A Christmas Carol: My Gift

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

by Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)

In the bleak mid-winter

    Frosty wind made moan,

Earth stood hard as iron,

    Water like a stone;

Snow had fallen, snow on snow,

    Snow on snow,

In the bleak mid-winter

    Long ago.

Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him

    Nor earth sustain;

Heaven and earth shall flee away

    When He comes to reign:

In the bleak mid-winter

    A stable-place sufficed

The Lord God Almighty

    Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him whom cherubim

    Worship night and day,

A breastful of milk

    And a mangerful of hay;

Enough for Him whom angels

    Fall down before,

The ox and ass and camel

    Which adore.

Angels and archangels

    May have gathered there,

Cherubim and seraphim

    Throng'd the air,

But only His mother

    In her maiden bliss

Worshipped the Beloved

    With a kiss.

What can I give Him,

    Poor as I am?

If I were a shepherd

    I would bring a lamb,

If I were a wise man

    I would do my part, --

Yet what I can I give Him,

    Give my heart.

My Gift

Source of the poem: Christina Rossetti: The Complete Poems (Penguin Classics, 2001, 2005), text by R. W. Crump, notes and introduction by Betty S. Flowers

Know Your Bible?

At Bible Gateway or elsewhere, find the location in the Bible -- book, chapter, verse -- of the following:

"Then saith he to Thomas, 'Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side; and be not faithless, but believing.'" (King James Version)


Saturday, December 14's answer: Isaiah 32:17 (New King James Version)

Know Your Bible?

At Bible Gateway or elsewhere, find the location in the Bible -- book, chapter, verse -- of the following:

"The work of righteousness will be peace,
And the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever."
(New King James Version)

Change: A Word Game

"The more it changes," wrote Alphonse Karr, "the more it is the same thing." Can you change the word SAME into the word IDEM in as few steps as possible? Change only one letter at a time, making a new word each time, and do not change the order of the letters from one step to the next. Proper names, slang, and obsolete words are not allowed.

Alphonse Karr (1808-1890)

My answer: Same, sane, sand, send, seed, seem, stem, item, idem (8 steps).

Emily Dickinson's Birthday

On this day in 1830, American poet Emily Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts. Here is a short, untitled poem, a birthday greeting, that she wrote circa 1880, when there were fewer birthdays to come. She died in 1886. This poem was first published in 1915; it is in the public domain.

Birthday of but a single pang
That there are less to come --
Afflictive is the Adjective
But affluent the doom --

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

To read a short biography of Emily Dickinson, click here. 

Elements of Happiness

"All these are elements of happiness -- love of nature, acquaintance with the wide earth, congenial intercourse with superior minds, and abiding friendships." So wrote American educator Charles William Eliot, who was president of Harvard University from 1869 to 1909.

Charles W. Eliot (1834-1926)

To read an article about Charles William Eliot, click here.

Winter and a Sentimental Journey

Winter, a lingering season,

is a time to gather golden moments,

embark upon a sentimental journey

and enjoy every idle hour.

--John Boswell

Embark upon a "Sentimental Journey"
with Ringo Starr.

The Things I Love Guide Me

A found poem of mine, a haiku, from the Bible:
Proverbs 4:23 (New Living Translation)

Guard your heart above
all else, for it determines
the course of your life.

Lighthouse during Night Time

(Photo: Pixabay)

A Bit of Poetry for Thanksgiving Day

Today is Thanksgiving Day. Here is an anonymous bit of poetry for Thanksgiving.

The year rolls round its circle,
The seasons come and go.
The harvest days are ended,
And chilly north winds blow.
Orchards have lent their treasures,
And fields their yellow grain,
So open wide the door-way,
Thanksgiving comes again.

Source: Thoughts from the Mountains (Heartland Samplers, Inc., 1992)

An Observation by Thoreau on 28 November 1859

On this day in 1859, Henry David Thoreau wrote the following observation in his journal:

There is scarcely a wood of sufficient size and density left now for an owl to haunt in, and if I hear one hoot I may be sure where he is.

