Thread of inspiration

[Orpheus]

"Please Call Me By My True Names"

Do not say that I'll depart tomorrow
because even today I still arrive.

Look deeply: I arrive in every second
to be a bud on a spring branch,
to be a tiny bird, with wings still fragile,
learning to sing in my new nest,
to be a caterpillar in the heart of flower,
to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone.

I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry,
in order to fear and to hope,
the rhythm of my heart is the birth and
death of all that are alive.

I am the mayfly metamophosing
on the surface of the river,
and I am the bird, which when spring comes,
arrives in time to eat the mayfly.

I am the frog swimming happily
in the clear water of a pond,
and I am also the grass-snake who,
approaching in silence,
feeds itself on the frog.

I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones,
my legs as thin as bamboo sticks,
and I am the arms merchant,
selling deadly weapons to Uganda.

I am the twelve-year-old girl,
refugee on a small boat,
who throws herself into the ocean
after being raped by a sea pirate,
and I am the pirate, my heart not yet capable
of seeing and loving.

I am a member of the poltiburo,
with plenty of power in my hands,
and I am the man who has to pay his
"debt of blood" to my people,
dying slowly in a forced labor camp.

My joy is like spring, so warm
it makes flowers bloom in all walks of life.
My pain is like a river of tears, so full
it fills up four oceans.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can hear all my cries and my laughs at once,
so I can see that my joy and pain are one.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can wake up,
and so the door of my heart can be left open,
the door of compassion.

-Thich Nhat Hanh    From his book, "Being Peace"

[Fox]

Another one for Remembrance Sunday:

Dulce Et Decorum Est

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.

GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!-- An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.--
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

Wilfred Owen

[Silverwolf]

At some point in time, I can't be sure when, someone posted sticky notes in my quote scribbler, far ahead of where I had copied quotes to. By accident I realized this only this year and found that they had repeated this action three times. All three quotes are wonderful.

"The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that our aim is too low and we reach it.'
        -Michelangelo

"When you are inspired by some great project,all your thoughts break their bonds,your mind transcends limitations, your consiousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far then you ever dreamed yourself to be."
           -Pantanjali

"People are often unreasonable,illogical and self-centered; forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish,ulterior motives; be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; be successful anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone may destroy overnight; build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; give the world the best you have anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it's all between you and your god; It was never between you and them anyway."
     - Mother Teresa of Calcutta


Here are some others :

"Some drink at the fountain of knowledge, others just gargle."
                   -Unknown

"On the other hand, you have different fingers."
                   - Anon

"Silence is the one great art of conversation."
                  - Unknown

"Show me the person you honour, for I know better by that the kind of person you are. For you show me what your idea of humanity is."
                -Thomas Carlyle

"Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional."
                 - small girl, unsure of name

"The dictionary is the only place that success comes before work."
                  -Unknown

"If you want to make your dreams come true, the first thing you have to do is wake up.'
                   -Anon

And last but not least(for today anyway....   ), a Taoist meditation:

"Deep in the valley is a mother spirit who doesn't die,
A mystery woman.
At the doorway of this woman
is Heaven and Earth's source.
Forever spinning,never tired, she's always there."
               -Meditation VI


Thakns for the opportunity to share.

[Maris]

Hello everyone,

I was looking for a spot on the board to share this and this seems just the right place. I'm a great collector of inspirational/funny/wacky quotes so I've really enjoyed reading through this collection.
Zorro posted Roethke's "The Waking", I've always loved that poem it's like it's set to music in my head.
This is one of my favorite poems:
It's by William Stafford, an American Poet whom I had never heard of before but who manages express something I could never quite find words for and I love that.  :)

“Ask Me"

"Some time when the river is ice ask me
mistakes I have made. Ask me whether
what I have done is my life. Others
have come in their slow way into
my thought, and some have tried to help
or to hurt: ask me what difference
their strongest love or hate has made.
I will listen to what you say.

You and I can turn and look
at the silent river and wait. We know
the current is there, hidden; and there
are comings and goings from miles away
that hold the stillness exactly before us.
What the river says, that is what I say."

