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Can we really afford to only dance with those we know and trust?

I can often see far more than I care to see.
I am often disappointed by those I meet and even love, but rarely surprised

We can't really be surprised by people who acting like people now can we?

Do not assume that she who seeks to comfort you now, lives untroubled among the simple and quiet words that sometimes do you good. Her life may also have much sadness and difficulty, that remains far beyond yours. Were it otherwise, she would never have been able to find these words.

~Rainer Maria Rilke

Art: Atanur Dogan

Joyeuses Pâques

Let every man and woman count himself immortal. Let him catch the revelation of Jesus in his resurrection. Let him say not merely, "Christ is risen," but "I shall rise." ~Phillips Brooks

Photo credit: Nimoloth

i did not die

Don't stand beside my grave and weep,
For I'm not there, I do not sleep,
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond's glint on snow,
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn's rain.

When you awaken in morning's hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush,
of quiet birds in circle flight,
I am soft stars that shine at night,
Don't stand beside my grave and cry,
I am not there. I did not die.
Poem: Mary E. Frye
Photo credit: Unknown

Can you hear it?

Sometimes...just sometimes... when it's dark, and we're alone, we hear a call we cannot answer; feel a pull we cannot follow; and dream a song we cannot sing.

Late Lament

Late Lament
Breathe deep the gathering gloom
Watch lights fade from every room
Bedsitter people look back and lament
Another day's useless energy is spent
Impassioned lovers wrestle as one
Lonely man cries for love and has none
New mother picks up and suckles her son
Senior citizens wish they were young

Cold-hearted orb that rules the night
Removes the colours from our sight
Red is grey and yellow white
But we decide which is right
And which is an illusion

lyrics by the Moody Blues, 1967
photo credit: Grant Privet

I Hope You Dance

I hope you never lose your sense of wonder
You get your fill to eat
But always keep that hunger
May you never take one single breath for granted
God forbid love ever leave you empty handed
I hope you still feel small
When you stand by the ocean
Whenever one door closes,
I hope one more opens
Promise me you'll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
I hope you dance
I hope you dance I
hope you never fear those mountains in the distance
Never settle for the path of least resistance
Living might mean taking chances
But they're worth taking
Lovin' might be a mistake
But it's worth making
Don't let some hell bent heart
Leave you bitter
When you come close to selling out
Reconsider
Give the heavens above
More than just a passing glance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
I hope you dance (Time is a real and constant motion always)
I hope you dance (Rolling us along)
I hope you dance (Tell me who)
I hope you dance (Wants to look back on their youth and wonder)
(Where those years have gone)
I hope you still feel small
When you stand by the ocean
Whenever one door closes,
I hope one more opens
Promise me you'll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
Dance
I hope you dance
I hope you dance (Time is a real and constant motion always)
I hope you dance (Rolling us along)
I hope you dance (Tell me who)
(Wants to look back on their youth and wonder)
I hope you dance (Where those years have gone)
(Tell me who)
I hope you dance
(Wants to look back on their youth and wonder)
(Where those years have gone)
Lee Ann Womack, Lyrics

While I'm not one for country music myself - I do find this song meaningful
The heaven & faith described in this song are often interpreted in the standard christian light found in most country songs (and that is perfectly valid should that be where your particular headspace is)...but I prefer to interpret it with my own twists.

I see faith as a type of courage; the courage to endure, to build, to try, to hope, and to believe. Faith is creative force while despair is paralyzing and destructive.

Heaven can be here on earth, not merely a tenuous afterlife reward. It comes from the ability to see, and accept, what is; but never to settle.
The Sheryl Crow's lyrics (Soak Up the Sun) suggest that:

It's not having what you want

It's wanting what you've got

...and perhaps that is the key, non?

Religion is for people who are afraid of going to hell; Spirituality is for those who've been there.

~Namaste

a thought...

...But who prays for Satan? Who, in eighteen centuries, has had the common humanity to pray for the one sinner that needed it most? - Mark Twain

The difference between pornography and erotica is lighting.

~Gloria Leonard