A Reflection


I look up just as our buckskin
yeanling is a raw blast
of wind across her tawny
pasture. She has no
expectations, she goes
spontaneously and naturally.
She is already a master
at being a horse.

We expect of life certain things
but face disappointment.
We plan every minute of every day
and corrupt spontaneity.
We abandon stillness for effort
and gain. We strive for decades
to be a master at just one thing
but fall short compared
to the knowledge of the universe.

Yet the moment I accept Christ,
I am a master at being his child.

This doesn't belong under laughter! Excellent poem, thankyou! Did you write this yourself? The last lines are so true...when we accept Him, we get that download of who He is. Weazie

Hey Rio this is good I like the we abandon stillness for effort and gain...I believe we should take time to listen to our self to find out what we really need to hear whether it's good or bad and being in a hurry or always having to find something to do is really abandoning our self in a sense..what you said is powerful.
A child of God Nabob_5

Rio that was really nice! I like the metaphors you used:

the simpliest of a yearnling life.

giving up the quietness in order to gain

and the last part really touched me

It is so true that we all get wrapped up in our own journeys until we get caught up in the roaring amoungst the storm & don't hear the whispering of the Lord.
We should all take more time to listen to the whisper of the Lord & remember we are his children


Theresa Smithey

I love the word, image, and message of "she is already a master at being a horse." So much can be found, said observing nature. Reminds me of Louise Gluck's poetry in her book The Wild Iris, where the flowers and trees have so much to tell us. Powerful. Thanks. It is a pleasure to read poetry by us (CLs). I'm new to the site and happy to find there's poetry here! one leaf

This is dedicated to Sweet Rose. I don't who originally wrote the poem, but I know Rose especially will find great and ironic meaning in it:


My Gifts

Long years I wrought upon my little gifts
Then came and knocked at your half-opened door,
Timid and tremulous. You smiled at me
And bade me enter -- I could ask no more.

Kneeling beside you, I unwrapped my gifts --
Unfolding each that you might look and see:
Sweet Innocence, and Faith, and Hope, and Trust,
And Loyalty to Truth, and Modesty.

And over all, and compassing the rest,
A Love as high and holy as the stars:
Builded of Youth's divinest dreams,
The Great One Dream -- all these were yours.

You took each gift up in your smooth white hands,
And fingered it a moment -- as a child
Might play with some new toy -- then, growing tired,
You tossed each in the corner there -- and smiled.

Oh! You were kind! You called me goodly names,
You looked into my eyes and bade me stay:
But I, who builded ALL upon my dreams,
Must take my little gifts and go away.

I shall not seek another altar shrine
On which to lay the gifts I made for you:
I could not give them now to someone else --
My childish dreams that never will come true.

But there's a quiet place out in the woods,
Where all night long the sad winds come and play;
There I shall go and dig a holy grave
Beneath the trees -- and lay my gifts away.

The kindly leaves will whisper over me,
The lonely stars will watch me from above;
And I shall come away again, content
To pity you -- O you, who cannot love.



You're in my thoughts, dear Rose.

sparrow

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sparrow:
This is dedicated to Sweet Rose. I don't who originally wrote the poem, but I know Rose especially will find great and ironic meaning in it:


My Gifts

Long years I wrought upon my little gifts
Then came and knocked at your half-opened door,
Timid and tremulous. You smiled at me
And bade me enter -- I could ask no more.

Kneeling beside you, I unwrapped my gifts --
Unfolding each that you might look and see:
Sweet Innocence, and Faith, and Hope, and Trust,
And Loyalty to Truth, and Modesty.

And over all, and compassing the rest,
A Love as high and holy as the stars:
Builded of Youth's divinest dreams,
The Great One Dream -- all these were yours.

You took each gift up in your smooth white hands,
And fingered it a moment -- as a child
Might play with some new toy -- then, growing tired,
You tossed each in the corner there -- and smiled.

Oh! You were kind! You called me goodly names,
You looked into my eyes and bade me stay:
But I, who builded ALL upon my dreams,
Must take my little gifts and go away.

I shall not seek another altar shrine
On which to lay the gifts I made for you:
I could not give them now to someone else --
My childish dreams that never will come true.

But there's a quiet place out in the woods,
Where all night long the sad winds come and play;
There I shall go and dig a holy grave
Beneath the trees -- and lay my gifts away.

The kindly leaves will whisper over me,
The lonely stars will watch me from above;
And I shall come away again, content
To pity you -- O you, who cannot love.



You're in my thoughts, dear Rose.

Sparrow

---

THESE GIFTS ARE SAFE
As I walk out there in the woods,
I think of All My Gifts I've given.
A grave would never hold Them All,
These Gifts, They Are Still Living!

But I will keep Them All here Safe,
I hold them in my Heart.
For they are only given once,
They'll always be a part.

Of Love that's Built on Solid Rock,
My Brother showed me how.
And though He is the Son of God,
He told me keep my Vow.

He said the things We do not know,
We will eventually learn.
And though We kick against the pricks,
His Fire, it will burn.

All the things that are Impure,
He'll take away Our Dross.
He'll give Us ALL a Living Heart,
One that can Bear His Cross.

When We are Transformed by His Love,
Then We Will Understand.
The Altar that We Worship at,
Was built by God's Own Hand.

These Gifts now Live inside My Dreams,
Until That Love Awakens.
It's sleeping very gently now,
In Fires not Forsaken!

He keeps them stoked,Those Cleansing Fires.
Until We Are Refined.
And lets His Flames Heat Things Grown Cold,
Things Hidden in Our Mind.

ROSE

ROMANS I
16 For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is the Power of God unto Salvation to Every One that Believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
17 For therein is the Righteousness of God Revealed from Faith to Faith: as it is written, The Just Shall Live By Faith.

Romans 15:30
30 Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the Love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me;

Psalm 126
5 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
6 He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

Song of Solomon 8
6 Set me as a Seal upon Thine Heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for Love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.
7 Many waters cannot quench Love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for Love, it would utterly be contemned.



ROSE

[This message was edited by Rose on May 03, 2004 at 04:29 PM.]

So lovely and so true, Sweet Rose. If the gifts are of His making and Divine plan, they are never given in vain, though they be rejected.

"The secret grief which 'no one understands' conveys a hidden message from the King."



sparrow

ONE SOLITARY LIFE


Here is a man who was born of Jewish parents in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another obscure village. He worked in a carpenter's shop until he was thirty, and then, for three years, he was an itinerant preacher.

He never wrote a book, he never held an office, he never owned a home. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put his foot inside a big city. He never travelled two hundred miles from the place where he was born. He never did one of these things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but himself.

He had nothing to do with this world, except the naked power of his manhood. While still a young man the tide of popular opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One of them denied him. He was turned over to his enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial.

He was nailed to a cross, between two thieves. His executioners gambled for the only piece of property he had on earth, while he was dying - and that was his coat. When he was dead he was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave, through the pity of a friend.

Nineteen wide centuries have come and gone, and today he is the centre-piece of the human race, and the leader of the column of progress. I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that were ever built, and all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon earth as powerfully as has that solitary life.


~Author unknown

It is True Sparrow,
Thankyou for the poem Sparrow, It's one I never read. (WROTE) LOL.

JAMES 1
16 Do not err, my Beloved Brethren.
17 Every Good Gift and Every Perfect Gift Is From Above, and cometh down from the Father of Lights, with Whom is No Variableness, Neither Shadow of Turning.
18 Of His Own Will Begat He Us With The Word of Truth, that We should be A Kind of Firstfruits of His Creatures.


ROSE

ROMANS I
16 For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is the Power of God unto Salvation to Every One that Believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
17 For therein is the Righteousness of God Revealed from Faith to Faith: as it is written, The Just Shall Live By Faith.

Romans 15:30
30 Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the Love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me;

Psalm 126
5 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
6 He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

Song of Solomon 8
6 Set me as a Seal upon Thine Heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for Love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.
7 Many waters cannot quench Love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for Love, it would utterly be contemned.



ROSE

Thankyou Metal,
As He is, so are we in this World!!!

ROSE

ROMANS I
16 For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is the Power of God unto Salvation to Every One that Believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
17 For therein is the Righteousness of God Revealed from Faith to Faith: as it is written, The Just Shall Live By Faith.

Romans 15:30
30 Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the Love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me;

Psalm 126
5 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
6 He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

Song of Solomon 8
6 Set me as a Seal upon Thine Heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for Love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.
7 Many waters cannot quench Love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for Love, it would utterly be contemned.



ROSE

Another favorite:


You Who Never Arrived

You who never arrived
in my arms, Beloved, who were lost from the start,
I don’t even know what songs
would please you. I have given up trying
to recognize you in the surging wave of the next
moment. All the immense
images in me — the far-off, deeply-felt landscape,
cities, towers, and bridges, and
unsuspected turns in the path,
and those powerful lands that were once
pulsing with the life of the gods —
all rise within me to mean
you, who forever elude me.

You, Beloved, who are all
the gardens I have ever gazed at,
longing. An open window
in a country house — and you almost
stepped out, pensive, to meet me.
Streets that I chanced upon —
you had just walked down them and vanished.
And sometimes, in a shop, the mirrors
were still dizzy with your presence and, startled, gave back
my too-sudden image. Who knows? perhaps the same
bird echoed through both of us
yesterday, separate, in the evening . . .


(Rainer Maria Rilke, Austrian, 1875-1926)



sparrow

((((((((((((((((SPARROW)))))))))))))))))))))))
You keep finding the most unusual poetry!
Here's another one by Adelaide Anne Procter.
I'm not sure she is a lesbian, but I believe she was in Love with a woman.

ENJOY,
ROSE


FIDELIS

You have taken back the promise
that you spoke so long ago;
Taken back the heart you gave me -
I must even let it go.
Where Love once has breathed, Pride dieth;
so I struggled, but in vain
First to keep the links together,
and then to piece the broken chain.
…
Perhaps in some long twilight hour
Like those we have known of old,
when past shadows gather round you,
and your present friends grow cold,
You may stretch out your hands towards me -
Ah - you will, but I know not when.
I shall nurse my love and keep it,
faithfully, for you, til then.


