poet

“Peace” Poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins

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Peace

WHEN will you ever, Peace, wild wooddove, shy wings shut,
Your round me roaming end, and under be my boughs?
When, when, Peacè, will you, Peace? I’ll not play
hypocrite
To own my heart: I yield you do come sometimes; but
That piecemeal peace is poor peace. What pure peace
allows
Alarms of wars, the daunting wars, the death of it?
O surely, reaving Peace, my Lord should leave in lieu
Some good! And so he does leave Patience exquisite,
That plumes to Peace thereafter. And when Peace here does house
He comes with work to do, he does not come to coo,
He comes to brood and sit.

Excerpt From
Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins / Now First Published
Gerard Manley Hopkins

Today’s Quote on Trusting Your Instincts

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The day we stop resisting our instincts, we’ll have learned how to live.

Federico Garcia Lorca

“A Prayer” Poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

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A Prayer

“Master of sweet and loving lore,
   Give us the open mind
To know religion means no more,
   No less, than being kind.

Give us the comprehensive sight
   That sees another’s need;
And let our aim to set things right
   Prove God inspired our creed.

Give us the soul to know our kin
   That dwell in flock and herd,
The voice to fight man’s shameful sin
   Against the beast and bird.

Give us a heart with love so fraught
   For all created things,
That even our unspoken thought
   Bears healing on its wings.

Give us religion that will cope
   With life’s colossal woes,
And turn a radiant face of hope
   On troops of pigmy foes.

Give us the mastery of our fate
   In thoughts so warm and white,
They stamp upon the brows of hate
   Love’s glorious seal of light.

Give us the strong, courageous faith
   That makes of pain a friend,
And calls the secret word of death
   ‘Beginning,’ and not ‘end.”

Excerpt From
Poems of Progress and New Thought Pastels
Ella Wheeler Wilcox

“Evening Star” Poem by Longfellow

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Evening Star

Henry Wardworth Longfellow

Lo! in the painted oriel of the West,
Whose panes the sunken sun incarnadines,
Like a fair lady at her casement, shines
The evening star, the star of love and rest!
And then anon she doth herself divest
Of all her radiant garments, and reclines
Behind the sombre screen of yonder pines,
With slumber and soft dreams of love oppressed.
O my beloved, my sweet Hesperus!
My morning and my evening star of love!
My best and gentlest lady! even thus,
As that fair planet in the sky above,
Dost thou retire unto thy rest at night,
And from thy darkened window fades the light.

“Dare to be Different” Poem by Helen Lowrie Marshall

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Dare to be Different

Helen Lowrie Marshall

Dare to be different; life is so full
Of people who follow the same push-and-pull,
Poor, plodding people who, other than name,
Try to pretend they’re exactly the same.

God made us different; there never will be
A replica soul made of you or me.
The charm—the glory of all creation
rests on this very deviation.

Your charm—your own glory, too,
Lies in being uniquely you—
Lies in being true to your best,
That part of you different from all the rest.”

“The Sunlight on the Garden” Poem by Louis MacNeice

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The Sunlight on the Garden

The sunlight on the garden
Hardens and grows cold,
We cannot cage the minute
Within its nets of gold;
When all is told
We cannot beg for pardon.

Our freedom as free lances
Advances towards its end;
The earth compels, upon it
Sonnets and birds descend;
And soon, my friend,
We shall have no time for dances.

The sky was good for flying
Defying the church bells
And every evil iron
Siren and what it tells:
The earth compels,
We are dying, Egypt, dying

And not expecting pardon,
Hardened in heart anew,
But glad to have sat under
Thunder and rain with you,
And grateful too
For sunlight on the garden.

 – Louis MacNeice

Wisdom for Living by Shakespeare

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Since my dear soul was mistress of her choice And could of men distinguish, her election Hath sealed thee for herself; for thou hast been As one, in suffering all, that suffers nothing,
A man that fortune’s buffets and rewards
Hast ta’en with equal thanks; and bless’d are those Whose blood and judgment are so well commingled That they are not a pipe for fortune’s finger
To sound what stop she please. Give me that man That is not passion’s slave, and I will wear him
In my heart’s core, ay, in my heart of heart,
As I do thee.

William Shakespeare.

“The Sermon” Poem by Herman Melville

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The Sermon

     “The ribs and terrors in the whale,

     Arched over me a dismal gloom,

     While all God’s sun-lit waves rolled by,

     And lift me deepening down to doom.

     “I saw the opening maw of hell,

     With endless pains and sorrows there;

     Which none but they that feel can tell—

     Oh, I was plunging to despair.

     “In black distress, I called my God,

     When I could scarce believe him mine,

     He bowed his ear to my complaints—

     No more the whale did me confine.

     “With speed he flew to my relief,

     As on a radiant dolphin borne;

     Awful, yet bright, as lightning shone

     The face of my Deliverer God.

     “My song for ever shall record

     That terrible, that joyful hour;

     I give the glory to my God,

     His all the mercy and the power.”

“Forever Dance” Poem about Joy by Hafiz

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Forever Dance

I am happy even before I have a reason.

I am full of Light even before the sky
Can greet the sun or the moon.

Dear companions,
We have been in love with God
For so very, very long.

What can Hafiz now do but Forever
Dance!

Hafiz

“Can You Coax Your Mind?” Poem by Lao Tzu

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Can You Coax Your mind?

Can you coax your mind from its wandering
and keep to the original oneness?
Can you let your body become
supple as a newborn child’s?
Can you cleanse your inner vision
until you see nothing but the light?
Can you love people and lead them
without imposing your will?
Can you deal with the most vital matters
by letting events take their course?
Can you step back from you own mind
and thus understand all things?

Giving birth and nourishing,
having without possessing,
acting with no expectations,
leading and not trying to control:
this is the supreme virtue.

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