Twilight bounds softly forth

>>>>++<<<<

D o   T e l l

E q u i n e   I n   S i t u

Columbia, South Carolina

>>>>++<<<<

Just off the highway to Rochester, Minnesota,
Twilight bounds softly forth on the grass.
And the eyes of those two Indian ponies
Darken with kindness.
They have come gladly out of the willows
To welcome my friend and me.
We step over the barbed wire into the pasture
Where they have been grazing all day, alone.
They ripple tensely, they can hardly contain their happiness
That we have come.
They bow shyly as wet swans. They love each other.
There is no loneliness like theirs.
At home once more,
They begin munching the young tufts of spring in the darkness.
I would like to hold the slenderer one in my arms,
For she has walked over to me
And nuzzled my left hand.
She is black and white,
Her mane falls wild on her forehead,
And the light breeze moves me to caress her long ear
That is delicate as the skin over a girl’s wrist.
Suddenly I realize
That if I stepped out of my body I would break
Into blossom.

> James Wright <

>>>>++<<<<

Happy Wednesday

A sense of obligation

>>>>++<<<<

S a y   A g a i n

Palmetto Trail at the Broad River

Peak, South Carolina

>>>>++<<<<

A man said to the universe:
Sir, I exist!
However, replied the universe,
The fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation.

> Stephen Crane <

>>>>++<<<<

Happy Tuesday

Contented with perfume

>>>>++<<<<

P o n d l y   R e m e m b e r e d

Irmo Town Park

Columbia, South Carolina

>>>>++<<<<

A black cat among roses,
Phlox, lilac-misted under a first-quarter moon,
The sweet smells of heliotrope and night-scented stock.
The garden is very still,
It is dazed with moonlight,
Contented with perfume,
Dreaming the opium dreams of its folded poppies.
Firefly lights open and vanish
High as the tip buds of the golden glow
Low as the sweet alyssum flowers at my feet.
Moon-shimmer on leaves and trellises,
Moon-spikes shafting through the snowball bush.
Only the little faces of the ladies' delight are alert and staring,
Only the cat, padding between the roses,
Shakes a branch and breaks the chequered pattern
As water is broken by the falling of a leaf.
Then you come,
And you are quiet like the garden,
And white like the alyssum flowers,
And beautiful as the silent sparks of the fireflies.
Ah, Beloved, do you see those orange lilies?
They knew my mother,
But who belonging to me will they know
When I am gone.

> Amy Lowell <

>>>>++<<<<

Happy Monday

My glory and my plea

>>>>++<<<<

T h e   T i e s   T h a t   B i n d

Elmwood Cemetery

Columbia, South Carolina

>>>>++<<<<

I could not do without Thee

O Savior of the lost

Whose precious blood redeemed me

At such tremendous cost

Thy righteousness, Thy pardon

Thy precious blood, must be

My only hope and comfort

My glory and my plea.

I could not do without Thee

I cannot stand alone

I have no strength or goodness

No wisdom of my own

But Thou, beloved Savior

Art all in all to me

And weakness will be power

If leaning hard on Thee.

I could not do without Thee

For oh, the way is long

And I am often weary

And sigh replaces song

How could I do without Thee

I do not know the way

Thou knowest and Thou leadest

And wilt not let me stray.

I could not do without Thee

O Jesus, Savior dear

E'en when my eyes are holden

I know that Thou art near

How dreary and how lonely

This changeful life would be

Without the sweet communion

The secret rest with Thee.

I could not do without Thee

No other friend can read

The spirit's strange deep longings

Interpreting its need

No human heart could enter

Each dim recess of mine

And soothe and hush and calm it

O blessèd Lord, but Thine.

I could not do without Thee

For years are fleeting fast

And soon in solemn oneness

The river must be passed

But Thou wilt never leave me

And though the waves roll high

I know Thou wilt be near me

And whisper "It is I."

> Frances Ridley Havergal <

>>>>++<<<<

Let your conversation be without covetousness;

and be content with such things as ye have:

for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

Hebrews 13:5

>>>>++<<<<

Happy Sunday

The perished patterns murmur

>>>>++<<<<

V e r t i c a l   V i s i o 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

I wouldn't want to be faster

>>>>++<<<<

R o c k   S t a r

Atkinson Angel :: Hollywood Cemetery

Richmond, Virginia

>>>>++<<<<

Have you forgotten what we were like then
when we were still first rate
and the day came fat with an apple in its mouth

it's no use worrying about Time
but we did have a few tricks up our sleeves
and turned some sharp corners

the whole pasture looked like our meal
we didn't need speedometers
we could manage cocktails out of ice and water

I wouldn't want to be faster
or greener than now if you were with me O you
were the best of all my days

> Frank O'Hara <

>>>>++<<<<

Happy Friday

Friend, tell me what to do

>>>>++<<<<

A n t i c i p a t i o n

Front Porch Feeder

Columbia, South Carolina

>>>>++<<<<

Do you remember the night Abraham first saw
The stars? He cried to Saturn: “You are my Lord!”
How happy he was! When he saw the Dawn Star,

He cried, “You are my Lord!” How destroyed he was
When he watched them set. Friends, he is like us:
We take as our Lord the stars that go down.

We are faithful companions to the unfaithful stars.
We are diggers, like badgers; we love to feel
The dirt flying out from behind our back claws.

And no one can convince us that mud is not
Beautiful. It is our badger soul that thinks so.
We are ready to spend the rest of our life

Walking with muddy shoes in the wet fields.
We resemble exiles in the kingdom of the serpent.
We stand in the onion fields looking up at the night.

My heart is a calm potato by day, and a weeping
Abandoned woman by night. Friend, tell me what to do,
Since I am a man in love with the setting stars.

> Robert Bly <

>>>>++<<<<

Happy Thursday

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 <

>>>>++<<<<

Happy Wednesday

And stars for my eyes

>>>>++<<<<

L i g h t   D u t y

Old Brick Church Cemetery

Jenkinsville, South Carolina

>>>>++<<<<

Wish me a rainbow, wish me a star

All this you can give me wherever you are

And dreams for my pillow and stars for my eyes

And a masquerade ball where our love wins first prize

Wish me red roses and yellow balloons

And carousels whirling to gay dancing tunes

I want all those treasures, the most you can give

So wish me a rainbow as long as I live

All my tomorrows depend on your love

So wish me a rainbow above.

> Astrud Gilberto <

>>>>++<<<<

Happy Tuesday

Like a host of armored knights

>>>>++<<<<

T a k i n g   P a n e s

South Carolina Lunatic Asylum (Abandoned)

Columbia

>>>>++<<<<

By the stream I dream in calm delight,

and watch as in a glass,

How the clouds like crowds of snowy-hued

and white-robed maidens pass,

And the water into ripples breaks

and sparkles as it spreads,

Like a host of armored knights

with silver helmets on their heads.

And I deem the stream an emblem

fit of human life may go,

For I find a mind may sparkle much

and yet but shallow show,

And a soul may glow with myriad lights

and wondrous mysteries,

When it only lies a dormant thing

and mirrors what it sees.

> Paul Laurence Dunbar <

>>>>++<<<<

Happy Monday