"When all the boasting is over, what is any man but just another man?"

"When all the boasting is over, what is any man but just another man?"

~Augustine, City of God

~

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.
Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to gaze at bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
It is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you everywhere
like a shadow or a friend."

// Naomi Shihab Nye

~

~ Those last few words is my goal and hope, but I think of this especially as I am working with children, because my example, my love and my hope in Christ is so important to display ~

"When love beckons to you follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him, Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.
For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you.
Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth......
.
But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor,
Into the season-less world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.
.
Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.
Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;
For love is sufficient unto love.
And think not you can direct the course of love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself."
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.”
.
// Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

 ~ I think of how thankful I am for people, and the emptiness yet meaningfulness of our place in the world strikes a sort of thoughtfulness in me... "When all the boasting is over, what is any man but just another man?" ~

 ~

seasons come and pass in their time
like songs up the back of your throat
don't swallow them, don't choke

~felicia yoder

~

 

~

(these pictures ~ times in Washington D.C.)

This is art, made from things we normally throw away.

~ These buildings, and especially the subway, make me think of poetry ~

i.
repeat this mantra in my head
(i'm still not dead, i'm still not dead!)
though all inside my world is red
through all the static in my head
i'm surely, still not dead.

ii.
the stars collide in interludes
(my heart intrudes, my heart intrudes!)
how quick my own hands thoughtless bruise
the smallest gifts (but crude, how crude!)
my love for all but you

iii.
it breaks the world, this memory
(a symphony, cacophony!)
a strange, bucolic melody
in schisms haunts you, misandry
a worn out memory

iv.
all hungry, now we grasp and sigh
(El Adonai, oh Adonai!)
gobble the moon out of the sky
gobble the light out of her eye
we, empty - grasp and sigh

vi.
if broken life will be my heart
(in fits and starts, in fits and starts!)
it beats in waves and bleeds in art
may this, no less, a peace impart
beating, in fits and starts

vii.
sharp pinprick stars to make my friend
(when will it end, how will it end?)
to weep, perhaps to comprehend
break crooked bones, perhaps to mend
thats how the world will end

viii.
then when the night comes, chittering

(i'll learn to sing, i'll learn to sing!)

alchemizing golden rings
diamonds from coal, and other things
til hell, i am your king

ix.
a daydream in the darkest night
(to dress in white, to dress in white!)
a Babylonian acolyte
a snake who dreams of taking flight
i dream of dresses white.

~felicia yoder