Rainbow Connection (Kermit the Frog)

Has it really been two weeks since my husband and I visited Ft. Myers Beach to celebrate our 45th wedding anniversary?!?  Apparently so!

We drove across the state on scenic Alligator Alley... saw McMansions (ugh) north of Bonita Springs where shabby beach cottages used to be... checked into our beachfront room (the same hotel we used to vacation with family decades ago)... spent time at both the gulf and the pool... had some of the most delicious pizza we've ever eaten... applied aloe and cucumber peel-off face masques (!)... saw a rainbow (above)... read (a lot!)... walked along the beach and collected shells... visited The Silver Witch and picked up trinkets for the kids... saw an almost-perfect sunset... enjoyed another delicious dinner... begged for (and were granted) a late check-out... sad to leave, but reconnected and grateful for the experience... ☀🌈

It is indeed Feel Good Friday (coming in just barely under the wire!) and, as is tradition, five items below of beauty, interest, and humor to brighten/enlighten your day/weekend/week.  Enjoy!

~ Face the Music: Singer-songwriter Dar Williams is back with ‘I’ll Meet You Here’:  The album is scheduled for release on Oct. 1 (TODAY!!!).

And this Spotlight Album Review: Dar Williams "I’ll Meet You Here"

~ The Melting Face Emoji Has Already Won Us Over:  Of the 37 new emojis approved this year, one has stood out as a visual proxy for our collective malaise.

~ Michaela Coel's Inspiring Emmy Speech in Full: 'Do Not Be Afraid to Disappear':  Accepting her award at the 2021 Emmys, Coel, becoming the first Black woman to take home the prize, dedicated her prize to "every survivor of sexual assault" and gave a nod to aspiring writers across the world.

~ Disney updates content warning for racism in classic films:  When played on the Disney+ streaming service, films such as Dumbo, Peter Pan and Jungle Book now flash up with a warning about stereotypes.


~ The Caring Community Newsletter (scroll about halfway down):  I hope this comes through.  It will be out officially tomorrow, but had to share a sneak-peek tonight.  I am very proud of my work... 😍

SONG:  Rainbow Connection (Kermit the Frog)

BOOK:  Rain Before Rainbows by Smriti Prasadam-Halls, David Litchfield (Illustrator)

POEM:  If You Want the Rainbow by Amy Baskin

—inspired by Dolly Parton’s infinitely wise words

“The way I see it, if you want the rainbow

you gotta put up with the rain.”

But storms can hit harder than any blow.

Just when you need relief, the skies will flow

and pummel you with tears and aches and pain.

The way I see it, if you want the rainbow,

kiss your hurts and hug them close. Above all, take it slow.

And breathe! Losing your shit cannot be called “a gain;”

your storms can hit harder than any blow!

Get wet. Jump in puddles toe-to-toe.

Take a stroll, hand-in-hand with a friend. This is sane.

The way I see it, if you want the rainbow,

thank the rain! It saturates you ‘til you know

you cannot get any wetter. Head inside. Get dry again

once storms have hit harder than any blow.

Towel off. Drink tea. Cuddle. Then work hard! And throw

aside the fears that you can’t take it. Let those wane.

The way I see it, if you want the rainbow,

know storms hit hard. They’re part of getting clean and letting go.

QUOTE:  “This is my wish for you: Comfort on difficult days, smiles when sadness intrudes, rainbows to follow the clouds, laughter to kiss your lips, sunsets to warm your heart, hugs when spirits sag, beauty for your eyes to see, friendships to brighten your being, faith so that you can believe, confidence for when you doubt, courage to know yourself, patience to accept the truth, Love to complete your life.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Midsummer Hailstorm (Danny Schmidt)

Nothing fancy tonight, but I haven't posted in a while and felt the need to honor the last day of August.  Goodbye, Birth Month... 😃💖🌅

SONG:  Midsummer Hailstorm by Danny Schmidt

BOOK:  Earth Prayers: 365 Prayers, Poems, and Invocations from Around the World by Elizabeth Roberts, Elias Amidon

POEM(S):  Crickets by Sue Owen

Some summer nights you

can hear them getting all

worked up over this idea

of cheerfulness and song.

