T's So Much Joy
Emily Dickinson
‘T is so much joy! ‘T is so much joy!
If I should fail, what poverty!
And yet, as poor as I
Have ventured all upon a throw;
Have gained! Yes! Hesitated so
This side the victory!
Life is but life, and death but death!
Bliss is but bliss, and breath but breath!
And if, indeed, I fail,
At least to know the worst is sweet.
Defeat means nothing but defeat,
No drearier can prevail!
And if I gain, – oh, gun at sea,
Oh, bells that in the steeples be,
At first repeat it slow!
For heaven is a different thing
Conjectured, and waked sudden in,
And might o’erwhelm me so!
poet
Troubled ~ Hafiz
TROUBLED
Hafiz
Troubled?
Then stay with me, for I’m not.
Lonely?
A thousand naked amorous ones dwell in ancient caves
Beneath my eyelids.
Riches?
Here’s a pick,
My whole body is an emerald that begs,
“Take me.”
Write all that worries you on a piece of parchment;
Offer it to God.
Even from the distance of a millennium I can lean the flame in my heart
Into your life And turn
All that frightens you
Into holy
Incense
Ash.
Hope ~ Emily Dickinson
Hope
Emily Dickinson
“Hope” is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all,
And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
I’ve heard it in the chillest land
And on the strangest sea,
Yet never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.
The Gladness of Nature ~ William Cullen Bryant
The Gladness of Nature
IS this a time to be cloudy and sad,
When our mother Nature laughs around;
When even the deep blue heavens look glad,
And gladness breathes from the blossoming ground?
There are notes of joy from the hang-bird and wren,
And the gossip of swallows through all the sky;
The ground-squirrel gaily chirps by his den,
And the wilding bee hums merrily by.
The clouds are at play in the azure space,
And their shadows at play on the bright green vale,
And here they stretch to the frolic chase,
And there they roll on the easy gale.
There’s a dance of leaves in that aspen bower,
There’s a titter of winds in that beechen tree,
There’s a smile on the fruit, and a smile on the flower,
And a laugh from the brook that runs to the sea.
And look at the broad-faced sun, how he smiles
On the dewy earth that smiles in his ray,
On the leaping waters and gay young isles;
Ay, look, and he’ll smile thy gloom away.
William Cullen Bryant
Gifts ~ Sara Teasdale
Gifts
Sara Teasdale
I gave my first love laughter,
I gave my second tears,
I gave my third love silence
Through all the years.
My first love gave me singing,
My second eyes to see,
But oh, it was my third love
Who gave my soul to me.
Sometimes ~ Thich Nhat Hhan
Sometimes
Thich Nhat Hhan
Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile,
but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.
Beauty ~ Tagore
Beauty is truth’s smile
when she beholds her own face in
a perfect mirror.
– Rabindranath Tagore
Idea of Death by Hafiz
How
Fascinating the idea of death
Can be.
Too bad, though,
Because
It just isn’t
True.
Hafiz
The Loving Heart ~ Lorraine Hansberry
Someone may love you because you are clever
Someone may love you because you are wise
Someone may love you for beauty or humor
The fun in your heart or the light in your eyes.
But if there is one who discovers your failings
And love all the good and bad that is you
This is the love that will last you forever
This is the love that will always be true.
Look ~ Christina Rosetti
Two doves upon the selfsame branch,
Two lilies on a single stem,
Two butterflies upon one flower:—
Oh happy they who look on them.
Who look upon them hand in hand
Flushed in the rosy summer light;
Who look upon them hand in hand
And never give a thought to night.
