The words of William Carlos Williams’ poem “The Red Wheelbarrow” have been running through my head lately:
so much depends upon
a red wheel barrow
glazed with rain water
beside the white chickens
This poem employs the simplicity of a cut-out from Matisse’s Jazz or a Mozart sonata, gifting us a vivd snapshot of a life’s component parts—how they cohere; how they rely upon each other; how they risk being fractured by that sense of impending loss that seems to shadow us after we enter fully into our adult lives of responsibility, obligation, and love that depends upon us.
These 16 words compel a mighty longing for reassurance—that those we value are safe, that everything is going to be alright.
This is what I hope for all of us.
Let’s take a break from politics and the news today, shall we? Instead, please share a poem or the work of a writer that inspires or comforts you—or a creation of your own.
I’m hoping that Substack will add a feature that allows you to share pictures in the comments but, as it’s still a one-way street, here’s a picture of Sebastian:
And now:
Who’s at the top of your Good Humans list this week? Please cast only one vote—and explain the reason for your choice.
I’ll post the results tomorrow night at 6:30 p.m. ET.
If you’re in the Northeast, enjoy the snowstorm—and stay safe.
My mother was a musician, and from her I learned the power of music to express the feelings that connect us as human beings. This song from the work of Rodgers and Hammerstein gets me every time—so much that I can barely get through it when trying to sing it. What resonates for me is the simple, straightforward reminder that even during the worst of times, we are never truly alone:
NEIL YOUNG = Good Human of the week!!! He pulled his entire body of music from Spotify after telling them to remove Joe Rogan and his dangerous, potentially fatal misinformation from their streaming service or he would pull his. Unsurprisingly, SPOTIFY chose the biggest money maker. But it was absolutely BEAUTIFUL to see someone protect their life’s work … dedicated to love and beauty and truth …. against the horrific conspiratorial clickbait of fear and lies. I expect as much from Rogan. Sad but unsurprising to see Spotify pick its side.
Neil Young wins Best Human
Music, love and unity prevail.
And fittingly, his words from Harvest Moon for my ‘poetry’ of the moment:
I forgot to take my adderall so I can’t even think of my middle name, much less a poem. I nominate Art Spiegelman for drawing naked mice and getting modern day nazis tripping over themselves trying to ban anything that might teach a child empathy. And doing it in a way that still shakes me 20 years later.
I nominate for "Good Human of the Week" Justice Stephen Breyer for retiring before he dies on the Court and McConnell has power again to wreak havoc, even though McConnell will work overtime on Manchin and Sinema. I like the picture of Sebastian.
Neil Young who had the integrity this week to remove his art from a service that has no issue with letting detrimental misinformation flourish is my good guy of the week.
I nominate the Irish fishermen who are standing their ground against the Russian gov’t plan to conduct war games off the coast of Ireland. They will bring their fishing boats out to fish near the area as a signal to stay away from their waters.
The following poem won first place in the New York State Fair Poetry Contest - Adult Division in 2018. I wrote it in despair of the continuing support for the Great Orange Ego.
A favorite poem is from Lin-Manuel Miranda. It is from the Gmorning/Gnight tweets he used to do. It is:
“Gmorning.
Take a deep breath,
Loosen the knots around your heart, breathe out.
Another deep breath.
Breathe.
Who triple knotted this f***in thing?
Who wrapped these fears around this heart of yours?
It’s okay.
Another breath.
Let’s go.”
It is written single spaced.
My vote is for Art Spiegelman. I read Maus when it was published and made sure my 15 year old son read it when I homeschooled him. I hope all those who live where the book is banned get to read it anyway. (The church I was forced to go to as a child banned books which made me find them and read them.) It is important history told in an excellent medium.
My good human of the week is Maus author Art Spiegelman because he created a work of art that is an even more necessary read in our current moment. Bonus- his book is now an Amazon best-seller so the banning created a Streisand Effect.
This is my favorite quote from Frida Kahlo (who experienced enormous physical pain for her entire adult life)
“Nothing is worth more than laughter. It is strength to laugh and to abandon oneself, to be light. Tragedy is the most ridiculous thing.”
Being able to go to the Kahlo exhibit this past summer (with my Mom and her friend) at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, IL before the Delta wave came was a gift. I also got to see this light show as a part of a Chicago River boat cruise a few weeks before I saw the exhibit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sJrREmSo6I (enjoy this video). I'm so glad I got to see her work up-close.