Deep in the grasses where

they hide, there is a need

to be heard in the darkness,

even if their voices are

so small they sound

like a door creaking on

its hinge, or the squeak

a drawer makes when

it opens up at last.

It seems as if the damp

air and dew are trying

to hold their song down

out of sheer gravity,

but neither dampness nor

darkness makes them stop.

In fact, the crickets like

to show off their song,

to let it lift up off

the earth the way that

all notes rise to the stars,

and float up through the

thick night, as if their

joy itself were the only light

we needed to follow.

before August goes by Maya Stein

Let me remember the vivid hue of the baseball green and the Little Leaguers

timid but determined at the plate. The thin film of pollen

dusting the pond late afternoon. The knocking of two woodpeckers

on the porch roof. The crunch of moviehouse popcorn. Leaves, fallen

after a thundershower, and the carpet they made of the driveway.

The view from Mt. Ida and Sugarloaf and Holyoke. Rainbow Chicklets.

Slices of tomato flecked with sea salt and ground pepper. The smells of hay

and mint and barbecue. How the light changes, incremental, until the crickets

come out. The loose threads of cutoff shorts. Lemonade stands. An ice cream drip.

And time trickling out, not a threat or cautionary tale but permission slip.

QUOTE:  “When summer opens, I see how fast it matures, and fear it will be short; but after the heats of July and August, I am reconciled, like one who has had his swing, to the cool of autumn.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

You've Got a Friend in Me (Randy Newman, from Toy Story)

As promised on Monday, today is all about Colin's birthday celebration.  Two years old?!?  Wow... and Yep!  Despite the pandemic, Sarah planned a most wonderful day of fun and festivities, which took place this past Sunday (a few days before his actual birthday, July 21).  The theme was TWO Infinity and Beyond, as he is totally into Toy Story these days...  :-)

She had decorated the living room with crepe paper streamers, balloons all over the floor, and a Check-Off list of various activities, which delighted Colin as soon as he woke up!  

She had also arranged a Car Parade of various friends (the Besties, their husbands, and children; Nancy, her husband, and dog Lucy; Sarah's former boss, friend, and another co-worker).  We set up a 10' x 10' canopy in her apartment complex parking lot, where there is a natural round-about (all the way at the end, out of the way of traffic), and Sarah used the gates previously known as The Party Pit to keep Colin "contained" (so very smart!).  

Then began the progression of vehicles (from 10:00 to 10:30 a.m.) decorated with balloons, stickers, and people inside blowing horns, waving, and extending Birthday wishes.  He was enthralled!  

 Sarah made a Spotify playlist of songs with Two in the title (my suggestions were Two of Us by The Beatles, The Power of Two by Indigo Girls, Two Princes by The Spin Doctors, Love Me Two Times by The Doors).  Special Events habits die hard, so of course Sarah passed out goody bags with a Moonpie, a Starcrunch, and a few mini-Milky Ways for each person, gracing the children with juice boxes, and the adults with Sunshine beers... ☀

From set-up to breakdown, we were only there three hours, but I was exhausted afterward.  Two-year-olds are busy people!  I spent the rest of the afternoon/evening remembering this time two years ago when Colin came into the world, and feeling such joy being there to witness.  I was meant to be a Lala... 💖


SONG:  You've Got a Friend in Me by Randy Newman, from Toy Story)

BOOK:  Child of the Universe by Ray Jayawardhana, Raul Colón (Illustrator)

POEM:  On Children by Kahlil Gibran

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,

so He loves also the bow that is stable.

QUOTE(S):  "We find delight in the beauty and happiness of children that makes the heart too big for the body." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

"There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One of these is roots, the other, wings." ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Country Comfort (Elton John)

My book club met last night, at my home - I had chosen Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, which I bought over a year ago with a gift certificate a friend gave me for my birthday... and still hadn't gotten around to reading...