Source: Daily Observations: Thoreau on the Days of the Year (2005), edited by Steve Grant

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

To read an article about Thoreau, click here.

A Song of the Tewa People

May the warp be the white light of morning,
May the weft be the red light of evening,
May the fringes be the falling rain,
May the border be the standing rainbow.
Thus weave for us a garment of brightness.

Source: Thoughts from the Mountains (Heartland Samplers, Inc., 1992)

To read an article about the Tewa people, click here.

Kind Words

Learn to speak kind words -- nobody resents them.
     --Author Unknown

Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
     --The Bible: Colossians 4:6 (New International Version)


Source: Thoughts from the Mountains (Heartland Samplers, Inc., 1992)

To read an article about the apostle Paul's Epistle to the Colossians, click here.

The Source of Joys

THE SOURCE OF JOYS

A found poem of mine from Thoughts from the Mountains
(Heartland Samplers, Inc., 1992)

Sigurd F. Olson
wrote, "Joys come from simple
and natural things,

"mists over meadows,
sunlight on leaves, the path of
the moon over water."


To read an article about Sigurd F. Olson, click here.

A Bit of Poetry by Robert Bridges

From The Growth of Love (1876)
by Robert Bridges

      Beneath the crisp and wintry carpet hid
A million buds but stay their blossoming;
And trustful birds have built their nests amid
The shuddering boughs, and only wait to sing
Till one soft shower from the south shall bid,
And hither tempt the pilgrim steps of spring.

Robert Seymour Bridges (1844-1930)

English poet; poet laureate (1913-30)

To read an article about Robert Bridges, click here.

The Devil Is on the Prowl

Kit Fox is on the prowl? So is my accuser (and my abuser), the devil.

(Cover illustration copyright 2006 Roger Gilmer)

From the Common English Bible:

1 Peter 5:8-9

Be clearheaded. Keep alert. Your accuser, the devil, is on the prowl like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith. Do so in the knowledge that your fellow believers are enduring the same suffering throughout the world.

To learn more about the Common English Bible, click here.

A portrait of the author of Kit Fox is On the Prowl.

He is "The Devil's Idiot," 

a man with a chip on his shoulder.

I call him Rogue.

(Photo copyright 2005 Evelyn M. Gilmer)

Great Is Your Faithfulness!

As long as the earth remains, there will be planting and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night. --The Bible: Genesis 8:22 (New Living Translation, second edition)

"Great Is Thy Faithfulness,"

sung by Chris Rice

(Words by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1923;

Music by William M. Runyan, 1923)

Golden Slumbers

Golden slumbers kiss your eyes,
Smiles awake you when you rise.
Sleep, pretty wantons, do not cry,
And I will sing a lullaby:
Rock them, rock them, lullaby.

Care is heavy, therefore sleep you;
You are care, and care must keep you.
Sleep, pretty wantons, do not cry,
And I will sing a lullaby:
Rock them, rock them, lullaby.

     --An untitled poem attributed to Thomas Dekker (1572?-1632?),
       English dramatist

Source: Bartlett's Poems for Occasions (2004) by Geoffrey O'Brien, General Editor

To read an article about "Golden Slumbers," a song by the English rock band the Beatles on their 1969 album Abbey Road, click here.

Quotation from Frank Bolles

Many of the birds go south cheerfully, indifferently, but the bluebirds seem to linger sadly and lovingly, and to feel that the migration is an enforced exile from the home they love best.
     FRANK BOLLES
     Quoted in Thoughts from the Mountains (Heartland Samplers, Inc., 1992)

Wisdom's Rewards

In Proverbs 8:17-21 and 9:11 (a displaced verse that fits after 8:17) Wisdom speaks as a prophetess, proclaiming her rewards.

