E. E. CUMMINGS
i carry your heart with 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 is 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 the 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)
somewhere i have never travelled
somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond
any experience, your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near
your slightest look will easily unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skillfully, mysteriously) her first rose
or if your wish be to close me, i and
my life will shut very beautifully ,suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;
nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility: whose texture
compels me with the color of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing
(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens; only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands
ROBERT FROST
acquainted with the night
I have been one acquainted with the night.
I have walked out in rain--and back in rain.
I have outwalked the furthest city light.
I have looked down the saddest city lane.
I have passed by the watchman on his beat
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.
I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
When far away an interrupted cry
Came over houses from another street,
But not to call me back or say good-bye;
And further still at an unearthly height
One luminary clock against the sky
Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
I have been one acquainted with the night.
The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Nothing Gold Can Stay
Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
MACBETH passages
I am thane of Cawdor:
If good, why do I yield to that suggestion
Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair
And make my seated heart knock at my ribs,
Against the use of nature? Present fears
Are less than horrible imaginings:
My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,
Shakes so my single state of man that function
Is smother'd in surmise, and nothing is
But what is not.
Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
To feeling as to sight? or art thou but
A dagger of the mind, a false creation,
Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
EMILY DICKINSON
If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.
I felt a funeral in my brain,
And mourners, to and fro,
Kept treading, treading, till it seemed
That sense was breaking through.
And when they all were seated,
A service like a drum
Kept beating, beating, till I thought
My mind was going numb
And then I heard them lift a box,
And creak across my soul
With those same boots of lead, again.
Then space began to toll
As all the heavens were a bell,
And being, but an ear,
And I and Silence some strange Race
Wrecked, solitary, here.
There's a certain slant of light,
On winter afternoons
That oppresses, like the weight
Of cathedral tunes.
Heavenly hurt it gives us;
We can find no scar,
But internal difference
Where the meanings, are.
None may teach it anything,
'T is the seal, despair, --
An imperial affliction
Sent us of the air.
When it comes, the landscape listens,
Shadows hold their breath;
When it goes, 't is like the distance
On the look of death.
WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT
From Thanatopsis
So live, that when thy summons comes to join
The innumerable caravan which moves
To that mysterious realm where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of death,
Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,
Scourged by his dungeon; but, sustain'd and soothed
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave,
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.
ANNE SEXTON
The Truth the Dead Know
For my Mother, born March 1902, died March 1959
and my Father, born February 1900, died June 1959
Gone, I say and walk from church,
refusing the stiff procession to the grave,
letting the dead ride alone in the hearse.
It is June. I am tired of being brave.
We drive to the Cape. I cultivate
myself where the sun gutters from the sky,
where the sea swings in like an iron gate
and we touch. In another country people die.
My darling, the wind falls in like stones
from the whitehearted water and when we touch
we enter touch entirely. No one's alone.
Men kill for this, or for as much.
And what of the dead? They lie without shoes
in the stone boats. They are more like stone
than the sea would be if it stopped. They refuse
to be blessed, throat, eye and knucklebone.
SIR PHILIP SIDNEY
Astrophel and Stella, Sonnet 45
Stella oft sees the very face of woe
Painted in my beclouded stormy face,
But cannot skill to pity my disgrace,
Not though thereof the cause herself she know;
Yet hearing late a fable, which did show
Of lovers never known a grievous case,
Pity thereof gat in her breast such place
That, from that sea derived, tears' spring did flow.
Alas, if fancy, drawn by imaged things,
Though false, yet with free scope, more grace doth breed
Than servant's wrack, where new doubts honor brings;
Then think, my dear, that you in me do read
Of lovers' ruin some sad tragedy.
I am not I; pity the tale of me.
EDMUND SPENSER
Amoretti, Sonnet 1
Happy ye leaves when as those lilly hands,
Which hold my life in their dead doing might
Shall handle you and hold in loves soft bands,
Like captives trembling at the victors sight.
And happy lines, on which with starry light,
Those lamping eyes will deigne sometimes to look
And read the sorrows of my dying spirit,
Written with tears in hearts close bleeding book.
And happy rhymes bathed in the sacred brook,
Of Helicon whence she derived is,
When ye behold that Angels blessed look,
My souls long lacked food, my heavens bliss.
Leaves, lines, and rhymes, seek her to please alone,
Whom if ye please, I care for other none.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Two loves I have of comfort and despair,
Which like two spirits do suggest me still:
The better angel is a man right fair,
The worser spirit a woman colour'd ill.
To win me soon to hell, my female evil
Tempteth my better angel from my side,
And would corrupt my saint to be a devil,
Wooing his purity with her foul pride.
And whether that my angel be turn'd fiend
Suspect I may, but not directly tell;
But being both from me, both to each friend,
I guess one angel in another's hell:
Yet this shall I ne'er know, but live in doubt,
Till my bad angel fire my good one out.
JOHN DONNE
Holy Sonnet 14--“Batter my heart, three-personed God”
Batter my heart, three-person'd God ; for you
As yet but knock ; breathe, shine, and seek to mend;
That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
I, like an usurp'd town, to another due,
Labour to admit you, but O, to no end.
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captived, and proves weak or untrue.
Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,
But am betroth'd unto your enemy;
Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again,
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
My Heart Leaps Up
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.