It was substantially more detailed than I originally thought... making it a dense yet enjoyable read - I can truly say it was life-changing for me, as I continue my search for healthy living, mind body and spirit. I loved the balance of Kingsolver's lyrical text, her husband Steven's snippets of facts/figures/websites and her daughter Camille's youthfully-infused essays/recipes - daughter Lily couldn't be an official contributor (too young to sign the contract), but her innocent yet practical take on life is woven throughout (don't name animals you're going to eat... :-)

To quote the author: "This is the story of a year in which we made every attempt to feed ourselves animals and vegetables whose provenance we really knew . . . and of how our family was changed by our first year of deliberately eating food produced from the same place where we worked, went to school, loved our neighbors, drank the water, and breathed the air."

The Boston Globe says: "More so than even the best cookbooks, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle makes you want to go out and eat: to cook and garden and think, and to live a passionate and sensate life. My great fear in reviewing this book is that I might make it sound like the treatise of a hokey earth mother and do-gooder, rather than a profound, graceful, and literary work of philosophy and economics, well tempered for our times, and yet timeless."

More reviews here...

NPR interview here (thanks, FM!)...

Since we theme our menu around the monthly book choice, I had asked people to bring dishes of fruits and vegetables, organic or locally-grown, emphasis on fresh - the offerings were a virtual cornucopia of culinary delights: my zucchini casserole, No's pasta salad, S's confetti salad, E's chickpeas and spinach, Na's Green Jade Soup (with quinoa and asparagus), K's key lime pie and J's guacamole... and we feasted in that can't-believe-it's-so-delicious-yet-so-good-for-us kinda way... :-)

Thankfully, everyone else enjoyed the book as well, and our discussion was lively - we talked about ways we can be pro-active about our food choices: buying in-season, organic or locally-grown (within a 100 mile radius, preferably), either through local farmer's markets or food co-ops; planting Victory or container gardens of our own; cooking to maximize nutrients; canning and freezing for future use; buying fair-trade products (coffee, clothing, etc.); composting... and so many other ways to make a difference...

Wonderful evening on so many levels - so glad I finally made the time to read this amazing paean to the miracle of the Circle of Life!

[Added 9/26/08: Can't remember how I stumbled across this blog, but I've been avidly following for close to a year - you don't have to be gluten-free to enjoy her recipes, her passion for fresh food and her melt-in-your-mouth poetic descriptions of living a succulent life...

Also clicked through to this from the newly-renovated Carrie and Danielle site this morning - good timing! ]

P.S. Okay... I got a little carried away with the quotes... :-)

SONG(S): Country Comfort by Elton John

On the lighter side: Carrot Juice is Murder by Arrogant Worms

BOOK(S): Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver, Camille Kingsolver, Steven L. Hopp

The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution by Alice Waters

Slow Food Nation: Why Our Food Should Be Good, Clean, And Fair by Carlo Petrini

POEM: The Man Born to Farming by Wendell Berry

The Grower of Trees, the gardener, the man born to farming,

whose hands reach into the ground and sprout

to him the soil is a divine drug. He enters into death

yearly, and comes back rejoicing. He has seen the light lie down

in the dung heap, and rise again in the corn.

His thought passes along the row ends like a mole.

What miraculous seed has he swallowed

That the unending sentence of his love flows out of his mouth

Like a vine clinging in the sunlight, and like water

Descending in the dark?

QUOTE(S): "It's difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato." ~ Lewis Grizzard

"If organic farming is the natural way, shouldn't organic produce just be called "produce" and make the pesticide-laden stuff take the burden of an adjective?" ~ Ymber Delecto

"The greatest delight the fields and woods minister is the suggestion of an occult relation between man and the vegetable. I am not alone and unacknowledged. They nod to me and I to them." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Did you ever stop to taste a carrot? Not just eat it, but taste it? You can't taste the beauty and energy of the earth in a Twinkie." ~ Astrid Alauda

"Vegetables are the food of the earth; fruit seems more the food of the heavens." ~ Sepal Felicivant

"Tell me what you eat, I'll tell you who you are." ~ Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

Bad Mood (The Murmurs)

Oh my god, I was in the *worst* mood last night - it really was a series of small irritations (a situation at work, frustration with my older son's less-than-responsible ways, having to take my dog to the vet for what turned out to be a corneal ulceration, my daughter's attitude, etc.) that compounded to become the proverbial straw.