WISDOM'S REWARDS
from The New Oxford Annotated Bible:
Proverbs 8:17, 9:11 and 8:18-21 (Revised Standard Version)

I love those who love me,
    and those who seek me diligently find me.
For by me your days will be multiplied,
    and years will be added to your life.
Riches and honor are with me,
    enduring wealth and prosperity.
My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold,
    and my yield than choice silver.
I walk in the way of righteousness,
    in the paths of justice,
endowing with wealth those who love me,
    and filling their treasuries.

Tea

"The little package of Ceylon

arrived in fragrant safety."

So reads a riddle from a letter

by Emily Dickinson.

The answer to that riddle? Tea.

What kind of tea

did that little package contain?

Evidently

it contained pekoe, a superior

kind of black tea.

"It is inferior

for coffee," I say with Mark Twain,

"but it is pretty

fair tea."

Quotation from Henry David Thoreau

Morning glory is the best name, it always refreshes me to see it.
     HENRY DAVID THOREAU (1817-1862)
     Quoted in Thoughts from the Mountains (Heartland Samplers, Inc., 1992)
     To read an article about Thoreau, click here.

Morning glory

(This photo is in the public domain.)

Daily Bible Reading - September 10th, 2019 | American Bible Society

Daily Bible Reading - September 10th, 2019 | American Bible Society: Luke 13:18-35 (Good News Translation): By means of three parables – about a mustard seed, yeast, and the narrow door – Jesus teaches about God’s Kingdom. The reading concludes with Jesus describing his love for Jerusalem and the city’s upcoming fate.

On my list of "Links to My Favorite Websites" is a link to the American Bible Society's Daily Bible Reading.

Quotation from Frances Hodgson Burnett

And if all the flowers and leaves and green things and birds and wild creatures danced past at once, what a crowd it would be! I'm sure they'd dance and sing and flute and that would be the wafts of music.
     FRANCES HODGSON BURNETT
     Quoted in Thoughts from the Mountains (Heartland Samplers, Inc., 1992)

Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849-1924)

To read an article about Frances Hodgson Burnett, click here.

Daily Bible Reading - September 9th, 2019 | American Bible Society

Daily Bible Reading - September 9th, 2019 | American Bible Society: Luke 13:1-17 (Good News Translation): Today’s reading begins with Jesus teaching about turning away from sin and concludes with Jesus healing a woman on the Sabbath.

Quotation from Celia Thaxter

It was so beautiful -- the dewy quiet, the freshness, the long, still shadows, the matchless, delicate, sweet charm of the newly wakened world.
     CELIA THAXTER
     Quoted in Thoughts from the Mountains (Heartland Samplers, Inc., 1992)

Celia Thaxter (1835-1894)

To read an article about Celia Thaxter, click here.

Daily Bible Reading - September 8th, 2019 | American Bible Society

Daily Bible Reading - September 8th, 2019 | American Bible Society: Luke 12:41-59 (Good News Translation): Today’s reading begins with Peter questioning Jesus’s parable about the watchful servant (see Luke 12:35-40 from yesterday’s reading). By means of another parable, Jesus continues to teach about being faithful. When he speaks of division within households, he confronts his hearers with the challenge of what it means to follow him and embrace his teachings.

Daily Bible Reading - September 7th, 2019 | American Bible Society

Daily Bible Reading - September 7th, 2019 | American Bible Society: Luke 12:22-40 (Good News Translation): Jesus instructs his followers not to worry about life and assures them of the riches that are stored for them in heaven. He exhorts his followers to be watchful so that they will be found faithful when he returns.

On my list of "Links to My Favorite Websites" is a link to the American Bible Society's Daily Bible Reading. 

Lighthouse during Night Time

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Daily Bible Reading - September 6th, 2019 | American Bible Society

Daily Bible Reading - September 6th, 2019 | American Bible Society: Luke 12:1-21 (Good News Translation): Jesus warns his followers to avoid dishonest teachings and to fear only God. Today’s reading concludes with a parable that warns against placing one’s trust in earthly wealth.

