Merry, merry sparrow!
Under leaves so green
A happy blossom
Sees you, swift as arrow,
Seek your cradle narrow,
Near my bosom.
Pretty, pretty robin!
Under leaves so green
A happy blossom
Hears you sobbing, sobbing,
Pretty, pretty robin,
Near my bosom.
William Blake
Some people believe that happiness
can be found by
the amount of money you have.
But, money can not buy everything.
Money cannot buy
the feelings that I get
when My love kisses me gently
with her sweet lips.
Money cannot buy the way I feel
when I hold my love so close
that it feels like my heart
is beating for the both of us.
Some people think being rich will make you happy
because, you have money to go anywhere in the world.
But, I- myself, do not need to travel far
for, my place is with my love.
People think money can make you happy
because, you can afford expensive clothes and jewlery.
But, all I ever do is put on a smile when I’m with my love
because, that is all I need to wear.
People count on money to go on exotic trips to the ocean
So they can explore beneath the sea
and see things many poeple never will.
But, the sea of love, I am treading in is much deeper than any other sea.
People think money can bring happiness
because, the rich get better seats at restaurants.
But, my seat is always the best
when I am beside my love.
Poeple think money can buy happiness
because, they live in large houses.
But, the house I live in is always the most special one
when My love is with me in it.
Some people think being rich can buy you happiness..
sure, it can buy you some
but, the love I have brings me more happiness
than all the money in the world could.
Some people think being rich makes you better than everyone
They think they have a place reserved in heaven.
But, that’s not something I worry about
because, with my love, I am already there.
In this world money can get you things
and it can make you happy
but, the love I share with My angel
is more valuable than anything.
by Dennis Justin Fontaine
if you are an incurable romantic, and looking for a poem to send to your loved one, have a read of some of the poems selected by the guardian – it makes you want to read even more poetry.
here is one of my favourite poems
Not a red rose or a satin heart.
I give you an onion.
It is a moon wrapped in brown paper.
It promises light
like the careful undressing of love.
Here.
It will blind you with tears
like a lover.
It will make your reflection
a wobbling photo of grief.
I am trying to be truthful.
Not a cute card or a kissogram.
I give you an onion.
Its fierce kiss will stay on your lips,
possessive and faithful
as we are,
for as long as we are.
Take it.
Its platinum loops shrink to a wedding-ring,
if you like.
Lethal.
Its scent will cling to your fingers,
cling to your knife.
Carol Ann Duffy
part of me likes all this snow – it changes the whole landscape, it slows us all down, the kids get excited, and we all rush out to take pictures – after all its the only excitement we have had all year…..
Snowy Sunset
Snow Snow on the ground
Sun is sinking down down down
Trees trees covered in Wight
People gasp at the sight
Snow Snow on the ground
Animals scurry all around
Snow Snow in your hair
Stiffness and cold in the air
Snow Snow on the ground
People sledding down down down
Hot Coco and coffee inside
Why not go for another sled ride
Snow Snow on the ground
The sun has set past the ground
Lights light up the city bright
People every where say what a sight
Miranda Will
one of my winter cards
I heard this recently and thought how true these words are…..,
Everybody’s free to wear sunscreen.
Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of ’97.
Wear sunscreen.
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it.
The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience…
I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh nevermind; you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded.
But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked…
You’re not as fat as you Imagine.
Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum.
The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind.
The kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing everyday that scares you.
Sing.
Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.
Floss.
Don’t waste your time on jealousy;
Sometimes you’re ahead,
Sometimes You’re behind.
The race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself.
Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults;
If you Succeed in doing this, tell me how.
Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.
Stretch.
Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your
Life.
The most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t.
Get plenty of calcium.
Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone.
Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary.
Whatever you do, don’t Congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either.
Your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s.
Enjoy your body, Use it every way you can… Don’t be afraid of it, or what other people Think of it,
It’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own…
I hope you all had a lovely Xmas – a joyful and peaceful day – despite the labour of cooking and washing up – I remind myself how important family is and how lucky I am to have such lovely children , a caring husband and thoughtful friends. I love the poetry of Christina Rossetti – the honesty and simplicity of her words also reflects the pain and illness that she suffered with her health throughout her life.