Much love

Maris

[Twyrch]

If I Really Cared
poem by Ruth Senter

I’d look you in the eyes when you talk to me;
I’d think about what you’re saying rather than what I’m going to say next;
I’d hear your feelings as well as your words.

If I really cared . . .
I’d listen without defending;
I’d hear without deciding whether you’re right or wrong;
I’d ask you why, not just how and when and where.


If I really cared . . .
I’d allow you inside of me;
I’d tell you my hopes, my dreams, my fears, my hurts;
I’d tell you where I’ve blown it and when I’ve made it.


If I really cared . . .
I’d laugh with you but not at you;
I’d talk with you and not to you;
And I’d know when it’s time to do neither.


If I really cared . . .
I wouldn’t climb over your walls;
I’d hang around until you let me in the gate.
I wouldn’t unlock your secrets;
I’d wait until you handed me the key.


If I really cared . . .
I’d love you anyhow;
But I’d ask for the best that you can give
And gently draw it from you.


If I really cared . . .
I’d put my scripts away,
And leave my solutions at home.
The performances would end.
We’d be ourselves.

[solarization]

In such a time of uncertainty and paranoia, I was minded of this one from an old Freak Brothers comic:

Government spies are everywhere,
in your home and in your hair,
lurking in their secret lair,
counting Dollars;

They know everyone you know,
they see everything you show,
and everywhere you go
they slowly follers.

Government spies will come to you,
and there's not much you can do.
'cept to sit there 'til they're through
with their spying;

They will count up all your cash
they will go through all your trash
then they'll confiscate your stash
and leave you crying.

Well, their leader is a wimp,
his assistant is a simp,
who also functions as a pimp
sometimes, down in miami beach;

"secret sources" pay the tag,
and they pay them by the bag,
It's enough to make a grown man gag
and screech.

Government spies are everywhere,
in your home and in your hair,
lurking in their secret lair,
counting money;

they know everyone you know,
they see everything you show,
they go everywhere you go,
and it ain't funny.

- Gilbert Shelton, 1973

[Taniwha]

Trees are poems that earth writes upon the sky,
We fell them down and turn them into paper,
That we may record our emptiness.

    -   Kahlil Gibran

[Romelia]

Remembrance -  by Emily Bronte  

Cold in the earth—and the deep snow piled above thee,
Far, far removed, cold in the dreary grave!
Have I forgot, my only Love, to love thee,
Severed at last by Time's all-severing wave?

Now, when alone, do my thoughts no longer hover
Over the mountains, on that northern shore,
Resting their wings where heath and fern-leaves cover
That noble heart for ever, ever more?

Cold in the earth, and fifteen wild Decembers
From those brown hills have melted into spring:
Faithful indeed is the spirit that remembers
After such years of change and suffering!

Sweet Love of youth, forgive if I forget thee,
While the world's tide is bearing me along:
Sterner desires and other hopes beset me,
Hopes which obscure, but cannot do thee wrong!

No later light has lightened up my heaven;
No second morn has ever shone for me:
All my life's bliss from thy dear life was given,
All my life's bliss is in the grave with thee.

But when the days of golden dreams had perished,
And even Despair was powerless to destroy,
Then did I learn how existence could be cherished,
Strengthened, and fed without the aid of joy;

Then did I check the tears of useless passion,
Weaned my young soul from yearning after thine;
Sternly denied its burning wish to hasten
Down to that tomb already more than mine.

And even yet I dare not let it languish,
Dare not indulge in Memory's rapturous pain;
Once drinking deep of that divinest anguish,
How could I seek the empty world again?

[Crow]

Trees are poems that earth writes upon the sky,
We fell them down and turn them into paper,
That we may record our emptiness.

    -   Kahlil Gibran

I've seen that before, and it never fails to rock me back.

[Romelia]

Edmund
When the night is dark,
And the dogs go 'bark',
When the clouds are black,
And the ducks go 'quack',
When the sky is blue,
And the cows go 'moo',
Think of lovely Queenie:
She'll be thinking of you.

