Words of Wisdom

This page like my other two poetry pages is about love. Unlike those pages the poems contained here are not about the love between a man and a woman, but rather it is about an even greater love. Love for mankind and humanity. Of the TV series "Beauty and the Beast", one of the greatest lessons taught and shown was about just this kind of love. Granted I'll admit that there was violence contained in the show, but I feel that the messages of Love, Unity, Friendship, Family, and Self-sacrifce far outweighed the violent aspects of the series. The first poem I'm presenting, I call "Father's Creed". Its not really anything that Father said verbatim in the series, but when I first read this poem, I could so very clearly imagine Father saying this to the Tunnel Community that he created. This poem epitomized for me all that Father stood for and felt, and it epitomized everything that the Tunnel Community represented as well. It's for this reason I've renamed it "Father's Creed", and why I've included it first in this selection of poetry.

Father's Creed

(In the Silence All is One Spirit)

The Universe speaks in many languages, but in only one voice.

The language is not English, or French or Chinese or African.

It speaks the language of hope.

It Speaks in the language of trust, the language of strength

And the language of compassion.

It is the language of the heart and the language of the soul.

But always it is the same voice...

The voice of our ancestors speaking through us.

The voice of our inheritors waiting to be born.

It is the small, still voice that says we are one.

No matter the blood, no matter the skin, no matter the country.

We are One.

No matter the pain, no matter the darkness,

No matter the loss, no matter the fear.

We are One

Here, gathered together in common cause,

We agree to recognise this singular truth and this singular rule.

That we must be kind to one and other...

Because each voice enriches us and enobles us

And each voice lost diminishes us.

We are the voice of the Universe.

The soul of Creation

The fire that will light the day to a better future.

We are One.

Naomi Shifra

Floral Vase with a Red Poppy (Odilon Redon)

One

One song can spark a moment,

One flower can wake the dream.

One tree can start a forest,

One bird can herald spring.

One smile begins a friendship,

One handclasp lifts a soul.

One star can guide a ship at sea,

One word can frame the goal.

One vote can change a nation,

One sunbeam lights a room.

One candle wipes out darkness,

One laugh will conquer gloom.

One step must start each journey,

One word must start each prayer.

One hope will raise our spirits,

One touch can show you care.

One voice can speak with wisdom.

One heart can know what's true.

One life can make the difference,

You see it's up to You!

Anonomous

Young Girl With Brown Hair (Amedeo Modigliani)

.If I Had Known

If I had known what trouble your were bearing;

What griefs were in the silence of your face;

I would have been more gentle, and more caring,

And tried to give you gladness for a space.

I would have brought more warmth into the place,

If I had known.

If I had known what thoughts despairing drew you;

(Why do we never try to understand?)

I would have lent a little friendship to you,

And slipped my hand within your hand,

And made your stay more pleasent in the land,

If I had known.

Mary Carolyn Davies

The Summer Night (Winslow Homer)

Friendship

Oh, The comfort-the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person,

Having neither to weigh thoughts,

Nor measure words-but pouring them

All right out-just as they are-

Chaff and grain together-

Certain that a faithful hand will

Take and sift them-

Keep what is worth keeping-

And with the breath of kindness

Blow the rest away.

Dinah Maria Mulock Craik

The Horsedrawn Carriage (Camille Pissaro)

.I Shall Not Pass This Way Again

Through this toilsome world, alas!

Once and only once I pass;

If a kindness I may show,

If a good deed I may do

To a suffering fellow man,

Let me do it while I can.

No delay, for it is plain

I shall not pass this way again.

Unknown

The Poppies (Claude Monet)

A Mile With Me

O who will walk a mile with me

Along Life's merry way?

A comrade blithe and full of glee,

Who dares to laugh out loud and free,

And let his frolic fancy play,

Like a happy child, through the flowers gay

That fill the field and fringe the way

Where he walks a mile with me.