I allowed these circumstances to sidetrack me from my walking, when I actually should have channeled my helplessness by pounding the pavement accompanied by some loud and upbeat tunes on my walkman - however, by 11 p.m. I was finally able to curl up with my book club selection (discussion group meeting tomorrow!), The Road by Cormac McCarthy, which I am enjoying very much... beautifully written despite the stark subject matter.

Today I will: know that the dog is getting better through repeated bacterial eyedrops application, look forward to my youngest coming home from college this evening, realize my daughter's and other son's behavior is short-lived, appreciate my husband's desire to soothe without feeling the need to solve... and make a point to walk every night the rest of the week - note to self: don't forget the jacuzzi!

This poem came along at the perfect time, to help me lose momentum and gain perspective - much better now...

SONG: Bad Mood by The Murmurs

BOOK: The Origin of Everyday Moods: Managing Energy, Tension, and Stress by Robert E. Thayer

POEM: A Prayer by Max Ehrmann

Let me do my work each day;

and if the darkened hours

of despair overcome me, may I

not forget the strength

that comforted me in the

desolation of other times.

May I still remember the bright

hours that found me walking

over the silent hills of my

childhood, or dreaming on the

margin of a quiet river,

when a light glowed within me,

and I promised my early God

to have courage amid the

tempests of the changing years.

Spare me from bitterness

and from the sharp passions of

unguarded moments. May

I not forget that poverty and

riches are of the spirit.

Though the world knows me not,

may my thoughts and actions

be such as shall keep me friendly

with myself.

Lift up my eyes

from the earth, and let me not

forget the uses of the stars.

Forbid that I should judge others

lest I condemn myself.

Let me not follow the clamor of

the world, but walk calmly

in my path.

Give me a few friends

who will love me for what

I am; and keep ever burning

before my vagrant steps

the kindly light of hope.

And though age and infirmity

overtake me, and I come not within

sight of the castle of my dreams,

teach me still to be thankful

for life, and for time's olden

memories that are good and

sweet; and may the evening's

twilight find me gentle still.

QUOTE: "An eye can threaten like a loaded and levelled gun, or it can insult like hissing or kicking; or, in its altered mood, by beams of kindness, it can make the heart dance for joy.... One of the most wonderful things in nature is a glance of the eye; it transcends speech; it is the bodily symbol of identity." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Possession (Sarah McLachlan)

Feeling swamped - this seems to segue nicely into post-Halloween... :-)

My friend M told me the backstory of this song many years ago - spooky indeed...

Tell me about writing "Possession." Were you writing from a male point of view?

Yes. I tried to put myself into their shoes, into the mind of someone who is so obsessed with another person that they could conceive murdering them. It took me awhile to justify that one. As a woman, living with that fear in the back of your mind every day with the possibility of being raped. And so, it's kind of weird for me, but then I save myself in the third verse by saying I'd never really act on it, except in my dreams. And maybe that's putting me into a false sense of reality, but it did help. Not just that, but writing the whole song, was kind of a cleansing thing for me, because I had two people in particular who just became incredibly intense with the fantasy world that they created, and demanded that that was reality and we had to be together. And they went to great lengths to make this happen. It became frightening, but it ticked me off that I had to look over my shoulder every time I walked out the door. There was one point where I was told I'd have to have a bodyguard. It was like, screw that, I don't want to live in fear. It makes me so angry.

Full article here...

SONG: Possession by Sarah McLachlan

BOOK: Possession by A. S. Byatt

POEM: Her Kind by Anne Sexton

I have gone out, a possessed witch,
haunting the black air, braver at night;
dreaming evil, I have done my hitch
over the plain houses, light by light:
lonely thing, twelve-fingered, out of mind.
A woman like that is not a woman, quite.
I have been her kind.

I have found the warm caves in the woods,
filled them with skillets, carvings, shelves,
closets, silks, innumerable goods;
fixed the suppers for the worms and the elves:
whining, rearranging the disaligned.
A woman like that is misunderstood.
I have been her kind.