Lighthouse during Night Time

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Daily Bible Reading - September 5th, 2019 | American Bible Society

Daily Bible Reading - September 5th, 2019 | American Bible Society: Luke 11:37-54 (Good News Translation): Jesus accuses the Pharisees and teachers of the Law of their hypocritical behavior.

Lighthouse during Night Time

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Picture for Today: "Lighthouse during Night Time"

"The Bible is God's revelation to man, his guide, his light."

--Alfred Armand Montapert

Lighthouse during Night Time

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Daily Bible Reading - September 4th, 2019 | American Bible Society

Daily Bible Reading - September 4th, 2019 | American Bible Society: Luke 11:24-36 (Good News Translation): Today’s reading is a continuation of Chapter 11 in Luke’s Gospel that focuses on Jesus’s teachings. Jesus describes what happens when an evil spirit returns and offers insight into the miracle of Jonah. The reading concludes with a teaching on one’s life being filled with light.

Lighthouse during Night Time

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Daily Bible Reading - September 3rd, 2019 | American Bible Society

Daily Bible Reading - September 3rd, 2019 | American Bible Society: Luke 11:14-23 (Good News Translation): Jesus responds to those who accuse him of driving out demons in the name of Beelzebul and to those who seek to entrap him by asking for a miracle.

Lighthouse during Night Time

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Daily Bible Reading - September 2nd, 2019 | American Bible Society

Daily Bible Reading - September 2nd, 2019 | American Bible Society: Luke 11:1-13 (Good News Translation): In response to a request from one of the disciples, Jesus teaches his followers to pray. He reveals the fatherhood of God to his disciples and the limitless capacity of God’s love, faithfulness, generosity, compassion, and care.

Daily Bible Reading - September 1st, 2019 | American Bible Society

Daily Bible Reading - September 1st, 2019 | American Bible Society: Luke 8:4-21 (Good News Translation): Jesus often used parables to teach about the Kingdom of God. In today’s reading, the parable of the sower demonstrates the importance of having an obedient heart in order to receive and retain the message. The reading concludes with Jesus expanding upon the meaning of family in the Kingdom of God.

Video for Today: Ballet dancer Rhys Kosakowski ~ 'Levitate'

Two Proverbs on Kindness

From the Bible: Proverbs 11:17 and 25:21-22 (Good News Translation)

You do yourself a favor when you are kind. If you are cruel, you only hurt yourself.

If your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them a drink. You will make them burn with shame, and the Lord will reward you.

"I Shall Not Pass This Way Again"

"I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again." So wrote William Penn (1644-1718). To read an article about William Penn, click here.


I SHALL NOT PASS THIS WAY AGAIN
Author Unknown

Through this toilsome world, alas!
Once and only once I pass;
If a kindness I may show,
If a good deed I may do
To a suffering fellow man,
Let me do it while I can.
No delay, for it is plain
I shall not pass this way again.

Each and Every Day: A Trio of Quotations

One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.
     JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE (1749-1832)
     To read an article about Goethe, click here.

Whatever your occupation may be and however crowded your hours with affairs, do not fail to secure at least a few minutes every day for refreshment of your inner life with a bit of poetry.
     CHARLES ELIOT NORTON (1827-1908)
     To read an article about Norton, click here.

Though it would be dangerous to make calendars the basis of Culture, we should all be much improved if we began each day with a fine passage of English poetry.
     OSCAR WILDE (1856-1900)
     To read an article about Wilde, click here.

"Autumn Song" by Paul Verlaine

AUTUMN SONG
by Paul Verlaine

(Translated, from the French, by Arthur Symons)

When a sighing begins
In the violins
Of the autumn-song,
My heart is drowned
In the slow sound
Languorous and long.

Pale as with pain,
Breath fails me when
The hours toll deep.
My thoughts recover
The days that are over,
And I weep.

And I go
Where the winds know,
Broken and brief,
To and fro,
As the winds blow
A dead leaf.