And who will walk a mile with me

Along life's weary way?

A friend whose heart has eyes to see

The stars shine out o'er the darkening lea,

And the quiet rest at the end o' the day,-

A friend who knows, and dares to say,

The brave, sweet words that cheer the way

Where he walks a mile with me.

With such a comrade, such a friend,

I fain would walk till journey's end,

Through summer sunshine, winter rain,

And then?-Farewell, we shall meet again!

Henry Van Dyke

Lilacs In Gray (Claude Monet)

Hold Fast Your Dreams

Hold fast your dreams!

Within your heart

Keep one still, secret spot

Where dreams may go,

And, sheltered so,

May thrive and grow

Where doubt and fear are not.

O keep a place apart,

Within your heart,

For little dreams to go!

Think still of lovely things that are not true.

Let wish and magic work at will in you.

Be sometimes blind to sorrow. Make believe!

Forget the calm that lies

In disillusioned eyes.

Though we all know that we must die,

Yet you and I

May walk like gods and be

Even now at home in immortality.

We see so many ugly things-

Deceits and wrongs and quarrelings;

We know, alas! we know

How quickly fade

The color in the west,

The bloom upon the flower,

The bloom upon the breast

And youth's blind hour.

Yet keep within your heart

A place apart

Where little dreams may go,

May thrive and grow.

Hold fast-hold fast your dreams!

Louise Driscoll

Self Portrait at his Easel (Rembrandt Van Rijn)

Who Are My People?

My People? Who are they?

I went into the church where the congregation

Worshiped my God. Were they my people?

I felt no kinship to them as they knelt there.

My people! Where are they?

I went into the land where I was born,

Where men spoke my language...

I was a stranger there.

"My people," my soul cried. "Who are my people?"

Last night in the rain I met an old man

Who spoke a language I do not speak,

Which marked him as one who does not know my God.

With apologetic smile he offered me

The shelter of his patched umbrella.

I met his eyes...And then I knew...

Rosa Zagnoni Marinoni

Conversatins in A Park (Thomas Gainsbourough)

Tell Him So

If you hear a kind word spoken

Of some worthy soul you know,

It may fill his heart with sunshine

If you only tell him so.

If a deed, however humble,

Helps you on your way to go,

Seek the one whose hand has helped you,

Seek him out and tell him so!

If your heart is touched and tender

Toward a sinner, lost and low,

It might help him to do better

If you'd only tell him so!

O, my sisters, oh, my brothers,

As o'er life's rough path you go,

If God's love has saved and kept you,

Do not fail to tell men so!

Unknown

The Gleaners (Jean Francois Millet)

A Bag of Tools

Isn't it strange

That princes and kings,

And clowns that caper

In sawdust rings,

And common people

Like you and me

Are builders for eternity?

Each is given a bag of tools,

A shapeless mass,

A book of rules;

And each must make-

Ere life is flown-

A stumbling block

Or a steppingstone.

R.L.Sharpe

The Footbridge At Argenteuil (Alfred Sisley)

Watch Yourself Go By

Just stand aside and watch yourself go by;

Think of yourself as "he" instead of "I".

Note, closely as in other men you note,

The bag-kneed trousers and the seedy coat.

Pick flaws; find fault; forget the man is you,

And strive to make your estimate ring true.

Confront yourself and look you in the eye-

Just stand aside and watch yourself go by.

Interpret all your motives just as though

You looked on one whose aims you did not know.

Let undisguised contempt surge through you when

You see you shirk, O commonest of men!

Despise your cowardice; condemn whate'er

You note of falsness in you anywhere.

Defend not one defect that shames your eye-

Just stand aside and watch yourself go by.

And then, with eyes unveiled to what you loathe,

To sins that with sweet charity you'd clothe,

Back to your self-walled tenement you'll go

With tolerance for all who dwell below.