I have lost so much in the past 5 years....my Mom in 2017 (an extraordinary human/ woman), my physical mobility, my husband 2018 / best friend of 52 years, John, Dad 2019 (monster of strength and intellec) and many friends who left me along this path. But the soul here with me is Lucy, my American Bulldog, who watches me like a hawk on her prey to keep me safe. As John always said...Who loves you like your dog? No one I would say....
Definitely Justice Stephen Breyer, for being a fair judge his whole career and for stepping down at a good time to give a democratic president and a democratic majority Senate a supreme court pick.
Great shot of Sebastian! As a kid we had an adopted parrot named Joey. But he wasn't around for too long. My parents had to get rid of him because he swore "like-a-sailor." Good times :)
My pick for Human of the Week is actually a group of humans: the Irishmen Fisherman. Everything about their story lifted my spirits in every way. May God bless them!
Regarding words of inspiration that I've never forgotten, two people came to mind. This one was my HS Yearbook quote:
"Seek & see all the marvels all around you. You will get tired of looking at yourself alone, and that fatigue will make you deaf & blind to everything else."
Carlos Castaneda
"When our wounds cease to be a source of shame, and become a source of healing, we have become wounded healers."
I wasn’t a fan of swings, but I lived with this view from my back yard over beyond the train trestle that spanned the Pequest where it meets the Delaware. Good memories, thank you. ❤️
Good Human of the Week: The Irish Fishermen!!!! Taking on the Russian Navy with their boats! They will be the "Tank Man of Tiananmen Square" for Ireland. Rachel's coverage has been a bright spot in a crazy news week. Love seeing these newsletters in my inbox - thank you!
My good human of the week is Supreme Court Justice Breyer, because he realizes how fragile, and at risk our democracy has become; and is stepping down so the court stands a chance of being more reflective of the American people's values and not the fringe right or left.
Voltaire - If the God‐given understanding of your mind does not resist a demand to believe what is impossible, then you will not resist a demand to do wrong to that God‐given sense of justice in your heart.
I discovered a wonderful book in 2020 right after the pandemic began, that I really fell in love with. It is called The Boy, The Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy. The illustrations are wonderful and the messages about love, friendship and kindness are exactly the antidote to so much of the chaos we are experiencing right now.
So many wonderful poems/thoughts being shared - what a great way to unwind this evening. I'm currently reading the phenomenal Amanda Gorman's new book of poems, Call Us What We Carry, so I'll share one of those, titled "Essex II":
As the world came apart,
We have come together.
Only we can save us.
Our faces fill with the hour,
New meaning lapping
Against us like mooned tides.
Laden with what we've lost,
We are led
By what we love.
As far away as it is,
The late sun looks
Peelable in our palm.
That is to say, distance
Renders all massiveness
Carriable. It is the carrying
That makes memory mutual,
The pain both private & public.
Slowly, grief becomes a gift.
When we greet it, when we listen to our loss,
When we indeed let it live,
It will not shrink in size,
But lighten in load.
It lets us breathe.
The densest despair takes
Us to no ordinary joy.
Sometimes diving
Into the deep inside us
Is the only way
We rise above it.
Good human of the week is a tough one between Justice Breyer and Neil Young. In keeping with the art/artist theme for today, though, I'll go with Neil Young for taking a stand against Spotify for allowing the spread of COVID misinformation. I think it's important for everyone, especially those with a wider platform, to speak up like this and I hope his decision spurs more to do so.
I so enjoy this sharing with you and all, Mary. It’s like being included with all the wonderful and brilliant ones you podcast with, though our physical distance is far apart. It’s like picking up and reading the Bible that might sit on the nightstand, or opening the back door and stepping out into the sun and breathing deeply, or opening the fridge to take a sip of smooth almond milk after a run with the vacuum cleaner. i hope we keep expanding ourselves into this exquisite opportunity!
John Murry (editor) to writer Katherine Mansfield, seven years into their relationship and not yet married...
“...My love for you tonight is so deep and tender that it seems to be outside myself as well. I am fast shut up like a little lake in the embrace of some big mountains. If you were to climb up the mountains, you would see me down below, deep and shining — and quite fathomless, my dear. You might drop your heart into me and you'd never hear it touch bottom.