Adelaide Anne Proctor



ROMANS I
16 For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is the Power of God unto Salvation to Every One that Believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
17 For therein is the Righteousness of God Revealed from Faith to Faith: as it is written, The Just Shall Live By Faith.

Romans 15:30
30 Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the Love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me;

Psalm 126
5 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
6 He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

Song of Solomon 8
6 Set me as a Seal upon Thine Heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for Love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.
7 Many waters cannot quench Love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for Love, it would utterly be contemned.



ROSE

Thank you, Sweet Rose. I've known the Proctor poem and loved it well for a long time.

Another Sara Teasdale favorite:


Less than the cloud to the sky
Less than the foam to the sea,
Less than the rose to the storm,
Am I to thee.

More than the star to the night,
More than the rain to the tree,
More than heaven to earth
Art thou to me.

i carry your heart with me (i carry it in
my heart) i am never without it (anywhere
i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)

i fear no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) i want
no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing in you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

Thine and Mine
(Matthew 18:10)

I closely held within my arms a jewel rare;
Never had one so rich and pure engaged my care,
'Twas my own, my precious jewel, God gave it me —
'Twas mine! Who else could care for it so tenderly?

But the Master came one day my gem to take;
"I cannot let it go," I cried, "My heart would break!"
"Nay, but the Master comes for it, to bear above
To deck His royal diadem, He comes in love."

"But, Master, it is my treasure, my jewel rare!
I'll safely guard and keep it pure, and very fair!"
"But if thou keep'st My gem," He said, "it may be lost;
The threshold of My home, no thief has ever crossed."

"And where the heart's rich treasure is, the heart will be;
Thy jewel will be safe above, gone before thee."
The Master said these words and gazed with loving look,
While in the early hush of morn, my gem He took.

Close to my heart that morn I held, tears falling fast,
An empty box — the bright gem was safe at last.
Yes, Master, Thou may keep my own, for it is Thine —
Safe in the house not made with hands, 'tis Thine and mine.

If I should leave you in the days to come —
God grant that may not be —
But yet, if so,
Your love for me must fade, I know.
You will remember — and you will forget.
But oh! Imperishable — strong,
My love for you shall burn and glow
Deep in your heart — your whole life long;
Unknown, unseen, but burning still in bliss
So you shall bear me with you all the days.
Forget then what you will.
I died — but not my love for you,
That lives forever — though dumb.
Remember this
If I should leave you in the days to come.

— Agatha Christie

Here's one I think you'll like Sparrow!

A Winter Night


My window-pane is starred with frost,
The world is bitter cold to-night,
The moon is cruel, and the wind
Is like a two-edged sword to smite.

God pity all the homeless ones,
The beggars pacing to and fro.
God pity all the poor to-night
Who walk the lamp-lit streets of snow.

My room is like a bit of June,
Warm and close-curtained fold on fold,
But somewhere, like a homeless child,
My heart is crying in the cold.

Sara Teasdale

ROMANS I
16 For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is the Power of God unto Salvation to Every One that Believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
17 For therein is the Righteousness of God Revealed from Faith to Faith: as it is written, The Just Shall Live By Faith.

Romans 15:30
30 Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the Love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me;

Psalm 126
5 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
6 He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

Song of Solomon 8
6 Set me as a Seal upon Thine Heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for Love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.
7 Many waters cannot quench Love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for Love, it would utterly be contemned.



ROSE

After Death


Now while my lips are living
Their words must stay unsaid,
And will my soul remember
To speak when I am dead?

Yet if my soul remembered
You would not heed it, dear,
For now you must not listen,
And then you could not hear.

Sara Teasdale

ROMANS I
16 For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is the Power of God unto Salvation to Every One that Believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
17 For therein is the Righteousness of God Revealed from Faith to Faith: as it is written, The Just Shall Live By Faith.

Romans 15:30
30 Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the Love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me;

Psalm 126
5 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
6 He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

Song of Solomon 8
6 Set me as a Seal upon Thine Heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for Love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.
7 Many waters cannot quench Love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for Love, it would utterly be contemned.



ROSE

After Parting


Oh I have sown my love so wide
That she will find it everywhere;
It will awake her in the night,
It will enfold her in the air.

I set my shadow in her sight
And I have winged it with desire,
That it may be a cloud by day
And in the night a shaft of fire.

Sara Teasdale

ROMANS I
16 For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is the Power of God unto Salvation to Every One that Believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
17 For therein is the Righteousness of God Revealed from Faith to Faith: as it is written, The Just Shall Live By Faith.

Romans 15:30
30 Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the Love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me;

Psalm 126
5 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
6 He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

Song of Solomon 8
6 Set me as a Seal upon Thine Heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for Love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.
7 Many waters cannot quench Love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for Love, it would utterly be contemned.



ROSE