Credit: This poem is in the public domain.
Source: poets.org

Paul Verlaine (1844-1896)

Violin

In this gay-themed short film titled Violin (2012), two unlikely kindred spirits share an unlikely moment of intimacy with a violin. The stars of this film, which is German with English subtitles, are Johannes Huth and Hannes Sell. To watch this gay-themed short film on YouTube, click here.

A Quotation from John Kieran

It probably is true that a man sees more things and makes more searching observations in the field when he is alone, but there is a virtue in companionship that makes up for any decrease in the supply of clinical notes. A pleasure shared is a pleasure doubled. I always like to have companions on my tramps through the woods, my walks through the fields or my trips to the seashore.
     JOHN KIERAN (1892-1981)
     Quoted in Thoughts from the Mountains (Heartland Samplers, Inc., 1992)

To read an article about John Kieran, click here.

John Kieran in 1947

(This photo is in the public domain.)

A Quotation from Hal Borland

I can report now that grass grows, flowers bloom, birds sing. I can report that the sun rises and sets, the moon keeps its own schedule, the stars follow patterns they have followed since man first saw them in the night sky. I know these truths. Lesser truths will take more learning, but I can live with what I now know.
     HAL BORLAND (1900-1978)
     Quoted in Thoughts from the Mountains (Heartland Samplers, Inc., 1992)

To read an article about Hal Borland, click here.

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

On this day in 1999, according to the Associated Press, "the U.S. version of the quiz show 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,' hosted by Regis Philbin, began a limited two-week run on ABC."

According to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, "'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?' is a song written by Cole Porter for the 1956 film High Society, where it was introduced by Frank Sinatra and Celeste Holm.

"While looking at expensive wedding presents, the singers decide that they in fact have little desire to be fabulously wealthy." Watch the music video below.

Picture for Today: August

August brings the sheaves of corn,

Then the harvest home is borne.

--from "The Garden Year" (1834)

by Sara Coleridge

Quotation from Celia Thaxter

Earth seems to hold her breath before the expected fury. Lightning scores the sky from zenith to horizon, and across from north to south "a fierce, vindictive scribble of fire" writes its blinding way, and the awesome silence is broken by the cracking thunder that follows every flash.
     --Celia Thaxter (1835-1894), American writer of poetry and stories

Source: Thoughts from the Mountains (Heartland Samplers, Inc., 1992)

Celia Thaxter

"Eve Remembering" by Toni Morrison (1931-2019)

Read Genesis 3:1-24 (King James Version)

To read Genesis 3 (KJV), click here.

According to the Academy of American Poets, "Toni Morrison was born on February 18, 1931, in Lorain, Ohio. She received a BA from Howard University in 1955. She was the author of one volume of poetry, Five Poems (Rainmaker Editions, 2002), which features poems alongside illustrations by Kara Walker. She is the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the 1993 Nobel Prize for Literature. She died on August 5, 2019 in New York."

"Eve Remembering" is one of Toni Morrison's Five Poems. To read that poem, click here.

God Is Here!

Here is a bit of poetry by Madeleine Aaron.

God is here!
I hear His voice
While thrushes make the woods rejoice.
I touch His robe each time I place
My hand against a pansy's face.
I breathe His breath if I but pass
Verbenas trailing through the grass.
God is here!
From every tree
His leafy fingers beckon me.


Source: Thoughts from the Mountains (Heartland Samplers, Inc., 1992)

Find

Here is a short, untitled poem of mine, the second line of which is a link not to Facebook but to "Find," the poem by Instagram poet Luigi Coppola (@poetrypreacher) that inspired this poem of mine. The word "Finders" contains the same letters as the word "Friends."

Finders, keepers.
Find Friends
who are keepers.

Little Boy Blue

Little boy blue, come blow your horn,
The sheep's in the meadow, the cow's in the corn;
But where is the boy who looks after the sheep?
He's under the haystack fast asleep.
Will you wake him? No, not I,
For if I do, he'll be sure to cry.

