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