[LadyCelt]

Very nice site, put together by a group of published and unpublished writers.  The video presentation on the home page, alone, is worth a few minutes of your time.

<a href="http://www.writeattitude.net." target="_blank">Write Attitude</a>

[magma]

'There is only one answer to fear or loss - and that is to learn something'

- T H White

[Ade Sundog]

From the Head Heritage website
"The job of being alive is; to have a good time and to leave the world a better place for having been here. Somewhere inside, most of us know that. Once it's a conscious realisation we've got to do something about it. When we start to do that we find we're not alone. Core values of honesty, compassion, justice, joy, trust and pleasure have always been the values of the majority of people, always, everywhere.

Living a life based on truth and compassion doesn't necessarily need martyrdom or heroics, just the resolve to do the right thing. Whatever life it is you're living, every day there are choices and opportunities put before you that steer your life. You cannot live without having an effect, so recognise it, use it, use it well.

As the man said, "it's easy; all you need is love".

Merrick

Cheers

Ade

[dream soul]

hey everyone! i have a book i write all my quotes and passages from books i loved, down in. it was my mum's idea. so, here's a few of them

"And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of the little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed." Kahlil Gibran

"When it is dark enough, you can see the stars." Ralph Waldo Emerson

"A bit of fragrance always clings to the hand that gives you roses." Chinese Proverb

"Let the world know you as you are, not as you think you should be, because sooner or later, if you are posing, you will forget the pose, and then where are you?" Fanny Brice

"Every blade of grass has its Angel that bends over it and whispers, 'Grow, grow.' " The Talmud

i think this is my favourite one.
"Go where he will, the wise man is at home,
His hearth the earth, his hall the azure dome."

[wyeuro]

don't cast your pearls before swine, with their snorts and their snuffles,
pearls are too rare and divine - pigs prefer truffles!

and

euphemisms? me for use 'ems...
you-know-what you-know-who's 'em!

( channeled, she said modestly.)

wyverne /|\

[Chrysanthemum]

Rowanwyze-
It sounds like this poem was written by Mya Angelou (I'm not sure that's spelled right). It sure sounds like her style.

Folks, I did not write this, and the author is unknown to me. When I know I shall post her name. Tyra
*********************************************************
What We Need

We need truths in their wild state,
insurrectionary beauty
that excites our curiosity,
outrageous goodness
that drives us to perform
heroic acts of lusty compassion,
ingenious love
that endlessly transforms us,
tricky freedom
that is never permanent
but must be reinvented and reclaimed every day,
and a totally-serious-yet-always-laughing justice
that schemes and dreams
about how to diminish the suffering
and increase the joy
of every sentient being..........

[luisa]

I love the site Inspiration Peak


Here is a quote by Ron Atchison the Mayor of Inspiration Peak

"Deep down inside we know
that the best gifts
don't come from catalogs
or shopping malls
They don't come in brightly-colored packages
or fancy envelopes
and they're not sitting under a tree somewhere...
The best gifts come from the heart.
They come when we look at each other
REALLY look at each other
and say 'You mean a lot to me'
or 'I'm so glad you're a part of my life'
A gift like that
will never go out of style
or be forgotten
or be returned for a different size.
A gift like that can change the world."

by Ron Atchison




So true and inspiring

Love
Luisa

[brigh]

That's so true Luisa.

I really love these,

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear" Ambrose Redmoon

"You cannot find peace by avoiding life" Virginia Woolf

"I think over again my small adventures, my fears
Thos small ones that seemed so bug
For all the vital things I had to get and reach
And yet there is only one great thing, the only thing
To live to see that great fay that dawns and the light that fills the world." Old Inuit Song

[luisa]

I find Mike Dooley quote very inspiring:

"Step number one for changing the entire world, is falling in love with it as it already is. The same is true for changing yourself."

Mike Dooley
Inspirational Author, Speaker and Friend

Hope some of you do too .


Love
Luisa

[mayam]

That is very inspiring, thank you for sharing.

Here is my favorite Bible quote:

If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
-1 Corinthians 13:2