     --Anonymous nursery rhyme

An Anonymous Thought on Reciprocation

The universe pays every man in his own coin; if you smile, it smiles upon you in return; if you frown, you will be frowned at; if you sing, you will be invited into merry company; if you think, you will be entertained by thinkers; and if you love the world and earnestly seek for the good that is therein, you will be surrounded by loving friends, and nature will pour into your lap the treasures of the earth. Censure, criticize and hate, and you will be censured, criticized and hated by your fellow men.
     --Author Unknown

Source: Thoughts from the Mountains (Heartland Samplers, Inc., 1992)

" . . . if you think, you will be

entertained by thinkers; . . . "

The Closet Professor: On Clothes

The Closet Professor: On Clothes: "On Clothes"   by Kahlil Gibran And the weaver said, Speak to us of Clothes.      And he answered:      Your clothes conceal much of your ...

"On Clothes" is one of the prose poems in The Prophet (1923) by Kahlil Gibran. To read the entire prose poem, click on the link above. To read an article about The Prophet, click here.

Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931)

Picture for Today

Nude Study of Thomas E. McKeller

by John Singer Sargent

To view the painting above in a larger size and to read the information about the painting at the website of the John Singer Sargent Virtual Gallery, click here.

To read an article about American painter John Singer Sargent (1856-1925), click here.

What Walt Whitman Thought of Justice

THOUGHT
by Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

Of Justice -- as if Justice could be any thing but the same ample law,
     expounded by natural judges and saviors,
As if it might be this thing or that thing, according to decisions.


Source: Leaves of Grass (1892 edition) by Walt Whitman

Photo by George Collins Cox, 1887

Quotation from Dana

By the middle of July our dry meadows are merry with black-eyed Susans, which are laughing from every corner and keeping up a gay midsummer carnival . . . They seem to revel in the long days of blazing sunlight . . .  --Dana (1813-1895)

To read an article about James Dwight Dana, the author of the quotation above, click here.

Dana in 1865

Source of the quotation above: Thoughts from the Mountains (Heartland Samplers, Inc., 1992)

Quotation from Donald Culross Peattie on "the voice of the whip-poor-will"

As soon as the green and violet hour of summer dusk is at hand and the bats begin to sweep the sky for midges, the voice of the whip-poor-will rises out of the hollow below my house. For it is a nostalgic and intensely American sound, and one that goes back, as we find nearly everything precious does, to childhood.  --Donald Culross Peattie (1898-1964)

(To read an article about Donald Culross Peattie, click here.

Eastern whip-poor-will

Source of the quotation above: Thoughts from the Mountains (Heartland Samplers, Inc., 1992)

Praying Hands

Kneeling and looking very closely, one sees the two lower leaves on each stalk gently approach one another like little hands that were going to clap but thought better of it, and at last lie folded quietly as though for prayer. --Anonymous

Source: Thoughts from the Mountains (Heartland Samplers, Inc., 1992)

Praying Hands by Albrecht Durer

Can You Solve This Brainteaser?

"Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin." So begins the children's book Winnie-the-Pooh (1926).

Which letter in the word BEAR can be added to the word ANIMAL to form, when the letters are rearranged, the seven-letter first name of the wife of a president of the United States? What are that first lady's first and last names?

English author of Winnie-the-Pooh in 1922.

(The seven letters of that author's name can be rearranged

to form the first name of a first lady of the United States.)

The Final Say

Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love, to work, to play, and to look up at the stars.
       HENRY VAN DYKE (1852-1933)

Come, everyone! Clap your hands!
    Shout to God with joyful praise!
For the Lord Most High is awesome.
    He is the great King of all the earth.
       THE BIBLE
       Psalm 47:1-2 (New Living Translation)

A Quotation from "John of the Mountains"

Here is a quotation from Scottish-born American naturalist John Muir (1838-1914).