My apologies--as soon as I posted this the formatting of the poem got messed up. This is what it should look like:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45502/the-red-wheelbarrow
A favorite from Mary Oliver:
The Summer Day
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper, I mean --
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down --
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
So many poems to choose from. Hard to decide. This one is one of my favorites and gives me hope in the darkness of our days.
Kindness
Naomi Shihab Nye
Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out the window forever.
Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
how he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive.
Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.
Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to gaze at bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
It is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you everywhere
like a shadow or a friend.
My mother was a musician, and from her I learned the power of music to express the feelings that connect us as human beings. This song from the work of Rodgers and Hammerstein gets me every time—so much that I can barely get through it when trying to sing it. What resonates for me is the simple, straightforward reminder that even during the worst of times, we are never truly alone:
When you walk through a storm
Hold your head up high
And don't be afraid of the dark
At the end of a storm
There's a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of a lark
Walk on through the wind
Walk on through the rain
Though your dreams be tossed and blown
Walk on, walk on
With hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone
You'll never walk alone
NEIL YOUNG = Good Human of the week!!! He pulled his entire body of music from Spotify after telling them to remove Joe Rogan and his dangerous, potentially fatal misinformation from their streaming service or he would pull his. Unsurprisingly, SPOTIFY chose the biggest money maker. But it was absolutely BEAUTIFUL to see someone protect their life’s work … dedicated to love and beauty and truth …. against the horrific conspiratorial clickbait of fear and lies. I expect as much from Rogan. Sad but unsurprising to see Spotify pick its side.
Neil Young wins Best Human
Music, love and unity prevail.
And fittingly, his words from Harvest Moon for my ‘poetry’ of the moment:
Because I’m still in love with you.
I want to see you dance again.
Because I’m still in love with you.
On this Harvest Moon ….
I wrote my first poem at the age of 12 . I will be 57 in September . Here is one of many poems I have written :
You are who you are
You're made of good stuff
Ignore all the haters
Don't take anyone's guff .
Stay true to yourself
Love who you are
Believe in yourself
And you will go far.
You are who you are
Though it may be tough
Stand tall in the knowledge
That you are enough.
I forgot to take my adderall so I can’t even think of my middle name, much less a poem. I nominate Art Spiegelman for drawing naked mice and getting modern day nazis tripping over themselves trying to ban anything that might teach a child empathy. And doing it in a way that still shakes me 20 years later.
I nominate for "Good Human of the Week" Justice Stephen Breyer for retiring before he dies on the Court and McConnell has power again to wreak havoc, even though McConnell will work overtime on Manchin and Sinema. I like the picture of Sebastian.
Neil Young who had the integrity this week to remove his art from a service that has no issue with letting detrimental misinformation flourish is my good guy of the week.
I nominate the Irish fishermen who are standing their ground against the Russian gov’t plan to conduct war games off the coast of Ireland. They will bring their fishing boats out to fish near the area as a signal to stay away from their waters.
Oh so many but I vote for President Biden👍 So much on his plate and still continues to solider on with class!
Neil Young for good human of the week.
The following poem won first place in the New York State Fair Poetry Contest - Adult Division in 2018. I wrote it in despair of the continuing support for the Great Orange Ego.
Now
All those who cry in fear
anguish at our descent.
The world has twisted back
exposing only black.
Can any voice make clear
this age of discontent?
Numbing emptiness awaits
a future once thought bright.
We now will never know.
The sun’s diminished glow
‘round shadows radiates
the last of summer’s light.
The depths that knowledge tests
are no longer tested.
We spit a bitter sound,
banishing what we found
that empties out the nests
hatred has invested.
Each person who rises,
joins the rumbling chorus
first engaging lowly
like blinding fog slowly
obscuring rivers, peaks,
and all reason before us.
Is there time enough now
to redeem a nation
bitter, angry, shamed—
some would say deranged?
Do we even know how
to seek our salvation?
We are in a tunnel
and see a distant light
approaching at full speed.
Yet we must still proceed
knowing one more tunnel
may lie beyond our sight.
If more darkness awaits
us as we move along,
will it really matter
if there is a ladder
to climb from these debates
and leave the angry throng?
A favorite poem is from Lin-Manuel Miranda. It is from the Gmorning/Gnight tweets he used to do. It is:
“Gmorning.
Take a deep breath,
Loosen the knots around your heart, breathe out.
Another deep breath.
Breathe.
Who triple knotted this f***in thing?
