To be older than the sky

>>>>++<<<<

T h e   B r o a d   B e y o n d

Harry Easterling Bridge

Peak, South Carolina

>>>>++<<<<

It is something to have wept as we have wept,

It is something to have done as we have done,

It is something to have watched when all men slept,

And seen the stars which never see the sun.

It is something to have smelt the mystic rose,

Although it break and leave the thorny rods,

It is something to have hungered once as those

Must hunger who have ate the bread of gods.

To have seen you and your unforgotten face,

Brave as a blast of trumpets for the fray,

Pure as white lilies in a watery space,

It were something, though you went from me today.

To have known the things that from the weak are furled,

Perilous ancient passions, strange and high;

It is something to be wiser then the world,

It is something to be older then the sky.

In a time of sceptic moths and cynic rusts,

And fattened lives that of their sweetness tire

In a world of flying loves and fading lusts,

It is something to be sure of a desire.

Lo, blessed are our ears for they have heard;

Yea, blessed are our eyes for they have seen:

Let the thunder break on man and beast and bird

And the lightning. It is something to have been.

> G.K. Chesterton <

>>>>++<<<<

Happy Thursday

There was pleasure there

>>>>++<<<<

A l i g h t

Purple Clematis

Columbia, South Carolina

>>>>++<<<<

I heard a thousand blended notes,
While in a grove I sate reclined,
In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts
Bring sad thoughts to the mind.

To her fair works did Nature link
The human soul that through me ran;
And much it grieved my heart to think
What man has made of man.

Through primrose tufts, in that green bower,
The periwinkle trailed its wreaths;
And 'tis my faith that every flower
Enjoys the air it breathes.

The birds around me hopped and played,
Their thoughts I cannot measure: --
But the least motion which they made
It seemed a thrill of pleasure.

The budding twigs spread out their fan,
To catch the breezy air;
And I must think, do all I can,
That there was pleasure there.

If this belief from heaven be sent,
If such be Nature's holy plan,
Have I not reason to lament
What man has made of man?

> William Wordsworth <

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Happy Wednesday

The way I saw the world

>>>>++<<<<

P e e k   a   B o o   I   S e e   Y o u

Main Street

Columbia, South Carolina

>>>>++<<<<

Old friend now there is no one alive
who remembers when you were young
it was high summer when I first saw you
in the blaze of day most of my life ago
with the dry grass whispering in your shade
and already you had lived through wars
and echoes of wars around your silence
through days of parting and seasons of absence
with the house emptying as the years went their way
until it was home to bats and swallows
and still when spring climbed toward summer
you opened once more the curled sleeping fingers
of newborn leaves as though nothing had happened
you and the seasons spoke the same language
and all these years I have looked through your limbs
to the river below and the roofs and the night
and you were the way I saw the world

> W.S. Merwin <

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Happy Monday

After this my day

>>>>++<<<<

P o o l i n g

Springwood Cemetery

Greenville, South Carolina

>>>>++<<<<

I do not look for love that is a dream --
I only seek for courage to be still;
To bear my grief with an unbending will,
And when I am a-weary not to seem.
Let the round world roll on; let the sun beam;
Let the wind blow, and let the rivers fill
The everlasting sea, and on the hill
The palms almost touch heaven, as children deem.
And, though young spring and summer pass away,
And autumn and cold winter come again,
And though my soul, being tired of its pain,
Pass from the ancient earth, and though my clay
Return to dust, my tongue shall not complain; --
No man shall mock me after this my day.