I have ridden in your cart, driver,
waved my nude arms at villages going by,
learning the last bright routes, survivor
where your flames still bite my thigh
and my ribs crack where your wheels wind.
A woman like that is not ashamed to die.
I have been her kind.

QUOTE: "Passion, though a bad regulator, is a powerful spring." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Hand of Kindness (Richard Thompson)

More on kindness...

SONG: The Hand of Kindness by Richard Thompson

BOOK: The Power of Kindness: The Unexpected Benefits of Leading a Compassionate Life by Piero Ferrucci

POEM: The Mower by Philip Larkin

The mower stalled, twice; kneeling, I found

A hedgehog jammed up against the blades,

Killed. It had been in the long grass.

I had seen it before, and even fed it, once.

Now I had mauled its unobtrusive world

Unmendably. Burial was no help:

Next morning I got up and it did not.

The first day after a death, the new absence

Is always the same; we should be careful

Of each other, we should be kind

While there is still time.

QUOTE: "You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Soul Food to Go (Manhattan Transfer)

When I was in Framingham, Massachusetts with my friend Stephen (before and after Falcon Ridge), we made a point to visit Trader Joe's, an unbelievably cool grocery store that I've fallen in love with, especially since the closest one to me is Atlanta - I spoke to one of their staff, and it seems they may be opening a store in Florida in two or three years. Can't happen soon enough, as far as I'm concerned - the selection is diverse, the marketing is clever and the prices are beyond reasonable!

Excerpt from Wikipedia:

Trader Joe's is a privately held chain of specialty grocery stores headquartered in Monrovia, California. As of June 2007, Trader Joe's has a total of 280 stores.

Trader Joe's describes itself as "your unique grocery store". Products sold at "TJ's" include gourmet foods, organic foods, vegetarian food, unusual frozen foods, imported foods, domestic and imported wine, "alternative" food items, and basics like bread, cereal, eggs, and produce. Some non-food items, including personal hygiene products, household cleaners, vitamins, pet food, and plants and flowers, are also available. Many of the company's products are considered environmentally friendly.
Trader Joe's sells many items from any of several of its own private labels. Such labels are quirkily named by the ethnicity of the food in question, such as Trader Jose's (Mexican food), Trader Ming's (Chinese food), Baker Josef's (bagels), Trader Giotto's (Italian food), Trader Joe-San (Japanese food), Trader Johann's (lip balm), and Trader Darwin's (vitamins). Trader Joe's is also known as the exclusive retailer of Charles Shaw wine, popularly known as Two Buck Chuck because of its $1.99 a bottle price in California (although in some locales it sells for as much as $3.49 a bottle, due to varying state liquor taxes and transportation costs).

Every employee of the company is held to a certain set of values, which they base their decisions upon. Those values include the importance of integrity, the company’s emphasis on its unique products, and the need to create an experience for its customers that brings them back.

SONG: Soul Food to Go by Manhattan Transfer

BOOK: The Healing Secrets of Food: A Practical Guide for Nourishing Body, Mind, and Soul by Deborah Kesten

POEM: Blue Plate by Jesse Lee Kercheval

After the porno theater became a revival house,
the neighborhood began to change.
The Blue Plate, a designer diner, opened,
all aluminum and curves. Inside,
the menu featured revived comfort foods--
meat loaf, mashed potatoes, a glass case full of pies.
Young families moved in, the drawn shades
of the elderly replaced by window boxes
and Big Wheels in the yards. Another revival.

Then a Mexican restaurant opened--
though not one run by Mexicans.
A pizza place whose specialty is a pie
made with Greek, not Italian, cheese
called The Feta-licious.
But what is real? In time, everyone
came to depend upon the diner. Packed
for breakfast, lunch, pie, and coffee.

If you need a good plumber,
go to the Blue Plate and ask for Carl
who's there talking politics
with the other long-suffering followers of Trotsky.
If you want a sitter, ask the waitstaff,
Who has a younger sister?
If you're invited to a potluck, stop
and buy a whole pie.

