When You Are Old

When you are old and gray and full of sleep,

And nodding by the fire, take down this book,

And slowly read, and dream of the soft look

Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep:

How many loved your moments of glad grace,

And loved your beauty with love false or true:

But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,

And loved the sorrows of your changing face.

And bending down beside the glowing bars

Murmur, a little sadly, how love fled

And paced upon the mountains overhead

And his face amid a crowd of stars.

~ W. B. Yeats~

Meeting at Night

The gray sea and the long black land;

And the yellow half-moon large and low;

And the startled little waves that leap

In fiery ringlets from their sleep,

As I gain the cove with pushing prow,

And quench its speed i' the slushy sand.

Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach;

Three fields to cross till a farm appears;

A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch

And blue spurt of a lighted match,

And a voice less loud, through its joys and fears,

Than the two hearts beating each to each!

~ Robert Browning ~

Could You?

Could you describe the sky

to a person without sight,

the gift of shades and shadows

you receive each day and night?

Could you depict the freedom

of walking down the street

to a person who has never

had the use of their two feet?

Could you express the comfort

of sleeping in a bed

to someone who does not have

a place to lay their head?

Could you explain the pleasure

of a satisfying meal

to a child who has never known

the fullness that you feel?

Could you, in all honesty,

with good and truthful measure,

say that you are thankful

and consider life a treasure?

Could you?

~ unknown ~

To Those Who Enter Our Hidden Place

Each of us has a hidden place

Somewhere deep within ourselves;

A Place where we go to get away,

To think things through,

To be alone, to be ourselves.

This unique place, where we confront our deepest feelings,

Becomes a storehouse of all our hope,

All our needs, all our dreams,

And even our unspoken fears.

It encompasses the essence of who we are

And what we want to be.

But now and then, whether by chance or design,

Someone discovers a way into

That place we thought was ours alone.

And we allow that person to see, to feel and to share

All the reason, all the uncertainty

And all the emotion we've stored up there.

That person adds new perspective to our hidden realm,

Then quietly settles down

In his own corner of our special place,

Where a bit of himself will stay forever.

And we call that person a friend.

~ Carol Elaine Faevre-Scott ~

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