The Real Work

It may be that when we no longer know what to do

we have come to our real work,

And that when we no longer know which way to go

we have come to our real journey.

The mind that is not baffled is not employed.

The impeded stream is the one that sings.

-Wendell Berry

Here by Grace Paley

Here I am in the garden laughing
an old woman with heavy breasts
and a nicely mapped face

how did this happen
well that's who I wanted to be

at last   a woman
in the old style   sitting
stout thighs apart under
a big skirt   grandchild sliding
on   off my lap   a pleasant
summer perspiration

that's my old man across the yard
he's talking to the meter reader
he's telling him the world's sad story
how electricity is oil or uranium
and so forth  I tell my grandson
run over to your grandpa   ask him
to sit beside me for a minute   I
am suddenly exhausted by my desire
to kiss his sweet explaining lips

Empowering Quotes

"Once you become aware of what stands in your way and become willing to release it, you signal the universe that you are ready to manifest the life you were meant to live." Chérie Carter-Scott

Our Deepest Fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our Deepest Fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our Light, not our Darkness, that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant,

gorgeous, talented, fabulous?

Actually, who are you NOT to be? Marianne Williamson

“Solitude, says the moon shell. Every person, especially every woman, should be alone sometime during the year, some part of each week, and each day. How revolutionary that sounds and how impossible of attainment. ... The world today does not understand, in either man or woman, the need to be alone.
...
Solitude, says the moon shell. Center-down, say the Quaker saints. To the possession of the self the way is inward, says Plotinus. The cell of self-knowledge is the stall in which the pilgrim must be reborn, says St. Catherine of Siena.” From A Gift from the Sea, Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Mother Daughter poems

the daughters of alcoholics

We are made able

we are always stable

we do not drink

from deep in the darkness

our souls shine

phosphorent eyes

of eels at 20,000 leagues

under the sea

We have been left in total dark

so how can we see?

We are far from the Ark --

a thousand splintered pieces

float on the surface

far above.

Down here, the pressure

can kill.

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,


and remember what peace there may be in silence.


As far as possible, without surrender,


be on good terms with all persons.



Speak your truth quietly and clearly;


and listen to others,


even to the dull and ignorant;


they too have their story.



Avoid loud and aggressive persons;


they are vexations to the spirit.


If you compare yourself with others,


you may become vain or bitter,


for always there will be greater


and lesser persons than yourself.



Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.


Keep interested in your own career, however humble,


it's a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.




Exercise caution in your business affairs,


for the world is full of trickery.


But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;


many persons strive for high ideals,


and everywhere life is full of heroism.



Be yourself.


Especially do not feign affection.


Neither be cynical about love;


for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,


it is as perennial as the grass.



Take kindly the counsel of the years,


gracefully surrendering the things of youth.



Nurture strength of spirit


to shield you in sudden misfortune.


But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.


Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.



Beyond a wholesome discipline,


be gentle with yourself.


You are a child of the universe


no less than the trees and the stars;


you have a right to be here.


And whether or not it is clear to you,


no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.


Therefore be at peace with God,


whatever you conceive him to be.


And whatever your labors and aspirations,


in the noisy confusion of life,


keep peace in your soul.


With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams,


it is still a beautiful world.


Be cheerful.


Strive to be happy.



Author - Max Ehrmann (1872 - 1945)

You Learn by Jorge Luis Borges

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 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 open

with the grace of a 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 garden and decorate your own soul,

Instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.

And you learn that you really can endure...

That you really are strong

And you really do have worth...

And you learn and learn...

With every good-bye you learn.

by Jorge Luis Borges

ranslation by Veronica A. Shoffstall

found on Oriah Mountaindreamer's Facebook page

Poem for Spring Flowers

http://www.stellaalesi.com/blog

April
by James Schuyler


The morning sky is clouding up
and what is that tree,
dressed up in white? The fruit
tree, French pear. Sulphur-
yellow bees stud the forsythia
canes leaning down into the transfer
across the park. And trees in
skimpy flower bud suggest
the uses of paint thinner, so
fine the net they cast upon
the wind. Cross-pollination
is the order of the fragrant day.
That was yesterday: today is May,
not April and the magnolias
open their goblets up and
an unseen precipitation
fills them. A gray day in May.

poem from poets.org A Poem a Day