Who wrapped these fears around this heart of yours?
It’s okay.
Another breath.
Let’s go.”
It is written single spaced.
My vote is for Art Spiegelman. I read Maus when it was published and made sure my 15 year old son read it when I homeschooled him. I hope all those who live where the book is banned get to read it anyway. (The church I was forced to go to as a child banned books which made me find them and read them.) It is important history told in an excellent medium.
My good human of the week is Maus author Art Spiegelman because he created a work of art that is an even more necessary read in our current moment. Bonus- his book is now an Amazon best-seller so the banning created a Streisand Effect.
This is my favorite quote from Frida Kahlo (who experienced enormous physical pain for her entire adult life)
“Nothing is worth more than laughter. It is strength to laugh and to abandon oneself, to be light. Tragedy is the most ridiculous thing.”
Being able to go to the Kahlo exhibit this past summer (with my Mom and her friend) at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, IL before the Delta wave came was a gift. I also got to see this light show as a part of a Chicago River boat cruise a few weeks before I saw the exhibit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sJrREmSo6I (enjoy this video). I'm so glad I got to see her work up-close.
poem, “I Hope You Dance”
I hope you never lose your sense of wonder, you get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger,
May you never take one single breath for granted,
God forbid love ever leaves you empty handed.
I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean,
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens,
Promise me that you’ll give faith a fighting chance,
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance,
I hope you dance….
I have lost so much in the past 5 years....my Mom in 2017 (an extraordinary human/ woman), my physical mobility, my husband 2018 / best friend of 52 years, John, Dad 2019 (monster of strength and intellec) and many friends who left me along this path. But the soul here with me is Lucy, my American Bulldog, who watches me like a hawk on her prey to keep me safe. As John always said...Who loves you like your dog? No one I would say....
Definitely Justice Stephen Breyer, for being a fair judge his whole career and for stepping down at a good time to give a democratic president and a democratic majority Senate a supreme court pick.
My youngest daughter, Samantha, who has been caring for me for over two weeks now while we both deal with Covid.
Great shot of Sebastian! As a kid we had an adopted parrot named Joey. But he wasn't around for too long. My parents had to get rid of him because he swore "like-a-sailor." Good times :)
My pick for Human of the Week is actually a group of humans: the Irishmen Fisherman. Everything about their story lifted my spirits in every way. May God bless them!
Regarding words of inspiration that I've never forgotten, two people came to mind. This one was my HS Yearbook quote:
"Seek & see all the marvels all around you. You will get tired of looking at yourself alone, and that fatigue will make you deaf & blind to everything else."
Carlos Castaneda
"When our wounds cease to be a source of shame, and become a source of healing, we have become wounded healers."
Henri Nouwen
Joe Biden — again. His speech in Pittsburgh today was wonderful, full of hope and positive outlook…
I wasn’t a fan of swings, but I lived with this view from my back yard over beyond the train trestle that spanned the Pequest where it meets the Delaware. Good memories, thank you. ❤️
The Swing
RL Stevenson
How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!
Up in the air and over the wall,
Till I can see so wide,
Rivers and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside—
Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown—
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down!
I agree with others that Justice Breyer deserves the honor for his gracious speech at the White House.
Neil Young. Heart of Gold.
What a lovely exercise. (Thanks Stef for sharing).
Permission by RG Mara
Stop.
Do nothing of consequence
Give yourself permission
Stroke the back of one hand with the other's fingertips
Notice the bones,
the shapes,
the scars
Attend to the beat of your heart and the coolness of your breath
Feel.
Now reach back and find your favorite sunrise
Its purples and reds,
its landscape made of sea,
or summit,
or sky and soil
Hold in your mind someone you love
without expectation
Let that warmth flow and spread and bloom
Live, for this one moment, deep within in it
Let it fill your dark spaces.
I’ll nominate Justice Breyer for giving POTUS the ability to nominate an African American woman to the United States Supreme Court.
Good Human of the Week: The Irish Fishermen!!!! Taking on the Russian Navy with their boats! They will be the "Tank Man of Tiananmen Square" for Ireland. Rachel's coverage has been a bright spot in a crazy news week. Love seeing these newsletters in my inbox - thank you!
At the beginning of the practice of Yoga Nidra, the person who guides me sometimes offers this version of the Pavamana Mantra:
Lead me from untruth to truth
Lead me from darkness to light
Lead me from death to immortality
Best reading I’ve had in weeks. Loved every single poem/lyric, etc.
