Quotes for the Soul

"Winter is on my head, but eternal spring is in my heart."
Victor Hugo

"Love is, above all, the gift of oneself."
Jean Anouilh

"Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired. "
Robert Frost

"Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come."
Matt Groening

Links of the Month

http://www.valentine.com

http://www.quotationspage.com/

http://www.everypoet.com/

Insight

~*~

Selections for your Valentine's Day Enjoyment...

~*~

Sonnet 57 by William Shakespeare

Being your slave, what should I do but tend
Upon the hours and times of your desire?
I have no precious time at all to spend,
Nor services to do, till you require.
Nor dare I chide the world-without-end hour
Whilst I, my sovereign, watch the clock for you,
Nor think the bitterness of absence sour
When you have bid your servant once adieu;
Nor dare I question with my jealous thought
Where you may be, or your affairs suppose,
But, like a sad slave, stay and think of nought
Save, where you are how happy you make those.
So true a fool is love that in your will,
Though you do any thing, he thinks no ill.

~*~*~*~*~*~

To Marie by Pierre de Ronsard
(loose translation from the original French)

As one sees on the branch in the month of May, the rose.
In her young beauty, in her first bloom,
To return the jealous sky of her living color
When the dawn of her tears, at the point of the day waters it.

The grave in her leaf, and love rests,
Embalming the gardens and the trees with scent
But beaten down either by rain or excessive heat.
Languish, she dies, leaf by leaf removed opens and falls

Thus, in your first and young novelty
When the earth and the sky will honor your beauty
The Fates that killed you, and dust you rest.

For the funeral, receive my tears and my crying
The vase full of milk, this basket full of flowers
So that, alive or dead, your body is only roses.

~*~*~*~*~*~

La Belle Dame Sans Merci by John Keats

Ah, what can ail thee, wretched wight,
Alone and palely loitering;
The sedge is wither'd from the lake,
And no birds sing.

Ah, what can ail thee, wretched wight,
So haggard and so woe-begone?
The squirrel's granary is full,
And the harvest's done.

I see a lily on thy brow,
With anguish moist and fever dew;
And on thy cheek a fading rose
Fast withereth too.

I met a lady in the meads
Full beautiful, a faery's child;
Her hair was long, her foot was light,
And her eyes were wild.

I set her on my pacing steed,
And nothing else saw all day long;
For sideways would she lean, and sing
A faery's song.

I made a garland for her head,
And bracelets too, and fragrant zone;
She look'd at me as she did love,
And made sweet moan.

She found me roots of relish sweet,
And honey wild, and manna dew;
And sure in language strange she said,
I love thee true.

She took me to her elfin grot,
And there she gaz'd and sighed deep,
And there I shut her wild sad eyes--
So kiss'd to sleep.

And there we slumber'd on the moss,
And there I dream'd, ah woe betide,
The latest dream I ever dream'd
On the cold hill side.

I saw pale kings, and princes too,
Pale warriors, death-pale were they all;
Who cry'd--"La belle Dame sans merci
Hath thee in thrall!"

I saw their starv'd lips in the gloam
With horrid warning gaped wide,
And I awoke, and found me here
On the cold hill side.

And this is why I sojourn here
Alone and palely loitering,
Though the sedge is wither'd from the lake,
And no birds sing.

Our Staff's Valentine's Day Poetry

~*~

Valentine's Day Poem by Stacey

Once upon a time
On Valentine's Day
Cupid was searching
For someone to play

With his bow and arrow
He started to fly
Looking for
The right girl and guy

Aha! He exclaimed
As he flew through the night
Finding a girl
Who came into sight

He headed for her
For whom he'd shoot first
Grabbing his bow
To quench his playful thirst

He pulled back his arm
And got her in the heart
The girl had gasped-
Cupid had a start

Now all he needed
Was to find the guy
So away he flew
Off into the sky

Flapping his wings
As he hovered above
He sprinkled the air
With friendship and love

He continued to search
For the perfect man
To carry out
His Valentine plan

All the while,
The girl who was struck
Made her move
And hoped for luck

For there was a man
Whom she had in mind
Hoping that
Cupid would find

Feeling courageous
On a whim
She wrote a poem
And sent it to him

The poem ended
With a simple line-
"Will you be
My Valentine?"

Now if you haven't
Thought it through,
This poem is about
Me and you

So watch yourself
On Valentine's Day
'Cuz I sent Cupid
Flying your way!

