MY TRIUMPH

My Triumph

The autumn-time has come; 

On woods that dream of bloom, 

And over purpling vines, 

The low sun fainter shines. 

The aster-flower is failing, 

The hazel's gold is paling; 

Yet overhead more near 

The eternal stars appear! 

And present gratitude 

Insures the future's good, 

And for the things I see 

I trust the things to be; 

That in the paths untrod, 

And the long days of God, 

My feet shall still be led, 

My heart be comforted. 

O living friends who love me! 

O dear ones gone above me! 

Careless of other fame, 

I leave to you my name. 

Hide it from idle praises, 

Save it from evil phrases: 

Why, when dear lips that spake it 

Are dumb, should strangers wake it? 

Let the thick curtain fall; 

I better know than all 

How little I have gained, 

How vast the unattained. 

Not by the page word-painted 

Let life be banned or sainted: 

Deeper than written scroll 

The colors of the soul. 

Sweeter than any sung 

My songs that found no tongue; 

Nobler than any fact 

My wish that failed of act. 

Others shall sing the song, 

Others shall right the wrong, -- 

Finish what I begin, 

And all I fail of win. 

What matter, I or they? 

Mine or another's day, 

So the right word be said 

And life the sweeter made? 

Hail to the coming singers! 

Hail to the brave light-bringers! 

Forward I reach and share 

All that they sing and dare. 

The airs of heaven blow o'er me; 

A glory shines before me 

Of what mankind shall be, -- 

Pure, generous, brave, and free. 

A dream of man and woman 

Diviner but still human, 

Solving the riddle old, 

Shaping the Age of Gold! 

The love of God and neighbor; 

An equal-handed labor; 

The richer life, where beauty 

Walks hand in hand with duty. 

Ring, bells in unreared steeples, 

The joy of unborn peoples! 

Sound, trumpets far off blown, 

Your triumph is my own! 

Parcel and part of all, 

I keep the festival, 

Fore-reach the good to be, 

And share the victory. 

I feel the earth move sunward, 

I join the great march onward, 

And take, by faith, while living, 

My freehold of thanksgiving.

~ John Greenleaf Whittier

TO AUTUMN

To Autumn

SEASON of mists and mellow fruitfulness,

Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

Conspiring with him how to load and bless

With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;

To bend with apples the moss'd cottage trees,

And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;

To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells

With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,

And still more, later flowers for the bees,

Until they think warm days will never cease,

For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?

  Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find

Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,

Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;

Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,

Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook

Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers;

And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep

Steady thy laden head across a brook;

Or, by a cyder-press, with patient look,

thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?

Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,-

While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,

And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;

Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn

Among the river sallows, borne aloft

Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;

And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;

Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft

The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;

And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

~ John Keats

SKYFALL

This is the end

Hold your breath and count to ten

Feel the earth move and then

Hear my heart burst again

For this is the end

I’ve drowned and dreamt this moment

So overdue I owe them

Swept away, I’m stolen

Let the sky fall

When it crumbles

We will stand tall

Face it all together

At skyfall

Skyfall is where we start

A thousand miles and poles apart

Where worlds collide and days are dark

You may have my number, you can take my name

But you’ll never have my heart

Let the sky fall

When it crumbles

We will stand tall

Face it all together

Let the sky fall

When it crumbles

We will stand tall

Face it all together

At skyfall

(Let the sky fall

When it crumbles

We will stand tall)

Where you go I go

What you see I see

I know I’d never be me

Without the security

Of your loving arms

Keeping me from harm

Put your hand in my hand

And we’ll stand

Let the sky fall

When it crumbles

We will stand tall

Face it all together

Let the sky fall

When it crumbles

We will stand tall

Face it all together

At skyfall

Let the sky fall

We will stand tall

At skyfall

~ ADELE, Lyrics to SKYFALL (James Bond 2012)

Not I...

Back in consciousness. Oblivious?

No. Not I.

I'm always there.

I've always been there...

yesterday and today combined

swirls in the mind... always

yet the puzzle is complete

the mystery solved

this journey traveled

and one might ask solemnly, what now ...

Not I

I ask not

My wings flap still, my eyes facing the heavens

my world the clouds

my blood the wind

one might think uncaring?

Not I

I've always cared and will always care

my ally

yesterday, today and tomorrow

my sight reaching beyond the horizon

a blessing unlike all blessings.

Time changes, the world changes, people change

Not I

I become who am I and yet return to who I was 

and flourish

It is my nature

to watch and soar

to ponder

molding sculptures of air and light

The clouds my life you see

dreams my light

Whispers my speech

my heart the breeze

the season my thoughts

I was here once and though it is possible I can return

I have never returned before.

Not I

Another beautiful Halloween...goodbye for now

Charlie Brown: Well, another Halloween has come and gone.
Linus: Yes, Charlie Brown.
Charlie Brown: I don't understand it. I went trick-or-treating and all I got was a bag full of rocks. I suppose you spent all night in the pumpkin patch.
[Linus nods]
Charlie Brown: And the Great Pumpkin never showed up?
Linus: Nope.
Charlie Brown: Well, don't take it too hard, Linus. I've done a lot of stupid things in my life, too.
Linus: [furious] STUPID? What do you mean "stupid"? Just wait till next year, Charlie Brown. You'll see! Next year at this same time, I'll find the pumpkin patch that is *real* sincere and I'll sit in that pumpkin patch until the Great Pumpkin appears. He'll rise out of that pumpkin patch and he'll fly through the air with his bag of toys. The Great Pumpkin will appear and I'll be waiting for him! I'll be there! I'll be sitting there in that pumpkin patch... and I'll see the Great Pumpkin. Just wait and see, Charlie Brown. I'll see that Great Pumpkin. I'll SEE the Great Pumpkin! Just you wait, Charlie Brown. The Great Pumpkin will appear and I'll be waiting for him...