Stephen Breyer gets my vote.
Thanks to everybody for posting such wonderful poems! This blog is a keeper! Here is one of mine:
After a while – Veronica A. Shoffstall
After a while you learn
the subtle difference between
holding a hand and chaining a soul
and you learn
that love doesn’t mean leaning
and company doesn’t always mean security.
And you begin to learn
that kisses aren’t contracts
and presents aren’t promises
and you begin to accept your defeats
with your head up and your eyes ahead
with the grace of woman, not the grief of a child
and you learn
to build all your roads on today
because tomorrow’s ground is
too uncertain for plans
and futures have a way of falling down
in mid-flight.
After a while you learn
that even sunshine burns
if you get too much
so you plant your own garden
and decorate your own soul
instead of waiting for someone
to bring you flowers.
And you learn that you really can endure
you really are strong
you really do have worth
and you learn
and you learn
with every goodbye, you learn…
The Irish Fishermen!! Best humans of the week!
My good human of the week is Supreme Court Justice Breyer, because he realizes how fragile, and at risk our democracy has become; and is stepping down so the court stands a chance of being more reflective of the American people's values and not the fringe right or left.
Dust was blowing over the Mojave.
A woman stood across the road and looked at me.
She said I looked sad. I said she did too.
Her husband had died in Vietnam.
She moved up the canyon from Bakersfield.
I moved from Salem. Don't worry. I'm not a witch.
We laughed. Each of us running away.
She to a new teaching job. Me? To a new life.
I saw nothing but sand. Where's the college?
I'll show you if you like, and we walked.
She is my story. My love. Gone.
Another Mary Oliver poem -
There is no king in their country
and there is no queen
and there are no princes vying for power,
inventing corruption.
Just as with us many children are born
and some will live and some will die and the country
will continue.
The weather will always be important.
And there will always be room for the weak, the violets
and the bloodroot.
When it is cold they will be given blankets of leaves.
When it is hot they will be given shade.
And not out of guilt, neither for a year-end deduction
but maybe for the cheer of their colours, their
small flower faces.
They are not like us.
Some will perish to become houses or barns,
fences and bridges.
Others will endure past the counting of years.
And none will ever speak a single word of complaint,
as though language, after all,
did not work well enough, was only an early stage.
Neither do they ever have any questions to the gods--
which one is the real one, and what is the plan.
As though they have been told everything already,
and are content.
Mary Oliver, The Country of the Trees from her book of poems called 'Blue Horses'
Voltaire - If the God‐given understanding of your mind does not resist a demand to believe what is impossible, then you will not resist a demand to do wrong to that God‐given sense of justice in your heart.
I discovered a wonderful book in 2020 right after the pandemic began, that I really fell in love with. It is called The Boy, The Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy. The illustrations are wonderful and the messages about love, friendship and kindness are exactly the antidote to so much of the chaos we are experiencing right now.
Good person: Neil Young
"The most precious gift we can offer anyone is our attention. When mindfulness embraces those we love,they will bloom like flowers".-Thich Nhat Hanh
Bad Boats
They are like women because they sway.
They are like men because they swagger.
They are like lions because they are king here.
They walk on the sea. The drifting
logs are good: they are taking their punishment.
But the bad boats are ready to be bad,
to overturn in water, to demolish the swagger
and the sway. They are bad boats
because they cannot wind their own rope
or guide themselves neatly close to the wharf.
In their egomania they are glad
for the burden of the storm the men are shirking
when they go for their coffee and yawn.
They are bad boats and they hate their anchors.
So many wonderful poems/thoughts being shared - what a great way to unwind this evening. I'm currently reading the phenomenal Amanda Gorman's new book of poems, Call Us What We Carry, so I'll share one of those, titled "Essex II":
As the world came apart,
We have come together.
Only we can save us.
Our faces fill with the hour,
New meaning lapping
Against us like mooned tides.
Laden with what we've lost,
We are led
By what we love.
As far away as it is,
The late sun looks
Peelable in our palm.
That is to say, distance
Renders all massiveness
Carriable. It is the carrying
That makes memory mutual,
The pain both private & public.
Slowly, grief becomes a gift.
When we greet it, when we listen to our loss,
When we indeed let it live,
It will not shrink in size,
But lighten in load.
