life: acoustic & amplified

poetry, quotes & thoughts about life

Archive for the month “December, 2014”

22 Dec 2014

sing & hark

A little girl is singing for the faithful to come ye
Joyful and triumphant, a song she loves,
And also the partridge in a pear tree
And the golden rings and the turtle doves.
In the dark streets, red lights and green and blue
Where the faithful live, some joyful, some troubled,
Enduring the cold and also the flu,
Taking the garbage out and keeping the sidewalk shoveled.
Not much triumph going on here—and yet
There is much we do not understand.
And my hopes and fears are met
In this small singer holding onto my hand.
Onward we go, faithfully, into the dark
And are there angels singing overhead? Hark.

December by Gary Johnson

Posted in awareness, beauty, find art at pinterest, inspiration, Miracles, moment, music, mystery, www.pinterest.com | Leave a comment

21 Dec 2014

it’s time

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 sounds 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.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost

Posted in action, Adventure, attitude, awareness, Becoming Yourself, Burnign Bridges, Change, Choice, determination, do, find art at pinterest, Winning, www.pinterest.com | Leave a comment

20 Dec 2014

walking in a winter wonderland

If you have seen the snow
under the lamppost
piled up like a white beaver hat on the picnic table
or somewhere slowly falling
into the brook
to be swallowed by water,
then you have seen beauty
and know it for its transience.
And if you have gone out in the snow
for only the pleasure
of walking barely protected
from the galaxies,
the flakes settling on your parka
like the dust from just-born stars,
the cold waking you
as if from long sleeping,
then you can understand
how, more often than not,
truth is found in silence,
how the natural world comes to you
if you go out to meet it,
its icy ditches filled with dead weeds,
its vacant birdhouses, and dens
full of the sleeping.
But this is the slowed-down season
held fast by darkness
and if no one comes to keep you company
then keep watch over; your own solitude.
In that stillness, you will learn
with your whole body
the significance of cold
and the night,
which is otherwise always eluding you.

Winter Grace By Patricia Fargnoli

Posted in Adventure, attitude, awareness, beauty, Faith, find art at pinterest, Glory, Love, Miracles, mystery, nature | Leave a comment

19 Dec 2014

renewal

Photos without words by Fisherman Dan @ Branford, CT

Cross and picture by Vinnie @ Branford Point. Vinnie’s cross and deer (picture above) made as a memorial to his mother, Alice, who passed over Dec 5, 2014
How quietly I
begin again

from this moment
looking at the
clock, I start over

so much time has
passed, and is equaled
by whatever
split-second is present

from this
moment this moment
is the first

Be Still in Haste by Wendell Berry

Posted in action, awareness, Becoming Yourself, Encouragement, find art at pinterest, Grieving, healing, Letting Go, Life, Love, nature, Patience, soul and spirit, strength, Trust, truth, www.pinterest.com | Leave a comment

18 Dec 2014

study

Your body
is a holy book,
a scripture—
the pages
are marked
in exquisite detail
with the finest hand,

inscribed by spirit
with the poetry
of love,
lessons of mercy,
miracles,
angelic hosts,

and the story
of your life
perfectly told,

an illuminated manuscript
of a sacred writing
epic in scope,
majesty
and grace.

Every hair
on your head
and line on your face,
every rushing tide
of wind and wave
moving you
from within
this living testament
bear witness
to the truth
layered
within you—

Study this text
with conviction then,
reflect with care
upon its meaning,
and enjoy
the divine
inspiration.

Living Testament by Gil Hedley

Posted in attitude, awareness, Becoming Yourself, courage, find art at pinterest, healing, intimacy, Love, touch, Trust, truth, Vulnerability, www.pinterest.com | Leave a comment

17 Dec 2014

I do

Someday we will find what we are looking for…
or maybe we won’t…
maybe we will find something much greater than that.
– unknown

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16 Dec 2014

love is

An ordinary life you have,
like baked bread, the aroma of love,
like old wood, edges worn from kindness.

In a moment’s pause, a small step aside
from the rush, the proof—
the abyss opens. Heaven inhales.

Deep, wordless, you sense
wings, breathing, Presence.
Silence speaks.

Sunlight on a plain rock,
music of a flower not usual
for this season: You are Beloved.

The Infinite names you, adores,
finds in you, in your flesh, your voice,
your hands, a place to live.

What is within you is holy.
What is of you is of God, Mystery
spiraling out from you like a nebula, a child.

You will not cease being ordinary,
nor feel different. You will bear
the Divine made infant into the world

if only moment
by moment you say
Yes.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
http://www.unfoldinglight.net

Posted in awareness, beloved, Choice, Encouragement, find art at pinterest, home, Love, www.pinterest.com | Leave a comment

15 Dec 2014

looking comes first – C.S. Lewis

To find the child
one must see the star.
To see the star one must go into the darkness,
the pain, the fear, the emptiness,
the hidden weeping,
the heart’s dark wounds.
Only in the darkness
can the be stars seen.

To find the child
one must hear the angels.
To hear the angels
one must listen in silence and solitude,
in perfect speechlessness,
in attentive adoration to the Mystery.
Only in such stillness
are the angels heard.

To find the child
one must enter the stable.
To enter the stable
one must stoop,
decline all palaces, all safety,
all familiarity or fortification,
and settle into poverty.
Only in such humility
is the stable entered.

To find the child
one must see the birth.
To see the birth
one must be awakened
to the heart of all things
beating in one’s soul,
the light of God shining in one’s hands.
One must be willing to speak
alone with one’s eyes.
Only in awakening
will the birth be seen.

To find the child,
seek in the darkness,
lay your heart open,
and discover therein
light unconquered.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
http://www.unfoldinglight.net

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14 Dec 2014

everybody’s an artist

It seems to me that
paralleling the paths of action, devotion, etc.,
there is a path called art
and that the sages of the East would recognize
Faulkner, Edward Hopper, Beethoven, William Carlos Williams
and address them as equals.
It’s a matter of attention and discipline, isn’t it?—
combined with a certain God-given ability.
It’s what you’re willing to go through, willing to give, isn’t it?
It’s the willingness to be a window
through which others can see
all the way out to infinity
and all the way back to themselves.