Troy’s wonderful poem gave me the idea of sharing with everyone some of the poems I wrote during a time of heartache of losing someone I truly loved. So I have picked these three from the fifteen that I wrote back in March 1995. While these are very simple basic poetry, I hope you enjoy them. For those of you who have gone thru the loss of someone by divorce or just a broken relationship, I hope that you will find a little comfort from them.
A ME WITHOUT YOU
YOU ENTERED MY LIFE LIKE A GUST OF WIND
YOU GAVE ME HOPE THAT SAW NO END.
THE MOMENTS WE SHARED GAVE HOPE IN MY HEART
YET ONE DAY THEY ENDED TEARING ME APART.
NOW MY LIFE IS EMPTY WITHOUT YOU TO SHARE
MY HOPES AND MY DREAMS ARE NOW IN DESPAIR.
I WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT WITHOUT YOU I’M LOST
BUT I MUST GO ON NO MATTER THE COST.
I KNOW I’LL SURVIVE I’VE DONE IT BEFORE
BUT I CAN’T HELP THINKING I’LL HAVE YOU NO MORE.
LETTING GO
LONG IS THE PATH OF LEARNING TO LET GO
UNDERSTANDING THE WHYS OF THAT AWFUL WORD “NO.”
ACCEPTING AND LIVING WON’T DULL THE PAIN,
OF ONCE WHAT WAS NOT DONE TOTALLY IN VAIN.
MEMORIES STILL LINGER LONG INTO THE LIGHT,
ONES THAT WON’T GIVE YOU PEACE AT NIGHT.
YET DEEP IN YOUR HEART YOU’LL ALWAYS RECALL,
THE JOYS OF LOVE THAT YOU SHARED THRU IT ALL.
SO SEARCH YOUR HEART OVER FOR SOME PIECE OF MIND
AND LETTING GO WILL BE EASIER IF YOU JUST GIVE IT TIME.
DON’T LET THAT OLD PAIN YOUR FEELING ROB YOUR SOUL
OF A NEW BEGINNING WHICH WILL AGAIN MAKE YOU WHOLE.
OVER YOU
MY WORLD FELL APART WHEN YOU SAID GOODBYE
I FELT LIFE WAS OVER AND WANTED TO DIE.
THE SUN CAME UP AND I STILL HAD LIFE
BUT I REALIZED I WOULD NO LONGER BE YOUR LOVING WIFE.
I LOOKED ALL AROUND AT THE MEMORIES OF YOU
AND WONDERED IF YOU WERE FEELING JUST AS I DO.
THE YEARS HAVE DWINDLED TO A PRECIOUS FEW
AND NOW VAGUELY REMEMBER THE LOVE WE ONCE KNEW.
I MADE IT WITHOUT YOU, I DON’T KNOW JUST HOW
IT WAS HARD TO LET GO BUT I ACCEPT IT NOW.
IT DID TAKE ME TIME TO UNDERSTAND
THAT YOU NO LONGER WANTED TO BE MY LOVING MAN.
SO MY DEAR I’M SADDENED TO KNOW I LOST YOU
I WOULD HAVE GIVEN MY LIFE FOR YOU TOO.
THEY SAY IT’S NOT EASY TO BEGIN ANEW
BUT SOMEHOW I MANAGED TO FORGET WE WERE TWO.
(Sorry couldn’t resist a little Hell Hath No Fury humor)
ALL THAT GLISTERS IS NOT GOLD
from Shakespeare’s Merchant Of Venice by jrinNC
One of the most frequently misquoted phrases. The original phrase is “All that GLISTERS is not gold” and comes from Shakespeare’s Merchant Of Venice. The majority of people now misuse it, replacing the archaic verb glister with the much more understandable glitter, and since the two mean near enough the same thing, one can see why. The phrase simply means that just because something may look valuable, desirable or attractive, it does NOT mean that it definitely will be worth having once you discover its true nature. So basically, don’t rely on the superficial.