If love is not worth loving, then life is not worth living,
Nor aught is worth remembering but well forgot;
For store is not worth storing and gifts are not worth giving,
If love is not;
And idly cold is death-cold, and life-heat idly hot,
And vain is any offering and vainer our receiving,
And vanity of vanities is all our lot.
Better than life’s heaving heart is death’s heart unheaving,
Better than the opening leaves are the leaves that rot,
For there is nothing left worth achieving or retrieving,
If love is not.
Christina Rossetti
You will never find time for anything. If you want the time, you must make it.
Charles Buxton
If we wait for the moment when everything, absolutely everything is ready, we shall never begin.
-Ivan Turgenev
It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.
Ursula Le Guin
i have definitely got the holiday blues – missing that blue sky and warm sea – for the first time in 20 years we missed our family holiday in Spain – we hope that we can get there next year.
THE dawn was apple-green,
The sky was green wine held up in the sun,
The moon was a golden petal between.
She opened her eyes, and green
They shone, clear like flowers undone
For the first time, now for the first time seen.
D.H. Lawrence
my lovely friend Ellie dropped this book to me last year and I know nothing about the poet Mary Oliver; her poems focus on nature and real life – they are honest and can show that life is not easy at all. I am finding that poetry and lyrics are so soothing at this time – maybe its the rhythm, the brevity that make them easy to pick up and read.
Have you ever seen
anything
in your life
more wonderful
than the way the sun,
every evening,
relaxed and easy,
floats toward the horizon
and into the clouds or the hills,
or the rumpled sea,
and is gone–
and how it slides again
out of the blackness,
every morning,
on the other side of the world,
like a red flower
streaming upward on its heavenly oils,
say, on a morning in early summer,
at its perfect imperial distance–
and have you ever felt for anything
such wild love–
do you think there is anywhere, in any language,
a word billowing enough
for the pleasure
that fills you,
as the sun
reaches out,
as it warms you
as you stand there,
empty-handed–
or have you too
turned from this world–
or have you too
gone crazy
for power,
for things?
Mary Oliver, New and Selected Poems volume one.
so I have spent a lot of time writing lists of what to do each day; I have my main list that it is the ongoing list of general things I aim to achieve for this year, and then a daily list of what I would like to do that day!
I have realised that during this strange and quite emotionally challenging time that it is too harsh to expect yourself to achieve too much. its just another day, albeit a different day to what your normal routine would be. Part of me has enjoyed the fact that I am forced to stay in more, but some days are definitely harder than others and the worries of the future come in. I have been listening to the writer Elizabeth Gilbert, who has been giving out advice about creativity and how to cope with this Covid 19. she suggests writing a daily letter to yourself, a letter of love, an outlet for pouring out your anxieties and for commending yourself on your own achievements and seeing the good points about yourself – this way, you put it all down in words, rather than it spinning around your head and then can hopefully move on; you can also write about your fears too. In her own letters, she writes as though she is the 3rd person listening to her questions, fears or thoughts and responds like a dear friend offering you words of solace and compassion. I definitely feel that her wise words have helped and her encouragement to share her ideas and thoughts to assist and reveal our inner thoughts is very admirable.
so today I am saying to myself and to my likeminded readers, don’t beat yourself up if you haven’t achieved as much as you would have liked to during this time; don’t feel that you have to compete with everyone out there who is writing that novel, painting their art, baking that amazing loaf, just enjoy the time to relax, catch up on films, and just be you. definitely don’t listen and read too much news and enjoy your daily walk and soak up the beauty of spring and nature that is happening all around us! everything you want to do will happen – in time – and there will be plenty of time after this……… think of this as a short break to slow down and rejuvenate oneself.
I’m here.
I love you.
I don’t care
if you need to stay up
crying all night long. I will stay
with you. There’s nothing you can
ever do to lose my love. I will protect
you until you die, and after your death
I will still protect you. I am stronger
than Depression and I am braver
than Loneliness.
And noting will
ever exhaust me
Elizabeth Gilbert
christina wilson sweet nothings 