Sabrina Fair 
by John Milton

SongSweet Echo, sweetest nymph that liv'st unseen Within thy airy shell By slow Meander's margent green, And in the violet-imbroider'd vale Where the love-lorn nightingale Nightly to thee her sad song mourneth well: Canst thou not tell me of a gentle pair That likest thy Narcissus are? O if thou have Hid them in some flow'ry cave, Tell me but where Sweet Queen of Parley, Daughter of the Sphere, So mayst thou be translated to the skies, And give resounding grace to all heav'ns harmonies. Song Sabrina fair Listen where thou art sitting Under the glassy, cool, translucent wave, In twisted braids of lilies knitting The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair; Listen for dear honour's sake, Goddess of the silver lake, Listen and save.

Listen and appear to us In name of great Oceanus, By the earth-shaking Neptune's mace, And Tethys' grave majestic pace; By hoary Nereus' wrinkled look, And the Carpathian wizard's hook; By scaly Triton's winding shell, And old soothsaying Glaucus' spell; By Leucothea's lovely hands, And her son that rules the strands; By Thetis' tinsel-slipper'd feet, And the songs of Sirens sweet; By dead Parthenope's dear tomb, And fair Ligea's golden comb, Wherewith she sits on diamond rocks Sleeking her soft alluring locks; By all the nymphs that nightly dance Upon thy streams with wily glance, Rise, rise, and heave thy rosy head From thy coral-pav'n bed, And bridle in thy headlong wave, Till thou our summons answer'd have. Listen and save. Sabrina rises, attended by water-nymphs, and sings By the rushy-fringed bank, Where grows the willow and the osier dank, My sliding chariot stays, Thick set with agate, and the azurn sheen Of turkis blue, and em'rald green That in the channel strays, Whilst from off the waters fleet Thus I set my printless feet O'er the cowslip's velvet head, That bends not as I tread; Gentle swain at thy request I am here.

To My Mother

 

To My Mother

by Wendell Berry 

I was your rebellious son,

do you remember? Sometimes

I wonder if you do remember,

so complete has your forgiveness been.

So complete has your forgiveness been

I wonder sometimes if it did not

precede my wrong, and I erred,

safe found, within your love,

prepared ahead of me, the way home,

or my bed at night, so that almost

I should forgive you, who perhaps

foresaw the worst that I might do,

and forgave before I could act,

causing me to smile now, looking back,

to see how paltry was my worst,

compared to your forgiveness of it

already given. And this, then,

is the vision of that Heaven of which

we have heard, where those who love

each other have forgiven each other,

where, for that, the leaves are green,

the light a music in the air,

and all is unentangled,

and all is undismayed.

 

 

Mom, 

Your unfailing forgiveness 

The steadfastness of your own character 

And the steadfastness of your efforts in shaping my character

Your strength of heart and mind

While still remaining soft and feminine 

A woman that delights in the Lord and in people of all kinds

You've always kept a sense of grace in our home

Many are quick to judge, quick to blame

But the lasting impression of you has been your quickness to forgive

To bring grace to a world that experiences little of it

I want to have pride like you 

Like the Avett Brothers say,

"not the kind of pride that turns you bad"

But the kind that gives up selfish ambition 

And sees good and isn't afraid to live it

What I can say for myself is that 

You, mom, have shaped me

The parts of myself that I like

The times when I get real honest with myself and God

When I struggle and find some remnant of joy to smile about

When I don't take myself so seriously

And I can laugh at my shortcomings

But mostly when I reach out to God 

I find you there, encouraging me 

To keep pursuing what is good and lovely

Because that's who you are

A lover of beauty

The kind though that doesn't fade with time and age

But one that lasts for all of time

And one that has laid an imprint on my life

Continue in your way, mom

I love you

Natalie

Feel It

I'd like to touch the tops of the trees
Dive down to the deepest depth of the deepest ocean
Hear a symphony of beautiful sounds I never knew existed
Forgetting my humanity, I want to venture into the unknown

What good things I've never felt
I want to feel them
The rain to wash me on a mountaintop
I want solid souls all around me
A chorus of fairies flickering in the twilight
A drumbeat that I can dance to
Children of my own to laugh about me

I'm gonna run wild and free
I don't care what you think
I don't want to be stopped
Let me be invincible
Hop on one foot if I like
Or paint with chocolate

Get dirty in the mud
Float down a Tennessee river in the heat of the summer
Drink tea with the ladies in Kashmir
Share a story with the King of Morocco
Kiss you in the rain
Cast a spell on the world
Run the finest silk through my fingers
Lie with my ear to the ground for hours
As God speaks in rhythms and beats
Touch your skin in a field of lavender
Drive so fast that I can't see
I'll see magic at every glance

I feel God in the soil in my hands
I see His wonder in the buds of the pussy willow
He is the Master of color
He breathes His life into a world of dying things
He paints His beauty on the face of the moon
His love, it runs its course through my veins
Pulsing energy to go and be
To fall down at His feet in His world
With no fear of pain or death or sadness

For the rest of my days
I'll run with no fear
Through this world
Screaming until my voice is gone
Or He take me home
And I'll shatter all this doubt
With the throbbing tap of my bare feet on His earth
 
 

Don't Touch What You Don't Understand

You wanna touch the sleeve of my blouse?
Is it that difficult to resist my charms?
Or just why don't you pretend that I don't drive you mad?
So what if I'm alluring to you.

