Risk being a bud

Once Upon Enchantment

Torches light a winding road
Through the forest's
Humble abode

Breezes wisp
Her hair around
Leaves float softly
To cool ground.

All is silent
On full moon night
The quiet woods
She thinks are right.

Hooves come beating
'Round the bend
Sound is soft
And then strengthened.

Swish of skirts
She turns to see
A knight come riding,
Galliantly.

He comes closer
She knows the pace
He draws her up,
Sees her face.

Bows low
Strong, firm arm
Lifts her gently
With no harm.

Slowly now
She turns her face
To his warm skin
And loving embrace.

With one hand
Lifts her chin
And to her lips
A kiss therein.

Holding her close
To his heart
Heels to horse
They swiftly depart.

Into the moonlight
The ground
Fog covers
Ride the two
Enchanted lovers.

Love can last forever if you want it to by Susan Polis Schutz

Love is the strongest and
most fulfilling emotion possible
It lets you share
your goals, your desires, your experiences
It lets you share
your life with someone
It lets you be yourself
with someone who will always support you
It lets you speak
your innermost feelings to someone who understands you
It lets you feel tenderness and warmth -
a wholeness that avoids loneliness
Love lets you feel complete

But in order to have
a successful love relationship
you must make a strong commitment to each other and love
and you must do and feel everything within your mind and body
to make this commitment work

You must be happy with yourself
and you must understand yourself
before you can expect someone else
to be happy with you or to understand you
You must be honest about yourself and each other at all times
and not hold any feelings back
You must accept each other the way you are
and not try to change each other
You must be free to grow as individuals yet share your life as one
but not live your life through each other
You must follow your own principles and morals
and not follow what societal roles tell you to do
You must follow the philosophy that men and women are equal
and not treat either person with inferiority in any way

In order to have
a lasting love relationship
you must be together always in your heart
but not necessarily always in your activities
You must be proud of each other and love
and not be ashamed to show your sensitive feelings
You must treat every day spent with each other as special
and not take each other or your love for granted
You must spend time talking with each other every day
and not be too busy with outside events that you
are too tired for each other
You must understand each other's moods and feelings
and not hurt each other intentionally
but if your frustrations are taken out on each other
you must both realize that it is not a personal attack
You must be passionate with each other often
and not get into boring patterns
You must continue to have fun and excitement with each other
and not be afraid to try new things
You must always work at love and your love relationship
and not forget how important this relationship is or what
you would feel like without it

Love is the strongest
and most fulfilling emotion possible
If you live
your commitment to love
you will live your dreams
between awakenings

-Poem by Susan Polis Schutz
I'll love you forever 

Wear Sunscreen by Mary Schmich

Wear Sunscreen

Mary Schmich

Wear sunscreen.

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.

Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Sing.

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself.

Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch.

Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't.

Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone.

Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's.

Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.

Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.

Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.

Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.

Don't mess too much with your hair or by the time you're 40 it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen.

Reflections in the Wind

REFLECTIONS IN THE WIND 
Written by: Karen Slater, Improvement Era, May 1969

Her I stand:
The girl I was, the person I am,
and the woman I will become.
The three of us so dependent upon the other.

The girl I was.....
laughing, carefree, young
afraid of nothing, loving everything,
trusting all.

The person I am.....
still laughing, not quite as carefree,
still young, afraid of self, loving many,
trusting few, happy and contented with all.
Needing nothing but time to grow, expand,
mature, and discover the hows and whys within myself.

The woman I will become.... laughing, purposeful, young in heart,
having won the game of life playing with God's rules.
Afraid of evil, loving all that is good, trusting in the Lord.
Full  of joy which comes from a marriage sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise,
and blessed with loving children sent from God.

I am today what I did yesterday,
and Tomorrow I will be What I did Today.
The woman I will become is dependent upon the person I am now.
How unfair, that her salvation should rest upon one so proud, so vain, so frightened, so weak.

Why curse her for my mistakes?

How careful then I must be, for mine
is not the only soul I must save fromfuture grief.
Hers too, and the girl I was....
Three of us dependent upon a bending willow in the wind.

Here I stand: The girl I was,
The person I am,
The woman I will become. 

I do my thing

I do my thing
And you do your thing
I am not in this world to live up to
your expectations
And you are not in this world to live up to
mine
You are you and
I am I
And if by chance we find each other,
It's beautiful!

