Some madder holiday

>>>>++<<<<

T o y   S t o r y

Purple Horse

Columbia, South Carolina

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The lonesome for they know not What --

The Eastern Exiles -- be --

Who strayed beyond the Amber line

Some madder Holiday --

And ever since -- the purple Moat

They strive to climb -- in vain --

As Birds -- that tumble from the clouds

Do fumble at the strain --

The Blessed Ether -- taught them --

Some Transatlantic Morn --

When Heaven -- was too common -- to miss --

Too sure -- to dote upon!

> Emily Dickinson <

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Happy Saturday

So wise are we

>>>>++<<<<

I   P i n k ,   T h e r e f o r e   I   A m

Bougainvillea

Columbia, South Carolina

>>>>++<<<<

Outside the sky is light with stars;
There’s a hollow roaring from the sea.
And, alas! for the little almond flowers,
The wind is shaking the almond tree.

How little I thought, a year ago,
In the horrible cottage upon the Lee
That he and I should be sitting so
And sipping a cup of camomile tea.

Light as feathers the witches fly,
The horn of the moon is plain to see;
By a firefly under a jonquil flower
A goblin toasts a bumble-bee.

We might be fifty, we might be five,
So snug, so compact, so wise are we!
Under the kitchen-table leg
My knee is pressing against his knee.

Our shutters are shut, the fire is low,
The tap is dripping peacefully;
The saucepan shadows on the wall
Are black and round and plain to see.

> Katherine Mansfield <

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Happy Friday

Arise and face me

>>>>++<<<<

U h

Allen Bros. Milling Company

Columbia, South Carolina

>>>>++<<<<

[Artemis speaks]

The cornel-trees
uplift from the furrows,
the roots at their bases
strike lower through the barley-sprays.

So arise and face me.
I am poisoned with the rage of song.

I once pierced the flesh
of the wild-deer,
now am I afraid to touch
the blue and the gold-veined hyacinths?

I will tear the full flowers
and the little heads
of the grape-hyacinths.
I will strip the life from the bulb
until the ivory layers
lie like narcissus petals
on the black earth.

Arise,
lest I bend an ash-tree
into a taut bow,
and slay -- and tear
all the roots from the earth.

The cornel-wood blazes
and strikes through the barley-sprays,
but I have lost heart for this.

I break a staff.
I break the tough branch.
I know no light in the woods.
I have lost pace with the winds.

> H.D. <

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Happy Thursday

The miraculous comes so close

>>>>++<<<<

T h a t   S i n k i n g   F e e l i n g

Bank of America Plaza from Georgia Aquarium Parking Garage

Atlanta, Georgia

>>>>++<<<<

Everything is plundered, betrayed, sold,
Death’s great black wing scrapes the air,
Misery gnaws to the bone.
Why then do we not despair?
By day, from the surrounding woods,
Cherries blow summer into town;
At night the deep transparent skies
Glitter with new galaxies.
And the miraculous comes so close
To the ruined, dirty houses --
Something not known to anyone at all,
But wild in our breast for centuries.

> Anna Ahkmatova <

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Happy Wednesday

I dwelt in marble halls

>>>>++<<<<

I   S a w   T h e   L i g h t

Backyard Fence

Columbia, South Carolina

>>>>++<<<<

I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls
With vassals and serfs at my side,
And of all who assembled within those walls
That I was the hope and the pride.
I had riches all too great to count
And a high ancestral name.

But I also dreamt which pleased me most
That you loved me still the same,
That you loved me
You loved me still the same,
That you loved me
You loved me still the same.

I dreamt that suitors sought my hand,
That knights upon bended knee
And with vows no maidens heart could withstand,
They pledged their faith to me.
And I dreamt that one of that noble host
Came forth my hand to claim.

But I also dreamt which charmed me most
That you loved me still the same
That you loved me
You loved me still the same,
That you loved me
You loved me still the same.

