Dream Within A Dream
Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream:
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.
I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep
While I weep–while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?
~Edgar Allen Poe 1849.
A Dream
In visions of the dark night
I have dreamed of joy departed
But a waking dream of life and light
Hath left me broken-hearted.
Ah! what is not a dream by day
To him whose eyes are cast
On things around him with a ray
Turned back upon the past?
That holy dream–that holy dream,
While all the world were chiding,
Hath cheered me as a lovely beam,
A lonely spirit guiding.
What though that light, thro’ storm and night,
So trembled from afar
What could there be more purely bright
In Truth’s day star?
~Edgar Allen Poe 1837
Into My Own
So old and firm they scarcely show the breeze,
Were not, as ’twere, the merest mask of gloom,
But stretched away unto the edge of doom.I should not be withheld but that some day
Into their vastness I should steal away,
Fearless of ever finding open land,
Or highway where the slow wheel pours the sand.
I do not see why I should e’er turn back
Or those should not set forth upon my track
To overtake me, who should miss me here
And long to know if still I held them dear.
They would not find me changed from him they knew
Only more sure of all I thought was true.”
~Robert Frost
From God’s Arms to My Arms to Yours
So many wrong decisions in my past,
I’m not quite sure if I could ever hope to trust my judgment anymore.
But lately I’ve been thinking, because it’s all I’ve had to do.
And in my heart I feel that I should give this child to you.
And maybe you can tell your baby when you love him so
that he’s been loved before
by someone who delivered your son
from God’s arms to my arms to yours.
And if you choose to tell him and if he wants to know
how the one who gave him life could bear to let him go,
just tell him there was sleepless nights I prayed and paced the floor
and knew the only peace I’d find is if this child was yours.
I know that you don’t have to do this, but could you kiss him once for me
the first time that he ties his shoe or falls or skins his knees?
and could you hold him twice as long when he makes his first mistake
and try to tell him that he’s not alone? Sometimes that’s all it takes.
And he’s not alone. I know how much he’ll ache
This may not be the answer for another girl like me
and I’m not on a soap box singing how we all should be.
I’m just trusting in my feelings and I’m trusting God above,
and I’m trusting that you can give this baby both his mother’s love.
~Michael McLean
Dear Lord
“As the sun sets on another day, Glowing softly in the west,
Please set a special place aside for our wonderful country’s best.
For the selfless men and women who knowingly give their all…
Who stand guard ’round our banner…and shall never let it fall.
They leave behind both spouse and child to protect and preserve our land,
They leave behind both hearth and home in service great and grand.
They endure heartache and hardship for an occasional word from home,
They endure sharp criticisms, and they often feel alone.
But Lord, please touch their souls tonight, somehow let them know we care,
That we’re standing right behind them, even when they’re “Over There”.
And Lord if they’re wet and cold in the darkness of a wild and rolling sea,
Or sweltering in the desert sands, and waiting patiently…
If they’re soaring through the silver clouds, or standing guard out in the rain,
If they’re laughing, living, loving…or in quiet, heartfelt pain.
Please, Lord tonight embrace them, Soldiers, Sailors one and all,
For they dearly love their country, and they daily give their all
For the young airman away from home, for the first time in his life,
And the officer far away, from his children and his wife.
To the women dressed in olive drab instead of skirts or jeans,
Because when you say “Patriot”…they can tell you what it means.
And Lord, if before this night is through, Heaven’s Gate should open wide,
And a soldier, airman, sailor or marine should step inside,
If he straightens to attention with a clicking of his boot,
And proudly states his presence with a textbook sharp salute,
Embrace him, Lord…and love him…in Your great and perfect way
For he was one of the best, dear Lord…the Pride of the USA.”
~Author Unknown
A Soldier
That lies unlifted now, come dew, come rust,
But still lies pointed as it ploughed the dust.
If we who sight along it round the world,
See nothing worthy to have been its mark,
It is because like men we look too near,
Forgetting that as fitted to the sphere,
Our missiles always make too short an arc.
They fall, they rip the grass, they intersect
The curve of earth, and striking, break their own;
They make us cringe for metal-point on stone.
But this we know, the obstacle that checked
And tripped the body, shot the spirit on
Further than target ever showed or shone.”
~Robert Frost
A Prayer in Spring
“Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers today;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year.
Oh, gives us pleasure in the orchard white,
Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night;
And make us happy in the happy bees,
The swarm dilating round the perfect trees.
And make us happing in the darting bird
Tha suddenly above the bees is heard,
The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill,
And off a blossom in mid-air stands still.
For this is love and nothing else is love,
The which it is reversed for God above
To sanctify to what far ends He will,
But which it only needs that wee fulfill.
~Robert Frost
Footprints
“One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord
Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky
In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand
Sometimes there were two sets of footprints
other times there were one set of footprints.
This bothered me because I noticed
that during the low periods of my life
when I was suffering from
anguish, sorrow or defeat
I could see only one set of footprints.
So I said to the Lord
You promised me Lord
that if I followed you
you would walk with me always
But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life
there have only been one set of footprints in the sand
Why, when I needed you most, you have not been there for me?
The Lord replied,
The times when you have seen only one set of footprints in the sand
is when I carried you.”
~Mary Stevenson
Friends
Real friends are hard to find
but they’ll always be there
when you’re in a bind
Always ready to care
and to help out
they’ll always come running
whenever you shout
I have friends like that
who are always there
who listen to everything
and who are more than fair
They’re always there
to pick me up
on the best friend list
they win the gold cup.
No matter what happens
we’ll always be together
that’s what friends are
to be there, forever
Thoughts
Lying alone thinking of you
things on my mind
I can’t undo
My heart is pounding
my pulse at race
through the fog of my thoughts
I see only your face
I feel your hand
softly on my cheek
Your touch fulfills
the love I seek
No one has ever known me
the way you do
the first time you touched me
is when I knew
I’ll love you forever
you’re my Superman
Your happiness is all that matters
and I’ll do what I can