ALL THAT GLITTERS IS NOT GOLD – “The appearance of a thing or person can be deceptive. This proverb is similar to the L*tin: Non omne quod nitet aurum est. (‘Not all that shines is gold.’) The proverb was used by Chaucer (c. 1374-87), by Cervantes in ‘Don Quixote’ (1605-15), and by Shakespeare in ‘The Merchant of Venice’ in 1596. First attested in the United States in the ‘Winthrop Papers’ (1636).” From “Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings” by Gregory Y. Titelman (Random House, New York, 1996).
Agreed that the proverb has been around a long time in various forms, but it was Shakespeare who most famously gave us the generally accepted form. Chaucer’s version differed.
It’s clear from a little research that Shakespeare used or adapted a long-known proverb of the time. As can be seen below, it had already started to be misquoted less that 100 years later by the late C17th.
Alanus De Insulis (c. 1280) “Non teneas aurum totum quod splendet ut aurum.” (Do not hold everything as gold which shines like gold)
Freire Cordelier (c. 1300) “Que tout n’est pas or c’on voit luire.” (Everything is not gold that one sees shining)
Chaucer (c. 1380) “But all thing which that schyneth as the gold / Ne is no gold, as I have herd it told.”
Chaucer again “Hyt is not al golde that glareth.”
Lydgate (c. 1430) “All is not golde that outward shewith bright.”
Spenser (c. 1580) “Gold all is not that doth golden seem.”
Googe (1563), Shakespeare (1596) “All that glisters is not gold.”
Bacon (1596) “All is not gold that glisters.”
Cervantes (1615) “All is not gold that glistreth.”
Middleton (c. 1616) “All is not gold that glisteneth.”
Herbert (c. 1630) “All is not gold that glisters.”
Dryden (1687) “All, as they say, that glitters is not gold.”
Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost
Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold,
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
Analysis of Poem:
Change and Transformation:
The transitions that things in nature undergo, their growth and mutation, can be viewed as a sign of nature’s glory. For example, the theory of evolution outlined by Charles Darwin in his book The Origin of the Species popularized the phrase “survival of the fittest,” which implies that some degree of worthiness should be attributed to anything that avoids extinction. Similarly, today we use the phrase “to evolve” with the sense that the thing in question is moving toward grandeur and purity, and to a state of being more functionally efficient. Our general assumption is that things change in order to become better. In this poem, though, Frost conveys a feeling of sorrow about the fact that things must change time. He concentrates upon the good things that are lost, rather than the terrible things that give way to a more sensible way of being, From nature, for instance, he mentions how a flower yields its beauty to become a commonplace and homely leaf. Frost, however, could just as well have taken the same plant and depicted it as a hard little seed in the dirt giving way to the flower. In the human realm, he uses for an example the Book of Genesis wherein “Eden sank to grief”: his same biblical source could have provided him with countless examples in which grief gives way to triumph. Frost’s examples are similar in that they are presented as original conditions. His poem seems to tell us that if original conditions are golden, and are subsequently lost, then life apparently is a bleak prospect. But it is not clear if Frost intended us to look at change as necessarily being negative. His last image, of the dawn giving way to day, seems to imply that our attraction to the superficial beauty of “gold” should be disappointed, as inevitably things take a more practical from.
Beauty:
The use of the word “gold” in this poem shows intelligent and careful choice. The word “gold” represents both the color and its namesake, the metallic ore that is valued both for its aesthetic beauty and financially for its rarity. By using this word to explain the brief state of beauty through which the things of the world pass, the poem describes the value of the plant’s first shoot, of Eden, and of the sunrise. Unlike the metal ore, though, the examples Frost gives us of golden beauty are not rare; they are fleeting. Frost’s point is about the transitory nature of beauty: nothing gold can survive.
This relationship between beauty and its own demise has been consistent throughout the world’s history. Some societies find sorrow in the fact that beauty fades, as can be seen in this poem. In other societies, particularly those based on Eastern philosophies, there is less emphasis on a conceptual permanence that never really existed. Therefore, there is less disappointment over the fact that permanence cannot be reached and more appreciation for the role of fleeting beauty in the larger scope of life. For example, to this way of thought the flower referred to in line 3 would not be missed when it is gone, but would rather be appreciated for what it was in the short time it existed.
