style="font-size:15px;"> to allow my living to open me,to make me less afraid,
more accessible,
to loosen my heart
until it becomes a wing.
- Dawna Markova
We Are All In This Together
All human beings are limbs of each other,
having been created of one essence.
When time affects a limb with pain,
The other limbs cannot at rest remain.
If thou feel not others’ misery,
A human being is no name for thee.
- Sa’adi, Persian Poet, 1270
Asking Forgiveness
O little self, within whose smallness lies
All that man was, and is, and will become,
Atom unseen that comprehends the skies
And tells the tracks by which the planets roam;
That, without moving, knows the joys of wings,
The tiger’s strength, the eagle’s secrecy,
And in the hovel can consort with kings,
Or clothe a god with his own mystery.
O with what darkness do we cloak thy light,
What dusty folly gather thee for food,
Thou who alone art knowledge and delight,
The heavenly bread, the beautiful, the good.
O living self, O god, O morning star,
Give us thy light, forgive us what we are.
- John Masefield, 1915
Keep Me Safe Forever
Bless, O Mistress of Magic,
Myself and everything anear me,
Bless me in all my makings,
And keep me safe forever.
Keep me safe forever.
From every unclean spirit and sending,
From every evil wish and cursing,
From every wicked spell and glamour,
From every star that frowns upon me,
Save me till the end of my day.
That they may keep me safe forever.
Save me till the end of my day.
Let every nymph and faerie be my sister,
Let every troll and brownie be my brother,
Let every fairy-mouse and will-o-the-wisp befriend me,
That they may keep me safe forever.
That they may keep me safe forever.
- Ancient Celtic Oral Tradition
What Is Your Gift to the World?
May the gift I give
change me and our world.
- Reverend Alan Claassen, 2011
Call Upon Your Inner Strength, No Matter What
If you hear the dogs,
keep on going.
If you hear gunfire,
keep on going.
If you hear shouts and footsteps,
keep on going.
- Harriet Tubman
Be Gentle and Kind to Yourself
You’re not alone.
So long as you reach out to others you’re never alone.
Ask for my help in loaning you the courage you already have.
It’s not that I never give you more than you can handle,
I am not responsible for the consequences of your actions,
only you are. Stay on the path of you’re suffering
by taking the steps you need to take.
Hang on and hang in there, because it’s now
that you’re growing at light speed,
You’re never going backward, only forward.
Decay your loneliness, by making full use
of my greatest gift to mankind, which is mankind.
Feel my alleged absence as proof,
for the paradox that I exist and have always existed.
Let me in by letting me out.
Love, fear, and all of the other feelings spared
are what create this reality.
These are the cause and effect of compassion and true forgiveness.
Ask for my help in walking through the anguish of forgiveness.
Do everything in your power to learn to forgive
and love those that hurt you,
Not for just them, but for others as well as yourself.
And never give up the hope that someday your ex-suffering
will be able to help the ones who were sick and hurt you,
As well as those who suffered like you.
Learn all this by practicing to love everyone.
Always look into yourself first;
your past, your present, your motives,
your feelings, and share the secrets
you find with myself as well as others.
Be gentle and kind to yourself
by being vulnerable, and sharing yourself
with others who are patient, kind, and who can only
try
