All in All ~ Richard Ellwood

In all my lives
In all my trials
Throughout all of my journey

I sought to know the answers
Until one day I realized
I did not even know the question

Today I learned it
And in learning the question
I perceived the answer.

The Question: Am I?
The Answer: I am
In this exists all.

Namaste

Greatest Poem Ever Written ~ Michael Callahan

~Thanks to Jacob Prah for bringing this poem to my attention.~

Last night in bed
I wrote the greatest poem ever written.
It kept running through my head
and I beamed with pride at
having outperformed every poet
alive or dead.

You were asleep and I didn't have the heart
to move your head from my chest so I could
jot it down.

Soon I fell asleep
and the poem flew away
and buried itself in an
unmarked grave, totally forgotten.

I never remembered a word of it
and I really don't care
because you were warm and
fit me perfectly.

The Passionate Shepherd to His Love ~ Christopher Marlowe

Come live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove
That valleys, groves, hills, and fields,
Woods, or steepy mountain yields.

And we will sit upon rocks,
Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks,
By shallow rivers to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.

And I will make thee beds of roses
And a thousand fragrant poises,
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle
Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle;

A gown made of the finest wool
Which from our pretty lambs we pull;
Fair lined slippers for the cold,
With buckles of the purest gold;

A belt of straw and ivy buds,
With coral clasps and amber studs;
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me, and be my love.

The shepherds's swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May morning:
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me and be my love.

The Nymph's Reply ~ Sir Walter Raleigh

(This is a "sequel" to "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" by Christopher Marlowe)

If all the world and love were young,
And truth in every shepherd's tongue,
These pretty pleasures might me move
To live with thee and be thy love.

Time drives the flocks from field to fold
When rivers rage and rocks grow cold,
And Philomel becometh dumb;
The rest complains of cares to come.

The flowers do fade, and wanton fields
To wayward winter reckoning yields;
A honey tongue, a heart of gall,
Is fancy's spring, but sorrow's fall.

The gowns, thy shoes, thy beds of roses,
Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies
Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten,—
In folly ripe, in reason rotten.

Thy belt of straw and ivy buds,
Thy coral clasps and amber studs,
All these in me no means can move
To come to thee and be thy love.

But could youth last and love still breed,
Had joys no date nor age no need,
Then these delights my mind might move
To live with thee and be thy love.

Wild Horses ~ (M. Jagger/K. Richards; Performed by the Rolling Stones)

Childhood living is easy to do .
The things you wanted, I bought them for you .
Graceless lady, you know who I am .
You know I can't let you slide through my hands .

Wild horses couldn't drag me away.
Wild, wild horses, couldn't drag me away.

I watched you suffer a dull aching pain.
Now you decided to show me the same.
No sweeping exits or offstage lines
Could make me feel bitter or treat you unkind.

Wild horses couldn't drag me away.
Wild, wild horses, couldn't drag me away.

I know I dreamed you a sin and a lie.
I have my freedom, but I don't have much time.
Faith has been broken, tears must be cried.
Let's do some living after we die.

Wild horses couldn't drag me away.
Wild, wild horses, we'll ride them some day.

Wild horses couldn't drag me away.
Wild, wild horses, we'll ride them some day.

The Quiet One ~ John Entwistle (Performed by The Who)

Everybody calls me the quiet one.
You can see but you can't hear me,
Everybody calls me the quiet one.
You can try but you can't get near me,

I ain't never had the gift of gab,
But I can't talk with my eyes.
When words fail me, you won't nail me;
My eyes can tell you lies.

Still waters run deep, so be careful I don't drown you.
You've got nothing to hear, I've got nothing to say.
Sticks and stones may break your bones,
But names can never down you.
It only takes two words to blow you away.

Everybody calls me the quiet one,
But you just don't understand.
You can't listen, you won't hear me
With your head stuck in the sand.

I ain't never had time for words that don't rhyme,
My head is in a cloud.
I ain't quiet - everybody else is too loud.

The Snow Man ~ Wallace Stevens

One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;

And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
The spruces rough in the distant glitter

Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,

Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place

For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.

Making Contact ~ Virginia Satir

I believe
The greatest gift
I can conceive of having
from anyone
is
to be seen by them,
to be understood
and
touched by them.
The greatest gift
I can give
is to see, hear, understand
and to touch
another person.
When this is done
I feel
contact has been made.