It lets us breathe.
The densest despair takes
Us to no ordinary joy.
Sometimes diving
Into the deep inside us
Is the only way
We rise above it.
Good human of the week is a tough one between Justice Breyer and Neil Young. In keeping with the art/artist theme for today, though, I'll go with Neil Young for taking a stand against Spotify for allowing the spread of COVID misinformation. I think it's important for everyone, especially those with a wider platform, to speak up like this and I hope his decision spurs more to do so.
Sebastian is beautiful!
I so enjoy this sharing with you and all, Mary. It’s like being included with all the wonderful and brilliant ones you podcast with, though our physical distance is far apart. It’s like picking up and reading the Bible that might sit on the nightstand, or opening the back door and stepping out into the sun and breathing deeply, or opening the fridge to take a sip of smooth almond milk after a run with the vacuum cleaner. i hope we keep expanding ourselves into this exquisite opportunity!
John Murry (editor) to writer Katherine Mansfield, seven years into their relationship and not yet married...
“...My love for you tonight is so deep and tender that it seems to be outside myself as well. I am fast shut up like a little lake in the embrace of some big mountains. If you were to climb up the mountains, you would see me down below, deep and shining — and quite fathomless, my dear. You might drop your heart into me and you'd never hear it touch bottom.
“I love you — I love you — Goodnight.
“Oh Bogey, what it is to love like this!"
From Garrison Keillor 1/26/22
Justice Breyer.
So many great poems here, thank you folks! I'm nominating a song by Son Volt, Windfall:
Now and then it keeps you running
It never seems to die
The trail's spent with fear
Not enough living on the outside
Never seem to get far enough
Staying in between the lines
Hold on to what you can
Waiting for the end
Not knowing when
May the wind take your troubles away
May the wind take your troubles away
Both feet on the floor, two hands on the wheel
May the wind take your troubles away
Trying to make it far enough, to the next time zone
Few and far between past the midnight hour
You never feel alone, you're really not alone
Switching it over to AM
Searching for a truer sound
Can't recall the call letters
Steel guitar and settle down
Catching an all-night station somewhere in Louisiana
It sounds like 1963, but for now it sounds like heaven
May the wind take your troubles away
May the wind take your troubles away
Both feet on the floor, two hands on the wheel
May the wind take your troubles away
This poem is most popular among those who read my writing:
THE LIGHT
The Light wants to heal you.
Hush - be still.
The Light feels you hurting
against your will.
The Light is so near you
it can't help but hear you
crying,
and it's trying
to heal you.
Here is a poem I wrote in 1992 that I think relates to today:
"If you are a Light, don't stand in the shade.
Don't hide the glory Creator has made.
Walk away from the darkness and don't be afraid -
stand proud with your brilliance fully displayed.
You might be a beacon, a buoy or a guide
to another who's seeking the Beauty inside."
I, Lover
Elsa Gidlow - 1898-1986
I shall never have any fear of love,
Not of its depth nor its uttermost height,
Its exquisite pain and its terrible delight.
I shall never have any fear of love.
I shall never hesitate to go down
Into the fastness of its abyss
Nor shrink from the cruelty of its awful kiss.
I shall never have any fear of love.
Never shall I dread love’s strength
Nor any pain it might give.
Through all the years I may live
I shall never have any fear of love.
I shall never draw back from love
Through fear of its vast pain
But build joy of it and count it again.
I shall never have any fear of love.
I shall never tremble nor flinch
From love’s moulding touch:
I have loved too terribly and too much
Ever to have any fear of love.
From Joseph Goldstein:
PANDEMIC
Sheltered and safe
when others are not,
fed and nourished
when others are not.
How to live
in such a world
alone and connected
at the same time?
Facing forward
stepping back,
do we turn away
or look beyond ourselves
as we choreograph this dance
of fear and love?
Always one of my favorite poems
We Lost The Moon
by R. D.
When they told me you were gone, I heard them say,
We lost the moon. And I said, What do you mean?
And heard again, we lost the moon. No more moon,
They seemed to say. But the night had changed.
Their words made no more sense than dolls
With heads and legs off from too much play.
How could we lose the moon? I must have asked,
And they looked sad. I swear one had red eyes.
Go home, they told us. We got in the car.
And I was yelling, No, Miriam,
No, no, no, no
And you were gone.
And I LOVE Sebastian! What a beauty!