opportunities every day to be the sunshine in someone’s life. We can lift the gloom that surrounds them. Brighten the corner where you live. We need your sunshine.
