Just Be Glad
O heart of mine, we shouldn’t
Worry so!
What we’ve missed of calm we couldn’t
Have, you know!
What we’ve met of stormy pain,
And of sorrow’s driving rain,
We can better meet again,
If it blow!We have erred in that dark hour
We have known,
When our tears fell with the shower,
All alone!–
Were not shine and shower blent
As the gracious Master meant?–
Let us temper our content
With His own.For, we know, not every morrow
Can be sad;
So, forgetting all the sorrow
We have had,
Let us fold away our fears,
And put by our foolish tears,
And through all the coming years
Just be glad.
_James Whitcomb Riley._
Poetry
The Armful ~ Poem by Robert Frost
The Armful
by Robert Frost
For every parcel I stoop down to seize
I lose some other off my arms and knees,
And the whole pile is slipping, bottles, buns,
Extremes too hard to comprehend at. once
Yet nothing I should care to leave behind.
With all I have to hold with hand and mind
And heart, if need be, I will do my best.
To keep their building balanced at my breast.
I crouch down to prevent them as they fall;
Then sit down in the middle of them all.
I had to drop the armful in the road
And try to stack them in a better load.
Kisses in the Train ~ Poem by D. H. Lawrence
KISSES IN THE TRAIN
I saw the midlands
Revolve through her hair;
The fields of autumn
Stretching bare,
And sheep on the pasture
Tossed back in a scare.
And still as ever
The world went round,
My mouth on her pulsing
Neck was found,
And my breast to her beating
Breast was bound.
But my heart at the centre
Of all, in a swound
Was still as a pivot,
As all the ground
On its prowling orbit
Shifted round.
And still in my nostrils
The scent of her flesh,
And still my wet mouth
Sought her afresh;
And still one pulse
Through the world did thresh.
And the world all whirling
Around in joy
Like the dance of a dervishiv
Did destroy
My sense—and my reason
Spun like a toy.
But firm at the centre
My heart was found;
Her own to my perfect
Heart-beat bound,
Like a magnet’s keeper
Closing the round.
The House by the Side of the Road ~ Poem by Sam Foss
The House By The Side of The Road
Let me live in a house by the side of the road, Where the race of men go by—
The men who are good and the men who are bad, As good and as bad as I.
I would not sit in the scorner’s seat, Or hurl the cynic’s ban;—
Let me live in a house by the side of the road And be a friend to man.
I see from my house by the side of the road, By the side of the highway of life,
The men who press with the ardor of hope, The men who are faint with the strife.
But I turn not away from their smiles nor their tears— Both parts of an infinite plan;—
Let me live in my house by the side of the road And be a friend to man.
I know there are brook-gladdened meadows ahead And mountains of wearisome height;
And the road passes on through the long afternoon And stretches away to the night.
But still I rejoice when the travelers rejoice, And weep with the strangers that moan,
Nor live in my house by the side of the road Like a man who dwells alone.
Let me live in my house by the side of the road Where the race of men go by—
They are good, they are bad, they are weak, they are strong,
Wise, foolish—so am I.
Then why should I sit in the scorner’s seat
Or hurl the cynic’s ban?—
Let me live in my house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.
Sam Walter Foss.
Poem by Oscar Wilde
“With such glad dreams I sought this holy place,
And now with wondering eyes and heart I stand
Before this supreme mystery of Love:
A kneeling girl with passionless pale face,
An angel with a lily in his hand,
And over both with outstretched wings the Dove.”
By: Oscar Wilde
Excerpt from: Ave Maria Plena Gratia
Hope ~ Poem by 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.– Emily Dickinson
The Truth ~ Poem by Emily Dickinson
The Truth
The Truth — is stirless –
Other force — may be presumed to move –
This — then — is best for confidence –
When oldest Cedars swerve –And Oaks untwist their fists –
And Mountains — feeble — lean –
How excellent a Body, that
Stands without a Bone –How vigorous a Force
That holds without a Prop –
Truth stays Herself — and every man
That trusts Her — boldly up –
“Will” Poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Will
You will be what you will to be; Let failure find its false content
In that poor word “environment,” But spirit scorns it, and is free.
It masters time, it conquers space,
It cowes that boastful trickster Chance,
And bids the tyrant Circumstance Uncrown and fill a servant’s place.
The human Will, that force unseen, The offspring of a deathless Soul,
Can hew the way to any goal, Though walls of granite intervene.
Be not impatient in delay,
But wait as one who understands;
When spirit rises and commands The gods are ready to obey.
The river seeking for the sea Confronts the dam and precipice,
Yet knows it cannot fail or miss;
You will be what you will to be!
Ella Wheeler Wilcox.
Friends of Mine ~ Poem by James Foley
Friends of Mine
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?
James W. Foley.
Silence ~ A Poem by Hafiz
Silence
A day of Silence
Can be a pilgrimage in itself.
A day of Silence
Can help you listen
To the Soul play
Its marvellous lute and drum.
Is not most talking
A crazed defence of a crumbling fort?
I thought we came here
To surrender in Silence,
To yield to Light and Happiness,
To Dance within
In celebration of Love’s Victory!