The faults of others then will dwarf and shrink,

Love's chain grow stronger by one mighty link,

When you, with "he" as substitute for "I",

have stood aside and watched yourself go by.

Strickland Gillilan

Waterlily Pond (Claude Monet)

Drop A Pebble In The Water

Drop a pebble in the water: just a splash, and it is gone;

But there's half-a-hundred ripples circling on and on and on,

Spreading, spreading from the center, flowing on out to the sea.

And there is no way of telling where the end is going to be.

Drop a pebble in the water: in a minute you forget,

But there's little waves a-flowing, and there's ripples circling yet,

And those little waves a-flowing to a great big wave have grown;

You've disturbed a mighty river just by dropping in a stone.

Drop an unkind word, or careless: in a minute it is gone;

But there's half-a-hundred ripples circling on and on and on.

They keep spreading, spreading, spreading from the center as they go,

And there is no way to stop them, once you've started them to flow.

Drop an unkind word, or careless: in a minute you forget;

But there's little waves a-flowing, and there's ripples circling yet,

And perhaps in some sad heart a mighty wave of tears you've stirred,

And disturbed a life was happy ere you dropped that unkind word.

Drop a word of cheer and kindness: just a flash and it is gone;

But there's half-a-hundred ripples circling on and on and on,

Bearing hope and joy and comfort on each splashing, dashing wave

Till you wouldn't believe the volume of the one kind word you gave.

Drop a word of cheer and kindness: in a minute you forget;

But there's gladness still a-swelling, and there's joy a-circling yet,

And you've rolled a wave of comfort whose sweet music can be heard

Over miles and miles of water jsut by dropping one kind word.

James W. Foley

Don Quixote (Honore Daumier)

Fate

Two shall be born, the whole wide world apart,

And speak in different tongues and have not thought

Each of the other's being, and no heed;

And these, o'er unknown seas, to unknown lands

Shall cross, escaping wreck, defying death;

And all unconsciously shape every act

And bend each wandering step to this one end-

That one day out of darkness they shall meet

And read life's meaning in each other's eyes.

And two shall walk some narrow way of life

So nearly side by side that, should one turn

Ever so little space to left or right,

They needs must stand acknowledged, face to face,

And yet, with wistful eyes that never meet,

And groping hands that never clasp, and lips

Calling in van to ears that never hear,

They seek each other all their weary days

And die unsatisfied-and this is Fate!

Susan Marr Spalding

The Angelus (Jean-Francois Millet)

You Never Can Tell

You never can tell when you send a word

Like an arrow shot from a bow

By an archer blind, be it cruel or kind,

Just where it may chance to go,

It may pierce the breast of your dearest freind,

Tipped with its poison or balm,

To a stranger's heart in life's great mart

It may carry its pain or its calm.

You never can tell when you do an act

Just what the result will be,

But with every deed you are sowing a seed,

Though the harvest you may not see.

Each kindly act is an acorn dropped

In God's productive soil;

You may not know, but the tree shall grow

With shelter for those who toil.

You never can tell what your thoughts will do

In bringing you hate or love,

For thoughts are things, and their airy wings

Are swifter than carrier doves.

They follow the law of the universe-

Each thing must create its kind,

And they speed o'er the track to bring you back

Whatever went out from your mind.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

The Meditation of The Philosopher (Rembrandt Van Rijn)

A Creed

There is a destiny that makes us brothers;

None goes his way alone:

All that we send into the lives of others

Comes back into our own.

I care not what his temples or his creeds,

One thing holds firm and fast-

That into his fateful heap of days and deeds

The soul of man is cast

Edwin Markham.

Landscape By The Water (Camille Corot)

My Church

My church has but one temple,

Wide as the world is wide,

Set with a million stars,

Where a million hearts abide.

My church has no creed to bar

A single brother man

But says, "Come thou and worship"

To every one who can.

My church has no roof nor walls,

Nor floors save the beautiful sod-

For fear, I would seem to limit

The love of the illimitable God.