You think that my hair looks pretty
I've got soft, white skin
My style is unique, it's dream-like
I brought you to another world
I raise the bar, you say
I'm your little muse
But dear, you've gotten all confused

I won't play the muse
Cause I won't sit for you
A pretty picture just to admire and use
I'm a living, breathing child of God
Created to create
To be loved the way you wanna be loved
It's so damn shallow the way you care for me

Babe, stop all this objectifyin'
It's like you never had a mother
Respect a lady please
If you wanna call yourself a man
Your Ego, it's gotten out of hand
Why don't you take a minute to reflect
On your actions
You know the ones that make us cry

I won't be liked the way you wanna like me
So if that's your deal, no compromise
Well, you keep your hands in your pockets
Cause from now on we are just gonna talk
And you'll lose what you could've had
And I'll have a good laugh

Daily dose of Berry

"For the care or control of fertility, both that of the earth and that of our bodies, we have allowed a technology of chemicals and devices to replace the entirely cultural means of ceremonial forms, disciplines, and restraints.  We have gathered up the immense questions that surround the coming of life into the world and reduced them to simple problems for which we have manufactured and marketed simple solutions.  An infertile woman and an infertile field both receive a dose of chemicals, at the calculated risk of undesirable consequences, and are thus equally reduced to the status of productive machines.  As for unwanted life–sperm, ova, embryos, weeds, insects, etc.–we have the same sort of remedies, for sale, of course, and characteristically popularized by advertisements that speak much of advantages but little of problems… That is only a new battle in the old war between body and soul–as if we were living in front of a chorus of the most literal fanatics chanting: ‘If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out!  If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off!"


Wendell Berry’

A Kiss That's Hidden at the Corner of Her Mouth

She dreams in blues and golds
Waiting for the one who will steal
What she has concealed at the corner of her mouth
Maybe she's met him, maybe she hasn't
And maybe she never will
But her secret, oh that you will never know
And she will never tell
For you must feel it to know it
It rests, ever-so alluring on that rosy mouth

Maybe her lips have been kissed
But she has not given anyone the Kiss
What she holds in that corner
Well, you cannot possibly imagine
The magic, the delight when she chooses
The one
And she will choose with intention and purpose
And he will choose her
This Kiss is not for the faint of heart

If you steal it
It may raise you up to the divine
Or it may take you back home
But what is certain
Is the beauty that will follow
When he finds the Kiss that's hidden at the corner of her mouth

And some call her scared and some call her cold-hearted
For keeping such a secret for so long
But if you look closely she is sure
The Kiss is surely there, living, vibrant, willing
Tempting many
But allowing not a one
Beware, you may want it so bad it will drive you wild
But only she knows who deserves it

She sleeps with the window cracked
Maybe one night the wind will blow him in
To steal the Kiss and they will steal away into the black night
She dreams in blues and golds, waiting, saving it all
She dreams of you

Clickety Clack

"I'll twirl my little skirt
And it'll be my shoes instead of yours
My shoes instead of yours
My shoes screaming back
Click clack clickity click click click" 

Made to Love Magic

Made To Love Magic :

I was born to love no one
No one to love me
Only the wind in the long green grass
The frost in a broken tree.

I was made to love magic
All its wonder to know
But you all lost that magic
Many many years ago.

I was born to use my eyes
Dream with the sun and the skies
To float away in a lifelong song
In the mist where melody flies.

I was made to love magic...

I was born to sail away
Into a land of forever
Not to be tied to an old stone grave
In your land of never.

I was made to love magic. ..

Nick Drake

It's very cold and I have to get on to work

If You Go Away

One of my favorite songs to date:

If you go away
On this summer's day
Then you might as well
Take the sun away
All the birds that flew
In the summer sky
When our love was new
And our hearts were high
And the day was young
And the nights were long
And the moon stood still
For the night bird's song

If you go away
If you go away
If you go away...

But if you stay
I'll make you a day
Like no day has been
Or will be again
We'll sail on the sun
We'll ride on the rain
And talk to the trees
And worship the wind

But if you go
I'll understand
Leave me just enough love
To fill up my hand

If you go away
If you go away
If you go away...

If you go away
As I know you will
You must tell the world
To stop turning
'til you return again
If you ever do
For what good is love
Without loving you?
Can I tell you now
As you turn to go
I'll be dying slowly
'til the next hello

If you go away
If you go away
If you go away...

But if you stay
I'll make you a night
Like no night has been
Or will be again
I'll sail on your smile
I'll ride on your touch
I'll talk to your eyes
That I love so much

But if you go
I won't cry
Though the good is gone
From the word goodbye

If you go away
If you go away
If you go away...

If you go away
As I know you must
There is nothing left
In this world to trust
Just an empty room
Full of empty space
Like the empty look
I see on your face
And I'd been the shadow
Of your shadow
If you might have kept me
By your side

If you go away

Emiliana Torrini

# 9

What a magnificent piece of heartache this has all become
When are you going to stop setting on fire what's already been put out?
She feels like someone's been plotting her demise
Moon, won't you stop shining like that when he's on her mind?
December night, why does you wind smell of the sea?
So warm, intoxicating

This must be some cosmic trick she thought to herself
Every time she feels she's winning you
She's just losing you again
Since she's been lovin' you
You've been makin' springtime in the winter
You've caught her heart and her head's lost
And do you believe her when she says she'd do it all again?
Just because you didn't believe her
Doesn't mean she didn't mean it
If you'd just hold still a minute
Stop your runnin' out the back door
She'd quit trippin' on your actions

She wants you, you're the one
Yeah, I've see it in her eyes
You're the one