Mystic Harmony

 

1. For the joy of ear and eye,
   for the heart and mind’s delight,
   for the mystic harmony
   linking sense to sound and sight,
   Lord of all, to thee we raise
   this our hymn of grateful praise.
2. For the joy of human love,
   brother, sister, parent, child,
   friends on earth and friends above,
   for all gentle thoughts and mild,
   Lord of all, to thee we raise
   this our hymn of grateful praise.
3. For thyself, best gift divine,
   to our race so freely giv’n,
   for that great, great love of thine,
   peace on earth and joy in heav’n.
   Lord of all, to thee we raise
   this our hymn of grateful praise.

by Folliott S. Pierpoint

Elsewhere

 The runners sliced through the snow and the wind whipped at his face as they sped in a straight line through and incision that seemed to lead to the final destination, the place that he had always felt was waiting, the Elsewhere that held their future and their past. 

He forced his eyes open as they went downwards, downwards, sliding, and all at once he could see lights, and he recognised them now. He knew they were shining through the windows of rooms, that they were the red, blue and yellow lights that twinkled from trees in places where families created and kept memories, where they celebrated love. 

Downwards, downwards, faster and faster. Suddenly he was aware with certainty and joy that below, ahead, they were waiting for him; and that they were waiting, too, for the baby.  For the first time, he heard something that he knew to be music. He heard people singing.

Behind him, across vast distances of space and time, from the place he had left, he thought he heard music too. But perhaps it was only an echo. 

~The Giver

by Lois Lowry

Up-Hill

 

Up-Hill

By Christina Rossetti

Does the road wind up-hill all the way?

   Yes, to the very end.

Will the day’s journey take the whole long day?

   From morn to night, my friend.

But is there for the night a resting-place?

   A roof for when the slow dark hours begin.

May not the darkness hide it from my face?

   You cannot miss that inn.

Shall I meet other wayfarers at night?

   Those who have gone before.

Then must I knock, or call when just in sight?

   They will not keep you standing at that door.

Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak?

   Of labour you shall find the sum.

Will there be beds for me and all who seek?

   Yea, beds for all who come.

Memory

 As for man, his days are like grass;

he flourishes like a flower of the field;

for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,

and its place knows it no more.

But the steadfast love of the LORD 

is from everlasting to everlasting 

on those who fear him,

and his righteousness to children's children,

to those who keep his covenant

and remember to do his commandments. 

Psalm 103: 15-18

Hope

 

Redeeming the Time

A life of hope deferred too often is
A life of wasted opportunities;
A life of perished hope too often is
A life of all-lost opportunities:
Yet hope is but the flower and not the root,
And hope is still the flower and not the fruit; —
Arise and sow and weed: a day shall come
When also thou shalt keep thy harvest home.

~Christina Georgina Rossetti

Rainbow

 

My heart leaps up when I behold 
   A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began; 
So is it now I am a man; 
So be it when I shall grow old, 
   Or let me die!
The Child is father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.

~ William Wordsworth

At Odds With the World

 "If you wake up feeling at odds with the world, direct your attention outside of yourself, see what the world requires of you, and then get busy. The chances are that in a very short while, your grumpiness will be replaced with a feeling of goodwill."

Little Heathens

Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression

Mildred Armstrong Kalish

A Bit Of Heaven

Love seeketh not itself to please,

Nor for itself hath any care,

But for another gives its ease,

And builds a Heaven in Hell's despair.

First Stanza of 

"The Clod and the Pebble"

~William Blake

Wordsworth at Loch Katrine

 

Stepping Westward

"What, you are stepping westward?" "Yea."

'T would be a wildish destiny,
If we, who thus together roam
In a strange land, and far from home,
Were in this place the guests of Chance:
Yet who would stop, or fear to advance,
Though home or shelter he had none,
With such a sky to lead him on?

The dewy ground was dark and cold;
Behind, all gloomy to behold;
And stepping westward seemed to be
A kind of heavenly destiny:
I liked the greeting; 't was a sound
Of something without place or bound;
And seemed to give me spiritual right
To travel through that region bright.

The voice was soft, and she who spake
Was walking by her native lake:
The salutation had to me
The very sound of courtesy:
Its power was felt; and while my eye
Was fixed upon the glowing sky,
The echo of the voice enwrought
A human sweetness with the thought
Of travelling through the world that lay
Before me in my endless way.

~ William Wordsworth

Brazil

 "that there must be a link between peas and Brazil--not just because Brazil is Brezilya in Turkish and the word for pea is bezelye but also because the Brazilian flag has, it seems, an enormous pea on it."

~Istanbul: Memories and the City

Orhan Pamuk

book not necessarily recommended, but this part made me laugh out loud