> Christina Rossetti <

>>>>++<<<<

Happy Friday

Sunny days do stick to walls

>>>>++<<<<

I r i s   Y o u   W e r e   H e r e

Purple Petals

Columbia, South Carolina

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Until I find a name
I will not put it in the soul calculator
I will leave it free and open and unnamed
And not limit my expectations for the kind of person
That goes in one direction of the wind
I will keep all lines of the wind open
And place all my days free and empty
And re-envision what it means to be unencumbered
Or bereft
Not crying but the expanse of numbers
That go beyond the grave to what is left
And it may be true
I said it could be true
That the sunny days do stick to walls
And then enter you
It may be true that the purple bells do chime
Everyday you let them
It may be true that the sweet juice
I put across my lips would not be my last
But that the nights could get better and better
Until the evil is banished until the day
When the sun would crush it anyway
It was true without a set of things like letters
It was true the air was free and open
And I saw things as they were
Without violence
For the first time

> Dorothea Lasky <

>>>>++<<<<

Happy Wednesday

No more than remembered light

>>>>++<<<<

F l y  -  B y

Semi-Rural

Lexington County, South Carolina

>>>>++<<<<

Not every man knows what he shall sing at the end,
Watching the pier as the ship sails away, or what it will seem like
When he's held by the sea's roar, motionless, there at the end,
Or what he shall hope for once it is clear that he’ll never go back.

When the time has passed to prune the rose or caress the cat,
When the sunset torching the lawn and the full moon icing it down
No longer appear, not every man knows what he’ll discover instead.
When the weight of the past leans against nothing, and the sky

Is no more than remembered light, and the stories of cirrus
And cumulus come to a close, and all the birds are suspended in flight,
Not every man knows what is waiting for him, or what he shall sing
When the ship he is on slips into darkness, there at the end.

> Mark Strand <

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Happy Tuesday

Also learn to love

>>>>++<<<<

S t i l l   L i f e

Old Sheldon Church Ruins

Yemassee, South Carolina

>>>>++<<<<

Glad sight wherever new with old
Is joined through some dear homeborn tie;
The life of all that we behold
Depends upon that mystery.
Vain is the glory of the sky,
The beauty vain of field and grove
Unless, while with admiring eye
We gaze, we also learn to love.

> William Wordsworth <

>>>>++<<<<

Happy Monday

Through grace we can conquer

>>>>++<<<<

P l i n t h   C h a r m i n g

Laurel Grove Cemetery

Savannah, Georgia

>>>>++<<<<

In shady green pastures so rich and so sweet

God leads His dear children along

Where the water's cool flow bathes the weary one's feet

God leads His dear children along

Some through the water, some through the flood

Some through the fire, but all through the blood

Some through great sorrow, but God gives a song

In the night season and all the day long

Sometimes on the mount where the sun shines so bright

God leads His dear children along

Sometimes in the valley, in darkest of night

God leads His dear children along

Though sorrows befall us and evils oppose

God leads His dear children along

Through grace we can conquer, defeat all our foes

God leads His dear children along

Away from the mire and away from the clay

God leads His dear children along

Away up in glory, eternity's day

God leads His dear children along

Some through the water, some through the flood

Some through the fire, but all through the blood

Some through great sorrow, but God gives a song

In the night season and all the day long.

> George A. Young <

>>>>++<<<<

On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him:

he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him:

But he knoweth the way that I take:

 when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined.

Job 23:9-11

>>>>++<<<<

Happy Sunday

The measure of the little while

>>>>++<<<<

M y   D i g i t s   H a v e   D e s e r t e d   M e

Laurel Grove Cemetery

Savannah, Georgia

>>>>++<<<<

I left you in the morning,

And in the morning glow

You walked a way beside me

To make me sad to go.

Do you know me in the gloaming,

Gaunt and dusty gray with roaming?

Are you dumb because you know me not,

Or dumb because you know?

All for me? And not a question

For the faded flowers gay

That could take me from beside you

For the ages of a day?

They are yours, and be the measure

Of their worth for you to treasure,

The measure of the little while

That I've been long away.

> Robert Frost <

>>>>++<<<<

Happy Friday

The best tombstone

>>>>++<<<<

P a p a ' s   S w e e t h e a r t

Bonaventure Cemetery

Savannah, Georgia

>>>>++<<<<

A good character is the best tombstone.

Those who loved you and were helped by you

will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered.

Carve your name on hearts, not on marble.

> Charles Haddon Spurgeon <

>>>>++<<<<

Happy Thursday