AUTUMN
DECEMBER 2012

May 31, 2010

WORDS

my weekly posting of a poem, a quote and a passage from literature.


After a While
After a while you learn
The subtle difference between
holding a hand
and chaining a soul 
and you learn 
that love doesn't mean 
leaning
and company doesn't always mean
security.
And you begin to learn
That kisses aren't contracts and 
presents aren't promises
and you begin to
accept your defeats 
with your head up and your eyes ahead
with the grace of a woman
not the grief of a child
and you learn
To build all your roads on today 
because tomorrow's ground is
too uncertain for plans 
and futures have a way of falling down
in mid-flight. 
After a while you learn
That even sunshine burns
If you ask too much.
So you plant your own garden,
and decorate your own soul
instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers
 and you learn
that you really can endure
that you really are strong
and you really do have worth
And you learn
And you learn
with every goodbye 
You learn . . . 
~Veronica Shoffstall 

"When at last I took the time to look into the heart of a flower, it opened up a whole new world...as if a window had been opened to let in the sun."
~ Princess Grace of Monaco

"I looked again at the heap of quilts. An hour ago they had been patchwork and nothing more. But now! The old woman's words had wrought a transformation in the homely mass of calico and silk and worsted. Patchwork? Ah, no! It was memory, imagination, 

history, 
biography, 
joy, 
sorrow, 
philosophy, religion, romance, realism, life, love, and death; and over all, like a halo, the love of the artist for his work and the soul's longing for earthly immortality."

  ~from Aunt Jane of Kentucky by Eliza Calvert Hall



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