In the town where I grew up,
there was a diner too, Bev's,
named after the cook and owner who,
my mother whispered the first time we went there,
was a Holocaust survivor.
When we went for breakfast or a hamburger,
Bev would wait on us, her tattoo shining
on her thick, damp wrist. She was not Jewish,
but Czech and Catholic. She kept an Infant of Prague
by the cash register and changed
his tiny satin outfits to match the seasons.

But she didn't make pie and her mashed potatoes
came from the same box as my mother's.
Bev's food wasn't good, only better than nothing.
Just like being a death camp survivor,
Bev told my mother, wasn't a good thing to be,
only better than not being.

My mother is dead now. Bev too.
My mother wasn't a good cook either, rarely made pies.
I can, but I like the ones at the Blue Plate
better. Dutch Apple, Three Berry, Lemon with Mile-
High Meringue. The trouble with meringue,
my mother said once, is that it weeps.
Amazing, I thought, sad pie.

QUOTE: "There is no beautifier of complexion, or form, or behavior, like the wish to scatter joy and not pain around us. 'Tis good to give a stranger a meal, or a night's lodging. 'Tis better to be hospitable to his good meaning and thought, and give courage to a companion. We must be as courteous to a man as we are to a picture, which we are willing to give the advantage of a good light." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Garden Rose (Kris Delmhorst)

I had a very full weekend... my husband's out of town until tomorrow evening... I think I'm coming down with some sort of cold or flu bug... my son Eric is leaving Friday to go back to college... I'm under-rested and overwhelmed... went into work late and left early - not sure how to describe my feelings other than out of sorts... discombobulated... not quite focused? Have decided to spend about 30 minutes catching up on e-mail and then popping 3 extra-strength Tylenol and crawling between the covers - will probably take the phone off the hook to avoid interruption. The way I feel, I could very well sleep straight through until tomorrow morning - bliss...

SONG: Garden Rose by Kris Delmhorst

BOOK: New Menopausal Years, The Wise Woman Way: Alternative Approaches for Women 30-90 by Susun S. Weed

POEM: Thistles by Louise Erdrich

Under ledge, under tar, under fill

under curved blue stone of doorsteps,

under the aggregate of lakebed rock,

under loss and under hard words,

under steamrollers

under your heart,

it doesn't matter. They can live forever.

The seeds of thistles

push from nowhere, forming a rose of spikes

that spreads all summer until it

stands in a glory of

needles, blossoms, blazing

purple clubs and fists.

QUOTE: "What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Long Road (Cliff Eberhardt)

Historically, my birth day/week/month has been a time of reflection about the previous year and the upcoming one: hopes, dreams, goals, expectations, resolutions, etc. - it's a perfect occasion to assess my role on this planet and how I'll do things differently (or not) over the next twelve months...

My trip to the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival (with a few days on either end) was almost a week, my return flight into Ft. Lauderdale was delayed Monday evening and I hit the ground running, back to work that Tuesday morning - this past weekend was full with obligations, not to mention birthday festivities, and then Monday rolled around again. I'm still tired and back to overwhelmed, with very little opportunity to ruminate, much less put my thoughts into any semblance of coherence.

So... I'll continue to post relevant songs/books/poems/quotes until divine inspiration strikes - it will happen when it's meant, I have no doubt...

SONG: The Long Road by Cliff Eberhardt

BOOK: Road Novels 1957-1960: On the Road / The Dharma Bums / The Subterraneans / Tristessa / Lonesome Traveler / Journal Selections (Library of America) (Hardcover) by Jack Kerouac

POEM: The Journey by Mary Oliver

One day you finally knew

what you had to do, and began,

though the voices around you

kept shouting

their bad advice --

though the whole house

began to tremble

and you felt the old tug

at your ankles.

"Mend my life!"

each voice cried.

But you didn't stop.

You knew what you had to do,

though the wind pried

with its stiff fingers

at the very foundations,

though their melancholy

was terrible.

It was already late

enough, and a wild night,

and the road full of fallen

branches and stones.

But little by little,

as you left their voices behind,

the stars began to burn

through the sheets of clouds,

and there was a new voice

which you slowly

recognized as your own,

that kept you company

as you strode deeper and deeper

into the world,

determined to do

the only thing you could do--

determined to save

the only life you could save.

QUOTE: "Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson