BY WHAT NAME -- TRUTH

*** BY WHAT NAME -- TRUTH ***

(On 30 Aug 2011 — Just thinking about the many perceptions that exist within my logic and Heart; then thinking about the many perceptions of others through Time and the Ages. What is absolute for one in a Time, can be known by a different name by another. "Truth" is but a myth transported by Time and borne on the 'wings' of Eternity.)  
[dht-2011]  


Truth — is as old as God —
His Twin identity
And will endure as long as He
A Co-Eternity —

And perish on the Day
Himself is borne away
From Mansion of the Universe
A lifeless Deity.
[~Emily Elizabeth Dickinson, #836]

"Yet, Truth and God exist on a different 'Plane',
Whence Time and Nature portent."
[~ dht-2011, DNA Cousin of Emily Elizabeth Dickinson]

(SPECIAL NOTE:  Emily Elizabeth Dickinson is my DNA Maternal Cousin)

AUGUST'S CANTICLE

In 21 Aug 2011, I was thinking about the poem #1068 written by my DNA Maternal Cousin Emily Elizabeth Dickinson.  There are many documented versions of this poem, and I have posted one version here. 

Since discovering my Family connection to Emily (we share the same many Great Grandparents Moses Payne (1581-1643)  and  Mary Benison Payne (1585 – 1616)),   I have been reading her writings and about her life and times.

Below is a short 'reply' to the poem #1068, that I wrote as if it were to be part of a letter that I would send to Emily.  As I have been reading her writings, I find them affecting me in different ways, and frequently I feel that she is writing to me, for our lives are similar in so many ways.  Anyway, here is the 'reply' that I would include in my letter to her.

"As August cools, Haunting Dreams of wild imaginings burn as blue flames, Memories ripe, cannot Ferment fast enough for the intoxicant Day Dreamer."

[-dht-2011, DNA Cousin to Emily Elizabeth Dickinson]

AND, below is Emily's poem #1068

Further in Summer than the Birds
Pathetic from the Grass
A minor Nation celebrates
It's unobtrusive Mass

No Ordinance be seen
So gradual the Grace
A pensive Custom it becomes
Enlarging Loneliness.

Antiquest felt at Noon
When August is burning low
Arise this spectral Canticle
Repose to typify

Remit as yet no Grace
No Furrow on the Glow
Yet a Druidic Difference
Enhances Nature now

[-Emily Elizabeth Dickinson, Poem #1068]

---------------

When also thinking of August, one of my favorite songs comes to mind, "Scarborough Fair", a hauntingly beautiful ballad with powerful lyrics that are larger than a single voice, expressing a special message only the Heart hears.  [dht-2011]

Song History and Lyrics link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarborough_Fair_(ballad)

  

YouTube link

Scarborough Faire Canticle - Simon and Garfunkel {SONG and HYMN}

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfqpAWPx6T4

[PHOTO SOURCE: Renaissance Fair 1975 California with my daughter and myself dressed "haute couture"]

JUST DAY DREAMING

The skyline is a Mocking reflection
of my Day Dreamer's Passage.

My thoughts wander
chasing butterflies
in the Garden of my mind.

Graceful waves of ferns
emote a welcome greeting
on my Sojourn.

Glimmers of blue and green
sparkle at the edges of my Dream
off the cool waters
catching the sunlight.

My Day Dreamer's thoughts
feather to nothing,
burdens of the day,
easing the Signs of worry
from my brow.

A brilliant smile lit from within,
hints of the whimsical fancies
that dance to a tune
only this Day Dreamer hears.

Mysterious thoughts
challenge and inspire
and excite my Day Dreamer's Nature.

Lack of coherent order
releases the Bonds
that shroud the Boundary
of my senses.

Reflections of a secret romantic,
flicker as patterns of mist and fog,
smoke and shadow,
sun and moonbeams,
and fall across
my Day Dreamer's imaginary Landscape.

Warmth, laughter, and LOVE --
all welcome ingredients
for Today's Illusions
and Tomorrows Hopes.

And, the polly wogs in the Pond
all turn into Princes,
as the Day Dreamer's interludes
slip by-the-by.

The drab sparrow drops its cloak,
revealing beneath its brightly feathered finery
in a Peacock's plumage; 
But, Beware
the hidden heart of a Hawk!

A profusion of flowers
array in drooping sleepy splendor
along the Day Dreamer's Path.

Candle flames dance merrily
into the evensong of the Sunset.

Flickers of moonlight
beckon the Day Dreamer
to witness its play
on the garden Steps.

Overhead the stars in the night lit heavens,
shine as celestial beacons,
softly guiding this Nocturnal Traveler.

Whispers of a soft summer evening
drift on a gentle breeze,
ruffling the rhythms of my Flight.

Such are the Meanderings of my mind.

I am – A DAY DREAMING TRAVELER!

[~dht-2011]

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(Just being and writing on 11 Jul 2011, for some days are just easy and made for lazy-ing around and JUST DAY DREAMING about your Life, Yesterday, Today, and pondering Tomorrow!   My life is a river that flows, I know not where, With eddies for reflecting, and swift currents gone too quick, Past the 'Shores' of my life. Yesterday's youthful dreams, Today's hopeful goals, Float on the water without anchor, Toward Tomorrow's Destiny.) [~dht-2011]


[PHOTO SOURCE: GOOGLE online images]

Everyday Words - Everyday Thoughts

Your thoughts don't have words every day
They come a single time

Like signal esoteric sips
Of the communion Wine

Which while you taste so native seems
So easy so to be

You cannot comprehend its price
Nor its infrequency

[~ Emily Elizabeth Dickinson, Poem #1452]

***************
DEF: "esoteric" Adjective: Intended for or likely to be understood by only a small number of people with a specialized knowledge or interest.

***************

In this poem, my Maternal Cousin EMILY Elizabeth Dickinson (10 Dec 1830 - 15 May 1886), says to ME that there are NOT words enough to describe every feeling and emotion that float through my mind every day. Moreover, that the meaning of some thoughts is confusing to some who do not know my circumstance or me. In addition, some 'words' when said or written have a 'price' that is a toll paid by the author for their effect on the emotions and attitude of self and others.

EMILY did not follow the typical path of a woman of her time for she never married. She lived a solitary life in her parent's home taking care of the household and her parents during their lifetime and illness and after their deaths living alone in the homestead in Amherst, Massachusetts. She spent many hours in conjugating the mental processes and writing down some of her feelings and thoughts about her life, nature, faith, love, death, and other topics. In over 1700 poems and writings, that are known about, she recorded on paper by hand (no computers or MSWord) her thoughts in 'words'. Today she is considered a genius with the use of words, and there are college course, books, museums, and historical societies that are dedicated to reading her 'words' and analyzing each punctuation, phrase, topic, and nuance.

For myself, I believe EMILY'S 'words' and her poetry and writings can be best enjoyed when applied to my own life and experiences. In this way, I am internalizing her whispered words that murmur to my heart and that put a 'period' to my feelings and thoughts. Sometimes, I find that by reading something she has written, I am better able to gain clarity on a point in my life. Clarity helps remove the confusion and shadows that intrude and hinder the 'walk of life'. There are enough 'boulders' and 'rough seas' that make the journey difficult!

I am reminded of a time that a DEAR FRIEND helped me to reach clarity at a time, a couple of years ago, when I was baffled and confused. My friend listened to me describe my status and said that it sounded like I was experiencing DEEP GRIEF. This was a welcome realization and helped me put into perspective the many confusing feelings and thoughts that floated through my mind and heart and fell softly on to my wet cheeks. Grief is a personal process that no 'words' can explain, but 'words' in a Poem, a Prayer, or from a DEAR FRIEND can help the healing process through the solitary feelings from loss of loved ones.

[~ DOROTHY HAZEL TARR, dht-2011]


[PHOTO SOURCE; GOOGLE online images]

DANCING DANDELIONS

(As I was walking, 6 Jul 2011, on the 'Beaver Pond Walk' in the Senior Community where I live, there was the softest breeze that teased the wild grasses and and swayed the blooms of the yellow Dandelions that bordered the walking trail. It was a magical moment that I enjoyed and captured in several photos.  I could almost hear the 'Waltz' in the air that the blooms were dancing to.)

Yellow Dandelions border the trail,
their blossoms dancing merrily
to a tune only Nature plays. 

Suddenly Day's Passage changes the blooms
to white seeded spheres. 

Be QUICK to make a WISH
and use your BREATH
as the feathery seeds fill the air. 

Watch in wonder
as the seeds take flight
and drift far and wide
on a summer breeze.

[~dht-2011]

***************
A few WEB SITES for DANDELION info:
http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/Plants.Folder/Dandelion.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taraxacum
http://nccam.nih.gov/health/dandelion/



***************

               [PHOTO SOURCE:  My photo, My Camera, 2011 on 'Beaver Pond Walk']

[AND, here is a short video of the DANCING DANDELIONS

 that I took with my camera on this walk. ~ dht-2011]

Three Butterfly Theme Poems

[PHOTO SOURCE: National Geographic online images]
***************
From Cocoon forth a Butterfly – A poem by Emily Dickinson

From Cocoon forth a Butterfly
As Lady from her Door
Emerged -- a Summer Afternoon --
Repairing Everywhere --

Without Design -- that I could trace
Except to stray abroad
On Miscellaneous Enterprise
The Clovers -- understood --

Her pretty Parasol be seen
Contracting in a Field
Where Men made Hay --
Then struggling hard
With an opposing Cloud --

Where Parties -- Phantom as Herself --
To Nowhere -- seemed to go
In purposeless Circumference --
As 'twere a Tropic Show --

And notwithstanding Bee -- that worked --
And Flower -- that zealous blew --
This Audience of Idleness
Disdained them, from the Sky --

Till Sundown crept -- a steady Tide --
And Men that made the Hay --
And Afternoon -- and Butterfly --
Extinguished -- in the Sea --

[~ Emily Elizabeth Dickinson, Poem #354]

***************

PHOTO SOURCE: National Geographic online images]

***************
Some such Butterfly be seen – A poem by Emily Dickinson

Some such Butterfly be seen
On Brazilian Pampas --
Just at noon -- no later -- Sweet --
Then -- the License closes --

Some such Spice -- express and pass --
Subject to Your Plucking --
As the Stars -- You knew last Night --
Foreigners -- This Morning –

[~ Emily Elizabeth Dickinson, Poem #541]

***************

[PHOTO SOURCE: National Geographic online images]

***************

Two butterflies went out at Noon -- A poem by Emily Dickinson

Two butterflies went out at Noon --
And waltzed upon a Farm --
Then stepped straight through the Firmament
And rested, on a Beam --

And then -- together bore away
Upon a shining Sea --
Though never yet, in any Port --
Their coming, mentioned -- be --

If spoken by the distant Bird --
If met in Ether Sea
By Frigate, or by Merchantman --
No notice -- was -- to me --

[~ Emily Elizabeth Dickinson, Poem #533]

***************

A SPECIAL THANK YOU to my Kindred Spirit and Counsin "C",  
for a PERFECT gift and remembrance -- A Book of Poems by Emily Dickinson.

Thank you for the gift, with warm affection, respect, and friendship, Dee
***************

Rainy Days - and - Rainbows

(Inspiration and sentiment for this writing, 25 May 2011, arrived from the rain that fell this morning over my roof, and set the leaves to sparkle in the sunshine -- the sunshine has come out and the sky that is 'chuck' full of glorious RAINBOWS! )

***************

A drop fell on the apple tree
Another on the roof;
A half a dozen kissed the eaves,
And made the gables laugh.

A few went out to help the brook,
That went to help the sea.
Myself conjectured, Were they pearls,
What necklaces could be!

The dust replaced in hoisted roads
The birds jocoser sung;
The sunshine threw his hat away,
The orchards spangles hung.

The breezes brought dejected lutes
And bathed them in the glee;
The East put out a single flag,
And signed the fete away.
[~ Emily Elizabeth Dickinson, Poem #794]


{A VERY SPECIAL THANK YOU to a VERY SPECIAL FRIEND for the VERY SPECIAL GIFT OF A BOOK OF POETRY and WRITINGS of EMILY ELIZABETH DICKINSON.  Emily was/is my Maternal DNA Cousin, and my very special friend that made me the gift of this book, and put a personal inscription inside,  is my Maternal Cousin and Kindred Spirit "C". [~ dht-2011] }

OR why didn't you just say so (Emily's poem):


It seems Emily's poem #794 is about a summer rain shower and how it refreshes and changes the land as the water cycles (a chain of nature as a chain of pearls in a necklace) through nature as rain, streams, rivers, seas, oceans, then evaporation and storms and rain again.   How the land is blessed, kissed by the rain, decorated by glittering raindrops, and dust is settled.   How the rain makes soft and cheery sounds on the roof and birds sing their song.   How the sunshine 'gave it up' and the clouds and rain prevailed in rain shower festivities (fete), until the sun came out again from the East and displayed a rainbow (flag).   How the rain and wind washes the leaves (pear shaped leaves like a lute).
[~ dht-2011]


[PHOTO SOURCE:  National Geographic Online image of Rainbow]

WHAT'S A BUTTERFLY

                                      [PHOTO SOURCE: GOOGLE online images]

***************

SOME OF MY FAV QUOTATIONS AND PROSE ABOUT THE BUTTERLY--


“What's a butterfly garden without butterflies?” [~Roy Rogers]

May the wings of the butterfly kiss the sun
And find your shoulder to light on,
To bring you luck, happiness and riches
Today, tomorrow and beyond.
[~Irish Blessing]

If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies. [~Author Unknown]

The fluttering of a butterfly's wings can effect climate changes on the other side of the planet. [~Paul Erlich]

There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly.
[~Richard Buckminster Fuller]

Beautiful and graceful, varied and enchanting, small but approachable, butterflies lead you to the sunny side of life. And everyone deserves a little sunshine.  
[~Jeffrey Glassberg]

The butterfly is a flying flower, the flower a tethered butterfly.  
[~Ponce Denis Écouchard Lebrun]

Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you. [~Nathaniel Hawthorne]

"Just living is not enough," said the butterfly, "one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower." [~Hans Christian Anderson]

Love is like a butterfly: It goes where it pleases and it pleases wherever it goes. [~Author Unknown]


I've watched you now a full half-hour;
Self-poised upon that yellow flower
And, little Butterfly! Indeed,
I know not if you sleep or feed.
How motionless! - not frozen seas,
More motionless! And then
What joy awaits you, when the breeze
Hath found you out among the trees,
And calls you forth again!
[~William Wordsworth, "To a Butterfly"]

I only ask to be free. The butterflies are free. [~Charles Dickens]

We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty. [~Author Unknown]


It is necessary to write, if the days are not to slip emptily by.
How else, indeed, to clap the net over the butterfly of the moment?
For the moment passes, it is forgotten; the mood is gone; life itself is gone. 
That is where the writer scores over his fellows: he catches the changes of his mind on the hop. [~Vita Sackville-West]

 We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it is forever. [~Carl Sagan]

The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough. [~Rabindranath Tagore]

I WISH YOU TIME ENOUGH, TO REACH YOUR HEART'S DESIRE WITH LOVE OVERFLOWING AND KINDRED SPIRITS TO SHARE IT WITH !! [DOROTHY HAZEL TARR, ~dht-2011]

***************
SO SAY I----->


DO you have a favorite BUTTERFLY poem, quote, saying, dream, and/or thought?


Any thoughts about the quotes proffered here about BUTTERFLYs?


WHAT does the BUTTERFLY mean to you (if anything)? (ie., change, love, spring, nature, bugs, insects)


WHAT SAY YOU -------> ????
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THE CHANGING SEASONS

                              [PHOTO SOURCE: National Geographic online images]

**********

The changing seasons

mark the passage of time

on NATURE's Landscape,

even as the lines on my cheeks

mark the hourglass

of my life's journey.

[dht-2011]

**********

NATURE'S HOURGLASS

                         [PHOTO SOURCE: National Geographic online images]
                         (Weathered clothes pins on clothes line in an outdoor setting)

SOME OF MY WORDS

Our middle years are the best of times and proffer a chance to take 'stock' of where we have been and where we want to go. Down the road of tomorrow, the ravages of age will line the face and make us frail. However, these are but layers of time cocooning the child that lives in happy wonderment of making it to another birthday. [~dht-2011]


Each year is a special gift that you can hold and put into your Heart's Treasure Chest nestled with all the treasures and memories of yesterday. [~dht-2011]

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SOME WORDS OF OTHERS


"I'm as old as my tongue and a little older than my teeth." [~Jonathan Swift]

Old Time, that greatest and longest established spinner of all!.... his factory is a secret place, his work is noiseless, and his hands are mutes. [~Charles Dickens]

A person is always startled when he hears himself seriously called an old man for the first time. [~Oliver W. Holmes, Sr.]

You are only young once, but you can stay immature indefinitely. [~Ogden Nash]

They say that age is all in your mind. The trick is keeping it from creeping down into your body. [~Author Unknown]

The other day a man asked me what I thought was the best time of life. "Why," I answered without a thought, "now." [~David Grayson]

Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many. [~Author Unknown]

Father Time is not always a hard parent, and, though he tarries for none of his children, often lays his hand lightly upon those who have used him well; making them old men and women inexorably enough, but leaving their hearts and spirits young and in full vigour. With such people, the grey head is but the impression of the old fellow's hand in giving them his blessing, and every wrinkle but a notch in the quiet calendar of a well-spent life. [~Charles Dickens]

Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been. [~Mark Twain]

It's important to have a twinkle in your wrinkle. [Author Unknown]

Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. [~Samuel Ullman]

There is always a lot to be thankful for, if you take the time to look. For example, I'm sitting here thinking how nice it is that wrinkles don't hurt. [~Author Unknown]

Middle age is when your age starts to show around your middle. [~Bob Hope]

The years teach much which the days never knew. [~Ralph Waldo Emerson]

In youth the days are short and the years are long; in old age the years are short and the days long. [~Nikita Ivanovich Panin]

A man's age is something impressive, it sums up his life: maturity reached slowly and against many obstacles, illnesses cured, griefs and despairs overcome, and unconscious risks taken; maturity formed through so many desires, hopes, regrets, forgotten things, loves. A man's age represents a fine cargo of experiences and memories. [~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry]

A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams. [~John Barrymore]

Thirty-five is when you finally get your head together and your body starts falling apart. [~Caryn Leschen]

Forty is the old age of youth; fifty the youth of old age. [~Victor Hugo]

Years ago, we discovered the exact point, the dead center of middle age. It occurs when you are too young to take up golf and too old to rush to the net. [~Franklin Adams]

Everyone is the age of their heart. [~Guatemalan Proverb]

Youth is a disease from which we all recover. [~Dorothy Fulheim]

There was no respect for youth when I was young, and now that I am old, there is no respect for age - I missed it coming and going. [~J.B. Priestly]

I still have a full deck; I just shuffle slower now. [~Author Unknown]

To be seventy years young is sometimes far more cheerful and hopeful than to be forty years old. [~Oliver Wendell Holmes]

Age is a high price to pay for maturity. [~Tom Stoppard]

The key to successful aging is to pay as little attention to it as possible. [~Judith Regan]

The first half of life consists of the capacity to enjoy without the chance; the last half consists of the chance without the capacity. [~Mark Twain]

The great secret that all old people share is that you really haven't changed in seventy or eighty years. Your body changes, but you don't change at all. And that, of course, causes great confusion. [~Doris Lessing]

There is still no cure for the common birthday. [~John Glenn]

Some people, no matter how old they get, never lose their beauty - they merely move it from their faces into their hearts. [~Martin Buxbaum]

You can't hide your true colours as you approach the autumn of your life. [~Author Unknown]

I don't believe one grows older. I think that what happens early on in life is that at a certain age one stands still and stagnates. [~T.S. Eliot]

Whatever poet, orator, or sage may say of it, old age is still old age. [~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]

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NATURE'S SECRETS

               [PHOTO SOURCE: National Geographic online images]

***************

SOME OF MY WORDS

WHAT sweet poetry of NATURE'S anthem

resides in this inhospitable shell

WHAT mental stream of consciousness

keynotes a monologue of regret

WHAT creature exists on Earth's plane

at the changing mercy of NATURE'S whimsy

WHAT awaits the searcher

at the gong of life's end clock

WHAT unanswered calls of yesterday

go unsaid today and forgotten tomorrow

WHAT new dawn foretells

of fortunes lost on yesterday dreams

WHAT spent passion wounds

there cauterized by heartache

WHAT layers yet to unfold

reveal repeating patterns of yesterday shadows

WHAT sweet NATURE does restore

the balance and chase away demons

WHAT instrument NATURE's brandish

doth level the sharpness of lingering regret

WHAT rich nectar of NATURE does sustain

through moments of despair with assurance all's well

[dht-2011]

***************

SOME WORDS OF MY KINDRED SPIRIT AND COUSIN

This is "sweet poetry" indeed!  The poem goes so well with the picture.  The thing that first caught my attention was the circular patterns in the photo and the poem seems to be of things 'coming around', changing, the "circle of life" (so to speak).  I would venture to say the above questions might be part of your creative process.  "... phantoms, demons, shadows await the explorer" to be sure, but adventure, beauty, and solitude also await.  Although the season is irrelevant (to me), I feel it is late Summer or early Fall ... and I am a "participant", i.e., it is me in the photo standing outside the tent - waiting for my companion to return (notice the two sleeping bags) and enjoy the perfect moment-in-time together.

***************

"OH MY WORD! YOU have such a poetic SOUL and NATURE! YOU 'see' what is only revealed by the inner heart! YOU are truly one of the NATURE'S BLESSED!! [dht-2011]

Twice BLESSED are ye who see the heart where time and 'stance masks!"

[dht-2011]

‎"Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing.”

[C. Pissarro]

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In this offering: What do you notice about the words? Their meaning? Sentence structure? Pairing of Sentences? First word, middle, or last words of Sentences? What words could be substituted? What connection words added for clarity? What meaning of your own would you assign to these words, phrases, sentences?

--------------- OR, Why didn't you just say so! ---------------

WHAT patterns do you see in this PIX?

WHAT mysteries of NATURE come to mind?

WHAT phantoms, demons, shadows await the explorer?

WHAT season is this?

WHAT time of day's cycle?

WHAT abode? Permanent? Temporal?

WHAT are you? Participant? Observer? Advisor? Companion? Uninvolved? Disinterested?

Don't give a 'hoot' or 'whistle'?

JUST an interesting PIX and some jumble of syllables?

---------------

Penguin -- Another Day, Another Nature

                         [PHOTO SOURCE: National Geographic online images]

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SOME OF MY FAV QUOTES

My grandmother used to say, “If you can't change something, change the way you think about it."

[-Maya Angelou]

**"GRAMs always 'know' best!"  [dht-2011]  **

 

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”

[-Maria Robinson]
 

“Even though we've changed and we're all finding our own place in the world, we all know that when the tears fall or the smile spreads across our face, we'll come to each other because no matter where this crazy world takes us, nothing will ever change so much to the point where we're not all still friends.”

[-unknown]

“The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.” 

[-Flora Whittemore]

“Sometimes it's the smallest decisions that can change your life forever.” 

[-Keri Russell]

“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.”

[-Pericles]

“There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction.”

[-Winston Churchill {Sir Winston Leonard Spencer -Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, PC, DL, FRS (30 Nov 1874 – 24 Jan 1965) was a British politician and statesman} (my Maternal Cousin, THAT's right!) ]

“Life can either be accepted or changed.  If it is not accepted, it must be changed.  If it cannot be changed, then it must be accepted.”  [-unknown]

“You've changed so much.  I guess that's what happens.  I wish you knew how much you changed me.  I wonder if I changed you, if your life is different because of me.  Because mine's different."

[-unknown]

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” 

[-Reinhold Niebuhr]

“Change is the essence of life.  Be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become.”  [-unknown]

“Everything in life is connected somehow.  You may have to dig deep to find it but it's there.  Everything is the same even though it's different.  Somehow, everything connects back with your life.  The faces in certain places may be different, but the situation is the same.  Irony is a hidden factor that creeps around us in life, letting its presence felt only after it has left.  Picture back to a year ago and the situations you were in.  Look at how things are different yet somehow everything is still in some way cognate [alike].  Everything connects together to form the balance of life, to maintain structure.  Change is and always will be inevitable, but everything is relative, and all the moments and times in your life will come back around again, you just might find yourself on the other side of the coin.  Things are always changing, as fast as everything stays the same.”

[-unknown]

“Do not brood over your past mistakes and failures as this will only fill your mind with grief, regret, and depression.  Do not repeat them in the future.”

[-Swami Sivananda]
 

“Life is change.  Growth is optional.  Choose wisely.”  [-unknown]

“We are not the same persons this year as last; nor are those we love.  It is a happy chance if we, changing, continue to love a changed person.”

[-William Somerset Maugham]

“It is always the simple things that change our lives.  And these things never happen when you are looking for them to happen.  Life will reveal answers at the pace life wishes to do so.  You feel like running, but life is on a stroll.  This is how God does things.” 

[-Donald Miller]

 

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SOME OF MY WORDS
 

TODAY, 26 Feb 2011, was a life-changing day for me.  So I am posting these sayings that seem to 'fit' my new perspective with a photo that seems to pair with the 'new' !!!!

MY FAV saying and the one that most 'fits' me today is the last quote by Donald Miller!

 

THE PHOTO illustrates to ME in its imagery ---

ALTHOUGH I may look different on the outside while among you, IF YOU LOOK CLOSELY, you will see how much we are the same—IF YOU TAKE THE 'TIME' TO LOOK CLOSELY!

[dht-2011]
 

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Emily Elizabeth Dickinson – Dawn and Doors

[Photo Source: My photo, my camera, my backyard capturing a fleeting beautiful Dawn.]

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POEM about 'Dawn and Doors'

(Below is a short poem written by my maternal Cousin Emily Elizabeth Dickinson that I first read 5 Feb 2011.  I have a fondness for poetry and prose that use "doors" and "sunrise" for thoughts and feelings.  A door used with sunrise, to me, means 'beginnings'.  Enjoy this short poem, again or for the first time, and let's see what it means to YOU !!)


Not knowing when the Dawn will come,

I open every Door,

Or has it Feathers, like a Bird,

Or Billows, like a Shore –

[Emily Elizabeth Dickinson, Poem # 1619]

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Emily Elizabeth Dickinson -- (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) "The Belle of Amherst", was an American poet.  Born in Amherst, Massachusetts, to a successful family with strong community ties, she lived a mostly introverted and reclusive life.  After she studied at the Amherst Academy for seven years in her youth, she spent a short time at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary before returning to her family's house in Amherst, Massachusetts.

Although Dickinson was a prolific private poet, fewer than a dozen of her nearly eighteen hundred poems were published during her lifetime.  The work that was published during her lifetime was usually altered significantly by the publishers to fit the conventional poetic rules of the time.  Dickinson's poems are unique for the era in which she wrote; they contain short lines, typically lack titles, and often use slant rhyme as well as unconventional capitalization and punctuation.  Many of her poems deal with themes of death and immortality, two recurring topics in letters to her friends.

Although most of her acquaintances were probably aware of Dickinson's writing, it was not until after her death in 1886—when" Vinnie" Lavinia Dickinson Norcross  (1833-1899), Emily's younger sister, discovered her cache of poems—that the breadth of Dickinson's work became apparent.  Her first collection of poetry was published in 1890 by personal acquaintances Thomas Wentworth Higginson and Mabel Loomis Todd, both of whom heavily edited the content.  A complete and mostly unaltered collection of her poetry became available for the first time in 1955 when The Poems of Emily Dickinson was published by scholar Thomas H. Johnson.  Despite unfavorable reviews and skepticism of her literary prowess during the late 19th and early 20th century, critics now consider Dickinson to be a major American poet. 

SOURCE:    [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Dickinson  ]

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Tribute to Cousin Emily – A Kindred Spirit


I am honored to share with Emily Dickinson the same many-Great-Grandparents (Moses Payne [1581 England-1643 Massachusetts, USA] and his wife Mary Benison Payne [1585 England-1616 England]); they were my Maternal 9th Great Grandparents and they were Emily's Maternal 6th Great Grandparents.  I feel as a kindred spirit with Emily for we both endured the day-to-day tasks of keeping house while caring for dear ones and making time to pursue songs of our heart.  Emily was an artist and used her genius to write beautiful poems as she used words to weave her thoughts and feelings of nature and life.   

Emily enjoyed the early hours of the day, and wrote many descriptive passages that included imagery of nature, sunrise, birds, and the hopes of what would be revealed in the new dawn.

WHAT THIS POEM sings to my heart

The newest addition to my bookshelf is a book of Emily Dickinson's writings.  It is a wonderful way to spend a few moments in the early hours opening to a random page and letting her poetry flow over my heart as she shares her thoughts on her daily life with poetic observations of time, nature, death, love, hope, society, and dawn.

In this particular poem, I can feel the myriad possibilities and opportunities that are available anew with each sunrise, as a 'new door is opened with the dawn of a new day'.

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