~*~*~*~*~*~

Timeless by Merle Stephenson

Thinking of you on such a beautiful Day
Know that my thoughts are never far away
Although we may be apart
You are embedded deep within my heart
And as the years go slowly by
We'll look up into the same blue sky
In every cloud I'll see your face
Sweet, lovely heavenly embrace
I'd love to be there with you now
Sweep you up into my arms and carry you away somehow
I took a part of you with me
And in my life wherever I go there you'll always be
We'll be together somewhere in my dreams tonight
Soaring through the heavens 'til the day brings the light
If I could have only one dream in life come true
It would be to spend just one more hour with you
And when someday I'm watching over you from far above
Know that even time can't stop this love

~*~*~*~*~*~

I Feel You by Sonja Greub

I long for the touch
of the sweetness of your mouth
pressed against mine.
I close my eyes to rest
and I feel you...
With my fingers trembling
I slowly move them
ever so gently
caressing tenderly and lovingly
across the softness
of my breasts
touching them as though
my hands were yours
and I feel you once again.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Loves Equations by Merle Stephenson

If X equals Y and Y equals two
Then Y equals us and my love equals you
You know math has never come easy to me
But when the equation includes you it's easy to see
The answer exists before the quandary is posed
My weakness is bared, my variables exposed
If you were a thousand miles from me tonight
How long would it be before I took flight?
I'd be there before you could count to one
For my love is as constant as the morning's sun
But if Z minus Y ever equaled losing you
Then S would equal sorrow and B would equal blue
You see loves equations are really nothing new
They're as easy as one and one equals two
So be my one and always count on me
Then forever will equal our love for all eternity

~*~*~*~*~*~

Untitled by Zarina

The sky was a gradient.
I thought you knew, life is no time for idle dreams and tutus.
You won’t get far if you seek direction from a guiding star.
Can’t you look me in the eye? Prove everything we are is more than a lie.
Your eyes are firmly rooted in the sky.
I spy with my little eye I’m losing you, I’m losing my life.
It’s evaporating into the cycle, you’re waving down a UFO, I’m starting to cry.
Don’t leave this matrix – your time here isn’t fixed.
If you hop on that bird how can I pretend I hadn’t heard your bliss.
I’m afraid if I followed I’d leap and then miss.
I’m grounded by the weather, whether or not I kissed a rainbow yesterday.
It deflected its beauty into a million pieces. I wanted to absorb a part of it.
But the rainbow was only essence, like the kiss of frost, my lips were pressed against a cool mist.
I opened my lids, you were gone.
In your place had spawned a willow tree, it weeps on rainy days for me.
Engraved in its trunk is the date of the eve of your departure.
Cupid never was an infallible archer.
Our arrow never received a proper burial.
It soars the seven seas, wanders aimlessly
sometimes dares to come near my ear whispering:

Do you remember when he left he said,
"I can’t tell you what our love has meant.
I can’t tell you the secret to happiness.
I can’t tell you if all my intellect was well spent.
I know this body was temporarily lent.
If there’s no afterlife and there’s no peace of mind, why repent?
Don’t say I was sent for you."
He held out his heart it was glowing amber fire as it bent.
And then he went.
With pools of ocean eyes tiding over he looked through me and said,
"The sky is a gradient."

~*~*~*~*~*~

The Gift by Merle Stephenson

You were sent to me as a gift from heaven
You stood before me as an angel
Your beauty and grace divinely shown on me
I am humbled by your presence
I tremble at your touch
I have loved you forever

~*~*~*~*~*~

Green Waters by Merle Stephenson

To walk with my love in the shade of the willows along the cool green waters of the river
To hold her and feel the passion rush through my body, overwhelming my senses
To slowly kiss her soft warm sweet lips, wishing it could last throughout eternity
Feeling her arms wrapped around me so tightly that we seem to become one
Looking into her eyes so deeply that I can see the beauty of her soul
To be with her is ecstasy, to hold her is heavenly, to dream of her is bliss

More Staff Poetry

~*~

A Seed to Blossom by Sonja Greub

A hand picked flower seed
to plant in honour of my desires
beauty blossoming in my garden
beyond seeds they did flourish
yet one stood out, looking all alone
it's leaves hung heavy, withered, tired
it was struggling to survive in life.
concerned by it's fragile existence
feeling sadness as I questioned its life
I felt my attempts were in vain
I let go, it was out of my hands
my expectations ran rather low
was I simply being pessimistic?
or learning to be more realistic?
really seeing life for what it is
births and deaths and deaths and births.
at that moment I witnessed a miracle
born a perfect flower to behold
on the eve of it's death,
a perfectly beautiful little flower
blossomed against all odds
Who would've thought?
Touched am I by this blessed gift
a message awaiting before my eyes,
is that within our darkest hours
even with the tiniest seed of hope,
we can bloom in love and life.
For me now, I've learnt to accept
that the flower plant may live or die,
Yet I will only feel gratitude
that I got the chance to see it blossom.

~*~*~*~*~*~

01/28/02 by Joe (Jough Boy) Bernhardt

With thoughts of new homecoming, today I cried
As oceans rise to form new skies
This new way of life to which I abide
Ignore dark reflections still in my eyes.

With thoughts of new homecoming, today I cried
As pearls break free from ebony shells
So shall the shrapnel of past be denied
And love that surrounds us may ring with the bells

With thoughts of new homecoming, today I cried
Prevailing over winds of blackness inside
With hope and courage I will not hide
This heartache and confusion will now subside.