I’ve no spade to follow men like them’ Seamus Heaney

 

http://www.australianpoetry.org/2013/10/09/so-there-will-now-be-silence-when-we-call-seamus-heaneys-name/

“Call a jack a jack. Call a spade a spade. But always call a whore a lady. Their lives are hard enough, and it never hurts to be polite.”

― Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind

MAKING A GARDEN

‘Tis time to go with spade and hoe

Into the yard to toil.

The shattered sash and other trash

Help fertilise the soil.

The broken glass which we amass

Ere springtime makes its bow

Will come in fine, as I opine.

For good top dressing now.

1912 ‘MAKING A GARDEN.’, Camperdown Chronicle (Vic. : 1877 – 1954), 13 August, p. 5 Supplement: Unknown, viewed 25 February, 2014, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article26122726

空手把鉏頭         Empty-handed I go and yet the spade is in my hands;

Dogs bark but the caravan moves on. Arab

 

The Richmond River Herald and Northern Districts Advertiser (NSW : 1886 – 1942), Friday 29 June 1934

“Take almost any path you please, and ten to one it carries you down in a dale, and leaves you there by a pool in the stream.  There is magic in it.  Let the most absent-minded of men be plunged in his deepest reveries-stand that man on his legs, set his feet a-going, and he will infallibly lead you to water, if water there be in all that region.  Should you ever be athirst in the great American desert, try this experiment, if your caravan happen to be supplied with a metaphysical professor.  Yes, as every one knows, meditation and water are wedded forever.”

–  Herman Melville, Moby Dick

An animal will always look for a person’s intentions by looking them right in the eyes. H. Powers

Fear less, hope more; Whine less, breathe more; Talk less, say more; Hate less, love more; And all good things are yours. ~Swedish proverb

Read more: http://www.gadel.info/2011/08/love-quotes-love-sayings-love-poems-and.html#ixzz2ph7WksAn

“To hold, you must first open your hand. Let go”. Lao Tzu

http://sillysutras.com/surrender-quotes/

 

foto saffron in bellingen nsw australia

Nightfall, Dalat, Vietnam

Dusk slides down the gullet,
is devoured whole
by the mouth of transience,
does not exist:
the day, requited,
is clasped by ebony fingers,
surrenders smooth to waiting dark.

David Adès

David Adès

Go barefoot. Or walk on the beach at sunset. Stop off on the way home tonight to get a double-dip ice cream cone.

http://www.dreamquestone.com/quotations.html

 

 

As I come down the hill from Toro Poutini’s house
My feet are sore, being bare, on the sharp stones
And that is a suitable penance. The dust of the pa road
Is cool, though, and I can see
The axe of the moon shift down behind the trees
Very slowly. The red light from the windows
Of the church has a ghostly look, and in
This place ghosts are real. The bees are humming loudly
In moonlight in their old hive above the church door
Where I go to kneel, and come out to make my way
Uphill past a startled horse who plunges in the paddock
Above the nunnery. Now there are one or two
Of the tribe back in the big house—What would you have me do,
Kind Jesus? Your games with me have turned me into a boulder.

The Sacred Politics of James K. Baxter

http://www.australianpoetry.org/2012/11/26/the-sacred-politics-of-james-k-baxter/

 

foto – child in bellingen nsw australia at xmas 

Shooter Teton Sioux All birds, even those of the same species, are not alike, and it is the same with animals and with human beings. The reason WakanTanka does not make two birds, or animals, or human beings exactly alike is because each is placed here by WakanTanka to be an independent individuality and to rely upon itself.

http://www.ilhawaii.net/~stony/quotes.html

“Who would deduce the dragonfly from the larva, the iris from the bud, the lawyer from the infant? …We are all shape-shifters and magical reinventors. Life is really a plural noun, a caravan of selves.”

― Diane Ackerman

Wise? No, I simply learned to think.”

― Christopher Paolini, Eldest

I believe that in our constant search for security we can never gain any peace of mind until we are secure in our own soul.

– Margaret Chase Smith

The source of a true smile is an awakened mind. Smiling helps you approach the day with gentleness and understanding.

Thich Nhat Hanh

“The day wore on, and all these bright colours subsided, and assumed a quieter tint, like young hopes softened down by time, or youthful features by degrees resolving into the calm and serenity of age. But they were scarcely less beautiful in their slow decline, than they had been in their prime; for nature gives to every time and season some beauties of its own; and from morning to night, as from the cradle to the grave, is but a succession of changes so gentle and easy, that we can scarcely mark their progress.”