Carpe Diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary. - from Dead Poet's Society
Instructon does much, but encouragement does everything. - Johann von Goethe
Kindness is the language which the blind can see and the deaf can her. - Mark Twain
A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. ~William Strunk, Jr., The Elements of Style, 1918
I think we all I think we all have a little voice inside us that will guide us. It may be God, I don't know. But I think that if we shut out all the noise and clutter from our lives and listen to that voice, it will tell us the right thing to do. -- Christopher Reeve
The paradoxical--and tragic--situation of man is that his conscience is weakest when he needs it most. -- Erich Fromm
In life we all have an unspeakable secret, an irreversible regret, an unreachable dream and an unforgettable love. - Diego Marchi
If A equals success, then the formula is: A=X+Y+Z, where X is work, Y is play, and Z is keep your mouth shut. - Albert Einstein
Life is not a final. It's daily pop quizzes. - Author Unknown
Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first. - Mark Twain
It is not the mountain that we conquer, but ourselves.- Sir Edmund Hillary
The fellow that agrees with everything you say is either a fool or he is getting ready to skin you. - Kin Hubbard
The joy that isn't shared dies young. - Anne Sexton
Always forgive your enemies. Nothing annoys them so much. – Oscar Wilde
Animals are such agreeable friends - they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms. - George Eliot
There are things known, and there are things unknown. And in between are the doors. - Jim Morrison
Never let a day pass that you will have cause to say, I will do better tomorrow. - Brigham Young
The difference between stumbling blocks and stepping stones is how you use them. – Anonymous
It's easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend. - William Blake
When you are looking for obstacles, you can't find opportunities. - J. C. Bell
Opportunity follows struggle. It follows effort. It follows hard work. It doesn't come before. - Shelby Steele
The two hardest things to handle in life are failure and success. – Unknown
We must do things we think we cannot. - Eleanor Roosevelt
No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. - Eleanor Roosevelt
To teach a man how he may learn to grow independently, and for himself, is perhaps the greatest service that one man can do another. - Benjamin Jowett
Live so that you wouldn't be afraid to sell the family parrot to the town gossip. - Will Rogers
Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself. - Chinese Proverb
I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts.- John Locke
If I supply you with a thought, you may remember it and you may not. But if I can make you think a thought for yourself, I have indeed added to your stature. - Elbert Hubbard
Repetition does not transform a lie into the truth. - Franklin D. Roosevelt
Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood. - Marie Curie
One never notices what had been done; one can only see what remains to be done. - Marie Curie
Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names. - John Fitzgerald Kennedy
False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil. – Plato
Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it. - Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
The life most pleasing to God, is that which is spent in most usefulness to our fellow-creatures. A man cannot love his God, and hate his brother; he cannot expect mercy, who shows none. - S. M. McCorkle
Never attribute to malice that which can adequately be explained with stupidity.- Anonymous
Our concern must be to live while we're alive ... to release our inner selves from the spiritual death that comes with living behind a facade designed to conform to external definitions of who and what we are. - Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
There are no mistakes, no coincidences. All events are blessings given to us to learn from. - Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
If you are a dog and your owner suggests that you wear a sweater, suggest that he wear a tail. - Fran Lebowitz
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.- Albert Einstein
Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes it meaningful. - Joshua J. Marine
I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is to try to please everyone. - Bill Cosby
Our life is what our thoughts make it. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.- Martin Luther King, Jr.
A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination. - Nelson Mandela
Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value. - Albert Einstein
Patience is the best remedy for every trouble. - Titus Maccius Plautus
The pen is mightier than the sword. - Edward Bulwer-Lytton
The written word can be erased, not so with the spoken word. - Anonymous
The quieter you become, the more you can hear. - Baba Ram Dass
Writing is a deliberate act; one has to make up one's mind to do it. - James Britton
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. – Aristotle
Wisdom begins in wonder. – Socrates
Writing is making sense of life. - Nadine Gordimer
A room without books is like a body without a soul. - Cicero
A bookstore is one of the only pieces of evidence we have that people are still thinking. - Jerry Seinfeld
What I like in a good author is not what he says, but what he whispers. - Logan Pearsall Smith
Vision is the art of seeing things invisible. - Jonathan Swift
Always do right--this will gratify some and astonish the rest. - Mark Twain
The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple. - Oscar Wilde
Nothing is more deceitful than the appearance of humility. It is often only carelessness of opinion, and sometimes an indirect boast. - Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man. - Shakespeare, Hamlet
Beauty is truth, truth beauty, -- that is all / Ye know on Earth, and all ye need to know. - John Keats, "Ode on a Grecian Urn"
He who cannot forgive others destroys the bridge over which he himself must pass. - George Herbert
Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it. - Samuel Johnson
I can do all things through Christ, which strenghtens me. - Phillippians 4:13
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. - Peter 5:6-7 NIV
Life is an opportunity, benefit from it. Life is a beauty, admire it. Life is a dream, realize it. Life is a challenge, meet it. Life is duty, complete it. Life is a game, play it. Life is a promise, fulfill it. Life is sorrow, overcome it. Life is a song, sing it. Life is a struggle, accept it. Life is a tragedy, confront it. Life is an adventure, dare it. Life is luck, make it. Life is life, fight for it! - Mother Teresa
ONE OF MY FAVORITE DEVOTIONS . . .
Your thoughts determine your destiny. You can't make a decision, or take a step, without first thinking about it–and it changes the course of your life. That's why it's so important to keep your thoughts on God's Word, and seek His plan for your life.
Proverbs 23:7 says "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he." You can't think negative thoughts and expect a positive outcome. If you constantly dwell on God's Word that says, "You are an overcomer," and "You can do all things through Christ," then soon, you will become what the scripture says and your life will be on God's path to victory.
ANOTHER DEVOTION
"...for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world even our faith." (I John 5:4)
As a child of God, you have the power of faith within you to overcome the world. That includes everything in the world, and everything the world brings your way! The Bible says that faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17). As you hear the Word of God and store it in your heart, your faith in God grows stronger.