Sin:
The transformations presented in “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” such as the withering of flowers and the earth’s rotation, are everyday processes that are a part of Earth’s natural order and are independent of human will. It is hard to tell, given this context, what Frost has in mind when he says that Eden “sank to grief.” According to the Book of Genesis in the Bible, Adam and Eve, the first humans, were expelled from the garden of Eden because they chose to do what God had told them not to do. The grief suffered by them, and therefore by the entire human race, was a consequence of their action: according to the Bible, Adam and Eve did not “sink” from the garden paradise into a world of misery, but rather they had jumped. In the context of the poem, though, Adam and Eve’s transgression was bound to happen eventually. Following the same rhythm and syntax of its preceding and succeeding lines, the line “So Eden sank to grief” is tied into those lines’ depiction of natural transformation and growth. Also, the word “sank” is similar in meaning to the words “goes down” and “subsides,” which describe the sunrise and plant growth respectively; these words imply resignation to gravity and exclude any connotation of deliberate action. The poem eliminates the possibility that they might have stayed in Eden and removes the implication that Adam and Eve were ultimately responsible for their sin when they chose to disobey God’s law. At first glance, Frost’s version seems to be gentle to humans, portraying them as no more prone to sin than plants or the rising sun. On the other hand, the poem casts a dark shadow over the nature of mankind, telling us that humans are not innately good but are eventually bound to sin.
“Everything That Glitters Is Not Gold” Sung by Dan Seals
Saw your picture on a poster in a cafe out in Phoenix
Guess you’re still the sweetheart of the rodeo
As for me and little Casey, we still make the circuit
In a one horse trailer and a mobile home
And she still asks about you all the time
And I guess we never even cross your mind
Chorus:
But, Oh sometimes I think about you
And the way you used to ride out
In your rhinestones and your sequins
With the sunlight on your hair
And oh, the crowd will always love you
But as for me I’ve come to know
Everything that glitters is not gold
Well Old Red, he’s getting older
And last Saturday he stumbled
But you know I just can’t bear to let him go
Little Casey, she’s still growing
And she’s started asking questions
And there’s certain things a man just doesn’t know
Her birthday came and you never even called
I guess we never cross your mind at all
Chorus
Everybody said you’d make it big someday
And I guess that we were only in your way
But someday I’m sure your gonna know the cost
Cause for everything you win there’s something lost
Thursday’s “House Call” gathering, on the West Front of the Capitol, comes at a critical time in the health care debate — sandwiched between those mixed-bag election results and the first vote by a full congressional chamber on health care.
It’s not the kind of event (even if it reaches proportions some organizers are predicting) that’s likely to change many minds.
But if you need evidence of where the political energy and excitement has gone, one year since Grant Park, a lunchtime midday rally in Washington isn’t a bad place to start.
(Try to imagine the old Obama campaign army pulling off something roughly comparable in as short a time, with as little formal planning — or even with spreadsheets and call lists and marching orders, for that matter.)
Telling, particularly in the wake of NY-23: House Republican leaders — including Leader John Boehner, Whip Eric Cantor, Conference Chairman Mike Pence, and Republican Study Committee Chairman Tom Price — plan to speak.
(Not that they necessarily what to make of the energy that will be on display Thursday, either.)
But the day belongs to Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn. From the release out Thursday:
“On the heels of an election arguably reminiscent of 1993’s reaction against HillaryCare, nearly one thousand activists with Patients First–a project of Americans for Prosperity — traveled to Washington on Thursday to say once again, ‘Hands Off Our Health Care!’
Joining other Americans participating in Rep. Michele Bachmann’s ‘House Call on Health Care,’ Patients First activists from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, North Carolina, and Virginia will participate in a rally at the Capitol before visiting their Congressmen to express opposition to the government takeover of our America’s health care system.”
The Lightning is a yellow Fork
From Tables in the sky
By inadvertent fingers dropt
The awful Cutlery
Of mansions never quite disclosed
And never quite concealed
The Apparatus of the Dark
To ignorance revealed.