― Charles Dickens

I can’t help flying up on the wings of anticipation. It’s as glorious as soaring through a sunset – almost pays for the thud.”

― L.M. Montgomery

Many live in dread of what is coming. Why should we? The unknown puts adventure into life. … The unexpected around the corner gives a sense of anticipation and surprise. Thank God for the unknown future.

E. Stanley Jones

The sheep are yarded, an’ I sit Beside the fire an’ poke at it. Far from talk an’ booze o’ men Glad, I’m glad I’m back agen. The Old Black Billy and Me. Louis Esson.

 

She had the loaded handbag of someone who camps out and seldom goes home, or who imagines life must be full of emergencies.
-Mavis Gallant

The happiest asks directions, even though he knows the way.

“Once you make a journey to a near impossible destination, you get to realize how everything and anything is possible”

― Luthfy Es-Haq

One’s dignity may be assaulted, vandalized and cruelly mocked, but it can never be taken away unless it is surrendered.

Michael J. Fox

The Bridge Builder

An old man, going a lone highway,
Came, at the evening, cold and grey,
To a chasm, vast, and deep, and wide,
Through which was flowing a sullen tide.

The old man crossed in the twilight dim;
The sullen stream had no fear for him;
But he turned, when safe on the other side,
And built a bridge to span the tide.

“Old man,” said a fellow pilgrim, near,
“You are wasting strength with building here;
Your journey will end with the ending day;
You never again will pass this way;
You’ve crossed the chasm, deep and wide-
Why build you this bridge at the evening tide?”

The builder lifted his old gray head:
“Good friend, in the path I have come,” he said,
“There followeth after me today,
A youth, whose feet must pass this way.

This chasm, that has been naught to me,
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be.
He, too, must cross in the twilight dim;
Good friend, I am building this bridge for him.”

By Will Allen Dromgoole

What will your legacy be?

Manvotional: The Bridge Builder

All day he plays, — a single tune ! But, by the oddest chances, Gavotte, or Brawl, or Rigadoon, It suits all kinds of dances.

"Proverbs in porcelain, and other verses"

Today my thoughts are centred on expecting only the best
and giving only the best.

http://users.sa.chariot.net.au/~kday/thoughtsandpoems.html#Today is My Day

foto – corral at raleigh 2010

The happy man canna be harried. Scot.

“A collection of Gaelic proverbs and familiar phrases : based on Macintosh’s collection“

Happy is that which is shared ; pity him who fares alone.

How can a donkey know what saffron is? Saffron is one of the most delicate and expensive seasonings. It is used to flavour rice. Expression refers to people’s stupidity.

Azerbaijan International

“I remember a hundred lovely lakes, and recall the fragrant breath of pine and fir and cedar and poplar trees. The trail has strung upon it, as upon a thread of silk, opalescent dawns and saffron sunsets.”

Hamlin Garland.

foto – new baby 2010

A man should avoid these six evils: lust, anger, avarice pleasure, pride, and rashness, for free of these he may be happy. (Sanskrit).

I Came to buy a smile—today—But just a single smile—The smallest one upon your faceWill suit me just as well—The one that no one else would missIt shone so very small—I’m pleading at the “counter”—…

Source: A man should avoid these six evils: lust, anger, avarice pleasure, pride, and rashness, for free of these he may be happy. (Sanskrit). | THE OLD PROVERBIAL RECOVERY

Bunny’s Excuse. There was once a wicked old sinner Who fancied a rabbit for dinner, But the bunny he met Said: “Don’t kill me yet, For I really am still a beginner.”

My living problems also cease to be struggles.

Heaven designs to suit our trials to our strength.

Though the sun shines, leave not your cloak at home.

” The queen’s mocking laughter cut in. “This is your treasure, Lord Sheftu?”

“Aye. The greatest treasure in Egypt—a maid whose loyalty cannot be bought. Whatever bargain we make, Daughter of the Sun, must include her freedom.”
― Eloise Jarvis McGraw, Mara, Daughter of the Nile

RISE TOGETHER

ADAM T NA SPEAKER

IF DRINKING DON’T KILL ME

THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM

SMALL TRIBUTE FOR IZZY FOREAL BY PETER CARRUTHERS

RISE TOGETHER

ADAM T NA SPEAKER

IF DRINKING DON’T KILL ME

THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM

SMALL TRIBUTE FOR IZZY FOREAL BY PETER CARRUTHERS