If you had the right plug-in, you would be hearing nice music now.

TRANQUILITY by Susan Stanley 1997. *See note at bottom of page.

"To see a world in a grain of sand

And a Heaven in a wild flower,

Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand

And Eternity in an hour".

From Auguries of Innocence, By William Blake (1757-1827)

THE LAKE ISLE OF INNISFREE

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree.

And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;

Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee,

And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,

Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;

There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,

And evening full of the linnet's wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day

I hear the lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;

While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements gray,

I hear it in the deep heart's core.

By William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

What if you slept,

And what if,

In your sleep

You dreamed?

And what if,

In your dream,

You went to heaven

And there plucked

A strange and beautiful flower?

And what if,

When you awoke,

You had the flower

In your hand?

What then?"

(I don't know who wrote this, but it was in a book I read by Deepak Chopra)

HIGH FLIGHT

Oh I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth

And danced the skies on laughter silvered wings;

Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth

Of sun-split clouds -- and done a hundred things

You have not dreamed of --

Wheeled and soared and swung

High in the sunlit silence,

Hov'ring there,

I've chased the shouting wind along

And flung

My eager craft through footless halls of air...

Up, up the long, delirious burning blue

I've topped the wind-swept hights

With easy grace,

Where never lark,

Or even eagle flew ----

And, while with a silent, lifting mind

I've trod

The high untrespassed sanctity of space,

Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

By John Magee; The soldier poet (1922-1941)

Dedicated with love to my dear friend, Camilla Collupy -She loves this poem.

SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGUESE

(43)

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight

For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.

I love thee to the level of every day's

Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.

I love thee freely, as men strive for right;

I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.

I love thee with the passion put to use

In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

With my lost saints - I love thee with the breath,

Smiles, tears, of all my life! -and, if God choose,

I shall but love thee better after death.

By Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)

SUDDEN LIGHT

I have been here before,

But where or how I cannot tell:

I know the grass beyond the door,

The sweet keen smell,

The sighing sound, the lights around the shore.

You have been mine before,-

How long ago I may not know:

But just when at that swallow's soar

Your neck turned so,

Some veil did fall, - I knew it all of yore.

Has this been thus before?

And shall not thus times eddying flight

Still with our lives our loves restore

In death's despite,

And day and night yield and delight once more.

By Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882)

THE SOLDIER

If I should die, think only this of me;

That there's some corner of a foreign field

That is forever England. There shall be

In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;

A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,

Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,

A body of England's breathing English air,

Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.

And think, this heart, all evil shed away,

A pulse in the eternal mind, no less

Gives something back the thoughts of England given;

Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;

And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,

In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

By Rupert Brook (1887-1915)

Dedicated with love to my dear friend, Hilda Seftor.

THE DAFFODILS

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a cloud,

A host of golden daffodils,

Beside the lake, beneath the trees

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they

Out-did the sparkling waves with glee:

A poet could not but be gay

In such a jocund company!

I gazed - and gazed - but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

By William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

DESIDERATA

Go placidly amid the noise and haste and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth
quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others you may become vain and bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue
and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Found in 16th century church. Author Unknown.

This is just the beginning -there is much more to come.

This page is for my favorite poetry. If any of you have something you love and would like to see it here, please send it to me and I will put it here with mine.

*The music is titled "Watermark" by Enya from the album of the same title.

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Copyright � 1997, 1998. Susan Stanley.