How lightning initially forms is still a matter of debate.
Scientists have studied root causes ranging from atmospheric perturbations (wind, humidity, friction, and atmospheric pressure) to the impact of solar wind and accumulation of charged solar particles. Ice inside a cloud is thought to be a key element in lightning development, and may cause a forcible separation of positive and negative charges within the cloud, thus assisting in the formation of lightning.
The fear of lightning (and thunder) is astraphobia. I am astraphobic!
Lightning Shot Right Down From the Sky by Troy
It was late one night when a friend and I
Set out and we were up to no good.
He said it was it was a bright idea
But I said “No, I don’t think we should”
Hopes were high, so was the sky
and the weather, it was quite divine
Mike grabbed a shovel, looked at me
Standing there, I already had mine
The work commenced with a chop and a dig
The booty we sensed with a scoop and a throw
Toiling like dogs dragging a sled
With a mighty heave and a sturdy ho
The night wore on as I hummed my song
Our ride was parked on a slide
And then God jumped in the final verse
The Almighty sang baritone
Feeling small, like I didn’t matter at all
As I reluctantly looked up at the sky
God was taking our picture and having a ball
While each flash pierced my eye
There’s a time for work, a time for play
And a time for getting on home
My friend and I heard God say,
“Boys, it’s time for you to roam”
We took his advice and didn’t think twice
As we made our way to the truck
Jump on in and the tires did spin
Oh my, don’t you know we were stuck
The rain fell hard, the dark got bright
With each and every blue crack of light
We had settled in and were kicking back
Just as a silver bolt scorched the tracks
With the spark, the fury, the fire and the flame
My “tough stuff” attitude, God did tame
I’ll remember that night until the that day I die
The night that lightning shot right down from the sky
****************************************
The story:
Many years back, a friend and I had discovered an area along the bank of a creek where fresh bulldozer work had uncovered an ancient campsite. It was right out in the open and close to the side of a major road that had a set of railroad tracks running parallel to it. We were anxious to dig for some relics, but couldn’t risk being seen, so we went at night. We hopped a curb and drove right up to the spot and were parked on the newly exposed dirt which was sloped toward the creek bottom. We were there for about an hour when the weather turned very violent. We tried to leave, but the vehicle got stuck in mud and was trying to slide down to the creek. We had no choice, but to just ride out the storm with lightning coming down all around us. While we were sitting there an enormous bolt came down and struck the railroad track about a hundred feet in front of us. It was an explosion and that’s the only way to describe it. We saw sparks shoot twenty to thirty feet in the air and there was a brief flame at ground level. It looked like what you would see from an industrial electric arc welder, only multiplied many times. It was a very humbling experience and a sight that I will never forget. If my memory serves me correctly, I think we may have both soiled our shorts.
Adam’s Apple
Back when Cain was able
Way before the stable
Lightning shot right out from the sky
A mothership with fate said
Let’s give it a try
Conscience was related
Man, he was created
Lady Luck took him by surprise
Her sweet and bitter fruit
Is sure to open his eyes
Well, she ate it
Lordy, it was love at first bite
Well, she ate it
Never knowin’ wrong from right, right, right, right
Even Eve in Eden
Voices tried deceivin’
With lies to show the lady the way
At first she stopped and turned
And tried to walk away
Man, he was believer
Lady was deceiver
So the story goes, but you see
The snake was he and she just climbed right up his tree
So, she ate it
Lordy, it was love at first bite
Well she ate it
Never knowin’ wrong from right, right, right
Conscience was related
Man, he was created
When Lady Luck took him by surprise
Her sweet and bitter fruit
Is sure to open his eyes
Evil came like rain
And who knows who’s to blame
And something tried to lay her to waste
And all she want to need was just a little taste
Well, she ate it
Lordy, it was love at first bite
Yeah, She ate it
Never knowin’ wrong from right, right, right, right
Well, she ate it
Lordy, it was love at first bite
Yeah, she ate it
Never knowing wrong from right, right,
Well that’s right
Also called Feast of All Souls; Defuncts’ Day; Commemoration of the Faithful Departed
Observed by Western liturgical churches and Eastern Christians
Type Christian Date (West) 2 November
(East) Several times during the year
Observances Prayer for the departed (especially Requiem Masses), observances in cemeteries, special meals
Related to All Saints Day
In Western Christianity, All Souls’ Day commemorates the faithful departed.