> Alfred Bunn <

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Happy Tuesday

This is the force of faith

>>>>++<<<<

S w i m m i n g   I n   L i g h t

Duke Energy Center

Charlotte, North Carolina

>>>>++<<<<

Over a dock railing, I watch the minnows, thousands, swirl

themselves, each a minuscule muscle, but also, without the

way to create current, making of their unison

(turning, re-folding, entering and exiting their own

unison in unison) making of themselves a

visual current, one that cannot freight or sway by

minutest fractions the water's downdrafts and upswirls, the

dockside cycles of finally-arriving boat-wakes, there where

they hit deeper resistance, water that seems to burst into

itself (it has those layers), a real current though mostly

invisible sending into the visible (minnows) arrowing

motion that forces change --

this is freedom. This is the force of faith. Nobody gets

what they want. Never again are you the same. The longing

is to be pure. What you get is to be changed. More and more by

each glistening minute, through which infinity threads itself,

also oblivion, of course, the aftershocks of something

at sea. Here, hands full of sand, letting it sift through

in the wind, I look in and say take this, this is

what I have saved, take this, hurry. And if I listen

now? Listen, I was not saying anything. It was only

something I did. I could not choose words. I am free to go.

I cannot of course come back. Not to this. Never.

It is a ghost posed on my lips. Here: never.

> Jorie Graham <

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Happy Monday

Like the stars of the morning

>>>>++<<<<

F e a t h e r   W e a t h e r

Rose Hill Cemetery

Macon, Georgia

>>>>++<<<<

When He cometh, when He cometh

To make up His jewels

All His jewels, precious jewels

His loved and His own

Like the stars of the morning

His brightness adorning

They shall shine in their beauty

Bright gems for His crown

He will gather, He will gather

The gems for His Kingdom

All the pure ones, all the bright ones

His loved and His own

Little children, little children

Who love their Redeemer

Are the jewels, precious jewels

His loved and His own

Like the stars of the morning

His brightness adorning

All His jewels, precious jewels

His loved and His own.

> William O. Cushing <

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And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day

when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them,

as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.

Malachi 3:17

And the LORD their God shall save them in that day

as the flock of his people:

 for they shall be as the stones of a crown,

lifted up as an ensign upon his land.

Zechariah 9:16

>>>>++<<<<

In Loving Memory of My Mother

Patricia Ann Sandifer Dykstra

on what would have been her eighty-sixth birthday

>>>>++<<<<

Happy Sunday

The perished patterns murmur

>>>>++<<<<

G i v e   M e   A   L i t t l e   S i g n

Palmer Street

Ridgeway, South Carolina

>>>>++<<<<

It's easy to invent a Life --

God does it -- every Day --

Creation -- but the Gambol 

Of His Authority --

It's easy to efface it --

The thrifty Deity

Could scarce afford Eternity

To Spontaneity --

The Perished Patterns murmur --

But His Perturbless Plan

Proceed -- inserting Here -- a Sun --

There -- leaving out a Man --

> Emily Dickinson <

>>>>++<<<<

Happy Saturday

The learning hour

>>>>++<<<<

W h y   Y e l l o w   T h e r e

Pilkington North America Factory

Rossford, Ohio

>>>>++<<<<

There is some hour -- like a cast off load --
When our proud had been fully tamed.
The learning hour -- on each life-long road --
Is predestined and great.

The time, in which -- our arms just had been thrown
Down to the feet of shown by His hand --
The solder’s purple to the gray-fur gown
We’re changing on the seashore sand.

O, this great hour -- like some loud trumpet,
Rising us up from free-will of a date!
O, this great hour, when like some ear, ripened,
We’re low-bending to our weight.

The ear has risen, and the hour -- been crowned,
And now the ear is thirsty for the mill.
O, Law! O, Law! Yet in a womb of ground
My yoke by my own will.

The learning hour! But we see and know
Another light, -- another bright sunrise.
Be ever blessed, now rising him below,
High time when lone will be each of us!

> Maria Tsvetaeva <

>>>>++<<<<

Happy Wednesday

As loud as my heart

>>>>++<<<<

B e a r i n g   U p

Front Porch

Columbia, South Carolina

>>>>++<<<<

Come up to meet you,

Tell you I'm sorry
You don't know how lovely you are

I had to find you
Tell you I need you
Tell you I set you apart

Tell me your secrets
And ask me your questions
Oh, let's go back to the start

Running in circles
Coming up tails
Heads on a science apart

Nobody said it was easy
It's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be this hard

Oh, take me back to the start

I was just guessing
At numbers and figures
Pulling the puzzles apart

Questions of science
Science and progress
Did not speak as loud as my heart

But tell me you love me
Come back and haunt me
Oh, and I rush to the start

Running in circles
Chasing our tails
Coming back as we are

Nobody said it was easy

Oh, it's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy

No one ever said it would be so hard

I'm going back the start.

> Berryman/Buckland/Champion/Martin <

>>>>++<<<<

Happy Tuesday