Unknown, signed E.O.G.

Young Woman In A Garden (Mary Cassatt)

The Sin Of Omission

It isn't the thing you do, dear,

It's the thing you leave undone

That gives you a bit of a heartace

At setting of the sun.

The tender word forgotten,

The letter you did not write,

The flowers you did not send, dear,

Are your haunting ghosts at night.

The stone you might have lifted

Out of a brother's way;

The bit of heartsome counsel

You were hurried too much to say;

The loving touch of the hand, dear,

The gentle, winning tone

Which you had no time not thought for

With troubles enough of your own.

Those little acts of kindness

So easily out of mind,

Those chances to be angels

Which we poor mortals find-

They come in night and silence,

Each sad, reproachful wraith,

When hope is faint and flagging,

And a chill has fallen on faith.

For life is all too short, dear,

And sorrow is all too great,

To suffer our slow compassion

That tarries until too late;

And it isn't the thing you do, dear,

It's the thing you leave undone

Which gives you a bit of a heartache

At the setting of the sun.

Margaret E. Sangster

The Beggers (Peter Bruegel)

Man's Inhumanity To Man

Many and sharp the numerous ills

Inwoven with our frame;

More pointed still, we make ourselves

Regret, remorse and shame;

And man, whose heaven-erected face

The smiles of love adorn,

Man's inhumanity to man,

Makes countless thousands mourn.

Robert Burns

The Card Players (Paul Cezanne)

Life's a Game

This life is but a game of cards,

Which everyone must learn;

Each shuffles, cuts, and deals the deck,

And then a trump does turn;

Some show up a high card,

While others make it low,

And many turn no cards at all-

In fact, they cannot show.

When hearts are up we play for love,

And pleasure rules the hour;

Each day goes pleasantly along,

In sunshine's rosy bower.

When diamonds chance to crown the pack

That's when men stake their gold,

And thousands then are lost and won,

By gamblers, young and old.

When clubs are trump look out for war,

On ocean and on land,

For bloody deeds are often done

When clubs are held in hand.

At last turns up the darkened spade,

Held by the toiling slave,

And a spade will turn up trump at last

And dig each player's grave.

Unknown

The Ball At The Moulin De Galette (Pierre-Auguste Renoir)

Lifting and Leaning

There are two kinds of people on earth today,

Just two kinds of people, no more, I say.

Not the good and the bad, for 'tis well understood

The good are half bad and the bad are half good.

Not the happey and sad, for the swift-flying years

Bring each man his laughter and each man his tears.

Not the rich and the poor, for to count a man's wealth

You must first know the state of his conscience and health.

Not the humble and proud, for in life's busy span

Who puts on vain airs is not counted a man.

No! the two kinds of people on earth I mean

Are the people who lift and the people who lean.

Wherever you go you will find the world's masses

Are ever divided in just these two classes.

And, strangely enough, you will find, too, I ween,

There is only one lifter to twenty who lean.

In which class are you? Are you easing the load

Of overtaxed lifters who toil down the road?

Or are you a leaner who lets others bear

Your portion of worry and labor and care?

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

The Country Dance (Pierre-Auguste Renior)

Any Wife or Husband

Let us be guests in one another's house

With deferential "No" and courteous "Yes";

Let us take care to hide our foolish moods

Behind a certain show of cheerfulness.

Let us avoid all sullen silences;

We should find fresh and sprightly things to say;

I must be fearful lest you find me dull,

And you must dread to bore me any way.

Let us knock gently at each other's heart,

Glad of a chance to look within-and yet

Let us remember that to force one's way

Is the unpardoned breach of etiquette.

So shall I be hostess-you, the host-

Until all need for entertainment ends;

We shall be lovers when the last door shuts,

But what is better still-we shall be freinds.

Carol Haynes

The Raft of the Medusa (Theodore Gericault)

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matter not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul .

William Ernest Benley

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