This day is principally observed in the Catholic Church, although some churches of the Anglican Communion and the Old Catholic Churches also celebrate it.
The Eastern Orthodox churches observe several All Souls’ Days during the year.
The Roman Catholic celebration is based on the doctrine that the souls of the faithful which at death have not been cleansed from the temporal punishment due to venial sins, or have not fully been purged from attachment to mortal sins, cannot attain the beatific vision in heaven yet, and that they may be helped to do so by prayer and by the sacrifice of the Mass (see Purgatory).
In other words, when they died, they had not yet attained full sanctification and moral perfection, a requirement for entrance into Heaven.
This sanctification is carried out posthumously in Purgatory.
All Souls’ Day is also known as the Feast of All Souls, Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed.
The official Latin designation Commemoratio omnium Fidelium Defunctorum, on which this last name is based, is rendered more literally in Portuguese Comemoração de todos os Fiéis Defuntos and many other languages.
Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos or de los Difuntos) is used in Spanish-speaking countries, and Thursday of the Dead (Yom el Maouta) in Lebanon, Israel and Syria.
The Western celebration of All Souls’ Day is on 2 November and follows All Saints’ Day, which commemorates the departed who have attained the beatific vision.
If 2 November falls on a Sunday, the Mass is of All Souls, but the Office is that of the Sunday.
However, Morning and Evening Prayer (Lauds and Vespers) for the Dead, in which the people participate, may be said.
In pre-1969 calendars, which some still follow, and in the Anglican Communion, All Souls Day is instead transferred, whenever 2 November falls on a Sunday, to the next day, 3 November, which was the case in 2008.
The Eastern Orthodox Church dedicates several days throughout the year to the dead, mostly on Saturdays, because of Jesus’ resting in the tomb on Saturday.
Has your soul ever been so deeply moved by a piece of music, that you are left speechless for many minutes?
Below are the words to “When Jesus Was A Little Child”. The music is by Peter Tchaikovsky. It was performed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir on a Christmas album. I heard it years ago on cassette tape, and played it so many times, I wore out the tape.
When Jesus was a little child,
He made a garden in the wild.
There grew a rose bush ‘neath his care,
Yielding a garland for his hair.
It blossomed full upon a day,
When graceless children passed that way.
They tore the rose bush from its bed,
Stripped all its leaves and blossoms red.
“Whence wilt thou mold thy garland fair?”
Their taunting voices smote the air.
“Leave but for me the naked thorns,”
The Christ replied, yet without scorn.
Then of the thorns all sharp and bare,
They bound a garland o’er his hair.
See where as red as roses grow,
Great drops of blood bedew his brow,
bedew his brow.
The imagery in this song is powerful. It is full of symbolism. I use this as an example to make my point. Words can be things which make. Words can make things which last. When we read them, new energy flows into the words as our mind absorbs them, and they become part of us. The words can provide warmth and a quickening of the inner man. Words can also unmake things which are made. Words can destroy.
Jesus multiplied bread and fish to feed the crowd.
Mk 6:41-44
Then, taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to (his) disciples to set before the people; he also divided the two fish among them all. They all ate and were satisfied. And they picked up twelve wicker baskets full of fragments and what was left of the fish. Those who ate (of the loaves) were five thousand men.
Everyone knows the photo. It has become an iconic image of the 20th century. Taken in New York City’s Times Square on August 14, 1945, it shows an exuberant sailor kissing a nurse. Onlookers grin in the background. The nurse looks surprised as the sailor bends her backwards, her right foot raised off the ground, her left arm behind her. The image manages to capture the sense of relief, exhilaration, and unbridled joy brought by the news that Japan had surrendered and the most terrible war in history was finally over.