This grand show is eternal. It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never dried at once; a shower is forever falling; vapor is ever rising. Eternal sunrise, eternal sunset, eternal dawn and gloaming, on sea and continents and islands, each in its turn, as the round earth rolls.

Source: Thoughts from the Mountains (Heartland Samplers, Inc., 1992)

John Muir c. 1902

Special Knowledge about Daisies

The first paragraph in a letter that American poet Anne Sexton wrote to American poet Stanley Kunitz on February 17, 1971, reads: "I have special knowledge about daisies. They last and last as both you and I will. They are my favorite flower. There is something innocent and vulnerable about them as if they thanked you for admiring them."

Photo credit: Monty Gilmer

Copyright 2019 Monty Gilmer. All rights reserved.

Here is a short poem, a quatrain, about daisies from English poet Christina Rossetti's Sing-Song: A Nursery Rhyme Book (1872).

     Where innocent bright-eyed daisies are,
        With blades of grass between,
     Each daisy stands up like a star
        Out of a sky of green.

Below is a video of American singer and songwriter Jud Strunk singing "Daisy a Day," a love song for which he wrote both the lyrics and the music.

An untitled poem ("My heart leaps up when I behold") by William Wordsworth

[My heart leaps up when I behold]

My heart leaps up when I behold
    A rainbow in the sky;
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old.
    Or let me die!
The Child is father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.

William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

English poet

"Ode to a Nightingale" by John Keats

It was English naturalist and writer William Henry Hudson (1841-1922) who said, "It is my experience that, when a nightingale starts singing, the small birds near immediately become attentive, often suspending their own songs. And some fly to perch near him and listen."

To read the poem "Ode to a Nightingale" by English poet John Keats, click here.

John Keats (1795-1821)

Picture for Today, with a Quotation from Charles Eliot Norton

Whatever your occupation may be

and however crowded your hours with affairs,

do not fail to secure at least

a few minutes every day

for refreshment of your inner life

with a bit of poetry.

Charles Eliot Norton (1827-1908),

American author and educator

A Quotation from Sigurd F. Olson

In a canoe a man changes and the life he has lived seems strangely remote. Time is no longer of moment, for he has become part of space and freedom. What matters is that he is heading down the misty trail of explorers and voyageurs, with a fair wind and a chance for a good camp somewhere ahead. The future is other lakes, countless rapids and the sound of them, portages through muskeg and over the ledges.

Source: Thoughts from the Mountains (Heartland Samplers, Inc., 1992)

To read an article about Sigurd F. Olson, the author of the quotation above, click here.

Walt Whitman's Love of Life

In section 48 of his poem "Song of Myself" Walt Whitman wrote:

I hear and behold God in every object, yet understand God not in the least,
Nor do I understand who there can be more wonderful than myself.

Over fifty years ago Evelyn Millis Duvall wrote, "Walt Whitman has been an able spokesman for the love of life. In his incomparable way, he sees life as the very signature of God when he says in [section 48 of] 'Song of Myself':"

I see something of God each hour of the twenty-four, and each moment then,
In the faces of men and women I see God, and in my own face in the glass,
I find letters from God dropt in the street, and every one is sign'd by God's name,
And I leave them where they are, for I know that wheresoe'er I go
Others will punctually come for ever and ever.

Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
Photo credit: George Collins Cox, 1887

Prayer to the Holy Spirit

O Great Spirit,
   whose breath gives life to the world,
   and whose voice is heard in the soft breeze:
We need your strength and wisdom.
Cause us to walk in beauty. Give us eyes
   ever to behold the red and purple sunset.
Make us wise so that we may understand
   what you have taught us.
Help us learn the lessons you have hidden
   in every leaf and rock.
Make us always ready to come to you
   with clean hands and steady eyes,
so when life fades, like the fading sunset,
   our spirits may come to you without shame.

Traditional Native American prayer

Appeal to the Great Spirit,

statue by Cyrus Edwin Dallin