- Frederick J. Peril -

Prayer of Saint Francis

Ironically, I first heard this poem/song on a CD my parents gave me created by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Here's the wiki about it, but I copy/pasted the text below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prayer_of_Saint_Francis

So very beautiful...

The English version of the prayer reads as follows:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon.

Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is darkness, light.

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.

Hopes and Dreams - another Mirages of Hope poem

Sometimes I stop,

ponder,
wonder,

what were my hopes and dreams?

When did I start living and worrying,
day-to-day,
day-in-and-day-out,
forgetting about the grandiose plans,
what I wanted to be?

Now I want to remember, but can't.

Somehow my mind is blocked,
me blocking me,
the soul of the soul,
captive to lesser me thoughts,
groveling at the bottom of the barrel,
wondering when it will all change.
Thinking small.

But,

God does have plans for me.

What are they, when will they be apparent to me?
Where does my heart have to go to find out ?

More journey?

Enjoying more of my now,
so I can be given different or more?

Perhaps,

Can I quicken it somehow?

Perhaps,

It is time to give up my will,
surrender to the unknown,
mirages of hope,
that turn into waterfalls of knowledge,
that will develop into faith.

It is time.
 
RDC
8/6/2010

Moment of Singleness

In bed alone,
tears fall freely.

No child to tuck in,
my life journey,
ends with me.

How did my choices get me here?

If I'm the captain of my soul,
somehow I followed the wrong map.

A wayward sailor,
thinking the adventure lead,
to the really promising destination.

At the conference I meet people,
from all over,
talking,
listening,
eating,
sitting at the pool.

They got married somehow,
had kids,
went to baseball games,
tucked them in,
school plays.

Somehow it bypassed me.

The dress purchased,
the rings,
the flower girl clothes,
best men ties.

The man - he isn't thinking of me,

lost in his pain,
in his sorrow,
job loss,
money gone,
bill collectors calling non-stop.

No more musings of hope,
faith shattered,
heart torn.

What next?

My heart aches.
 
 
RDC Midnight 8/12/2010

There is no God for me you said

There is no God for me you said
Dark stone eyes, gaze straight ahead


Abandoned me at time of need,
One set footprints, size of me


No one helps carry load
Weary, mad, at end of road

They say to pray
Kneel , bow head

Mirage of hope
Light flickers, then dead


My heart tried change
Did no good

Saw no answer
Said I should

I cannot sleep,
Toss and turn

Close friend asks,
When will I learn

God loves me, my soul created
No matter what, He has waited


Till son below turns eyes above
Toward Father of infinite love

And proclaims within, there is a God
Stone eyes change, hand on the rod

Ups and downs, through and around
Life journey, eternal round

Change heart now, feel the joy,
Father in heaven loves his boy

Fight Him, mock Him
Deep despair

Embrace Him, follow Him
Eternal care
 
God loves his boy.

RDC
8/1/2010

Poem - Less is More - by Scot

> Saved this from an old email from my brother.

Subject: scot poem> Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2007 11:56:53 -0400>

"Less is more."

> Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,>
Enwrought with golden and silver light,>
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths>
Of night and light and the half-light,>
I would spread the cloths under your feet:>
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;>
I have spread my dreams under your feet;>
Tread softly because you tread upon my dreams.

> Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

> The world is too much with us; late and soon,>
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;>
Little we see in Nature that is ours;>
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!>
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon,>
The winds that will be howling at all hours,>
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers,>
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;>
It moves us not.--Great God! I'd rather be>
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn; >
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea, >
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;>
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;>
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn. >

About Me: I persist. I pursue the unattainable. I change.

Poem - Filled Lamp

I found this poem in one of my old journals.


"What to do when the dawn brings night,
and the moon spins out and the stars fall white?
Wait, calm in the silence, the black sky spilled,
your lamp will light, if it is filled."

By Carol Lynn Pearson

Poem - An Extra - Ordinary Night

My friend Pam sent me a Christmas Card with this poem on it a few years ago. I've been thinking about it all week and finally went looking amongst old cards trying to find it. Luckily, she has a great memory and found it for me right away when I asked for it.

I'm not sure why, but it is one of those poems that brings tears to my eyes even though the words are ordinary compared to the great writings of our times. But, sometimes simple has the most power.

An Extra-Ordinary Night
by Max Lucado

An ordinary night with ordinary sheep
and ordinary shepherds.
And were it not for God
who loves to hook an "extra" on the front of ordinary,
the night would have gone unnoticed.
But God dances among the common
and that night he did a waltz.