Crash into my world
Light up my night
Send me to the stars
Let me go in flight
Watch me fly away
Never to return
For the skies are where I’m going
And you are stuck on earth
– Katie Rose Waechter
Crash into my world
Light up my night
Send me to the stars
Let me go in flight
Watch me fly away
Never to return
For the skies are where I’m going
And you are stuck on earth
– Katie Rose Waechter
The name of the author is the first to go
followed obediently by the title, the plot,
the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel
which suddenly becomes one you have never read,
never even heard of,
as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor
decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain,
to a little fishing village where there are no phones.
Long ago you kissed the names of the nine Muses goodbye
and watched the quadratic equation pack its bag,
and even now as you memorize the order of the planets,
something else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps,
the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraguay.
Whatever it is you are struggling to remember,
it is not poised on the tip of your tongue,
not even lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen.
It has floated away down a dark mythological river
whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall,
well on your own way to oblivion where you will join those
who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle.
No wonder you rise in the middle of the night
to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war.
No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted
out of a love poem that you used to know by heart.
– Billy Collins
Source: Poem Hunter
If I were young as once I was,
and dreams and death more distant then,
I wouldn’t split my soul in two,
and keep half in the world of men,
So half of me would stay at home,
and strive for Faërie in vain,
While all the while my soul would stroll
up narrow path, down crooked lane,
And there would meet a fairy lass
and smile and bow with kisses three,
She’d pluck wild eagles from the air
and nail me to a lightning tree
And if my heart would run from her
or flee from her, be gone from her,
She’d wrap it in a nest of stars
and then she’d take it on with her
Until one day she’d tire of it,
all bored with it and done with it.
She’d leave it by a burning brook,
and off brown boys would run with it.
They’d take it and have fun with it
and stretch it long and cruel and thin,
They’d slice it into four and then
they’d string with it a violin.
And every day and every night
they’d play upon my heart a song
So plaintive and so wild and strange
that all who heard it danced along
And sang and whirled and sank and trod
and skipped and slipped and reeled and rolled
Until, with eyes as bright as coals,
they’d crumble into wheels of gold . . . .
But I am young no longer now,
for sixty years my heart’s been gone
To play its dreadful music there,
beyond the valley of the sun.
I watch with envious eyes and mind,
the single–souled, who dare not feel
The wind that blows beyond the moon,
who do not hear the Fairy Reel.
If you don’t hear the Fairy Reel,
they will not pause to steal your breath.
When I was young I was a fool.
So wrap me up in dreams and death.
– Neil Gaiman
Source: Endicott Studios
Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning’s hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there. I did not die.
– Mary Elizabeth Frye
Source: Be Happy Zone
Cute video with a powerful message. Just like this pack, people have friends and family that are a part of our packs. It is important to look out for each other, and to reach out when you or a member of your pack is suffering with a mental health problem. As this video points out, 1 in 4 people suffer with a mental health problem each year. It is more common than you think and, more than likely, you know someone who is suffering right now. Talk to them before it is too late. Everyone needs a little extra love sometimes.
Amazing video displaying the use of technology to help those in need accomplish simple, yet life-changing, daily tasks, such as talking. This story not only emphasizes how technology can change one man’s life for the better, but also the commitment family members dedicate to be there for someone suffering with challenging medical conditions. It is a story of love.
To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty,
To find the best in others,
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child,
A garden patch or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
Source: Beyondthequote.com
these hips are big hips
they need space to
move around in.
they don’t fit into little
petty places. these hips
are free hips.
they don’t like to be held back.
these hips have never been enslaved,
they go where they want to go
they do what they want to do.
these hips are mighty hips.
these hips are magic hips.
i have known them
to put a spell on a man and
spin him like a top!
-Lucille Clifton
Source: Family Friend Poems
In honor of International Women’s day, I have selected the powerful poetry of slam poet Katie Makkai. This was one of the first slam poems I found on YouTube after first discovering the art of slam poetry. This poem makes me redefine the word pretty, and recognize that there is so much more I will be.
Shawn Achor gives a powerful and amusing TED Talks on positive psychology and the way we view happiness and success as a society. His message: Reverse our current formula for happiness and success from “If I am successful, I will be happy” to “When I am happy, I will be more successful”.