This is what I learned: that everybody is talented, original,
and has something important to say. Everybody is talented because everybody
who is human has something to express. Everybody is original, if she tells the
truth, if she speaks from herself. But it must be from her true self and not
the self she thinks she should be. So remember these two things: you are talented
and you are original. Be sure of that. I say this because self-trust is one
of the very most important things in writing....
-Brenda Ueland, If You Want to Write
She who reconciles the ill-matched threads of her life, and weaves them gratefully into a single cloth— it's she who drives the loudmouths from the hall and clears it for a different celebration
where the one guest is you. In the softness of evening it's you she receives.
You are the partner of her loneliness, the unspeaking center of her monologues.
With each disclosure you encompass more and she stretches beyond what limits her, to hold you.
Rainer Maria Rilke,The
Book of Hours: Love Poems to God
In the great night my heart will go out Toward me the darkness comes rattling
In the great night my heart will go out.
Papago song
In the quiet of this place
in the dark of the night
I wait and watch.
In the stillness of my soul
and from its fathomless depths
the senses of my heart are awake to You.
For fresh soundings of life
for new showings of light
I search for the silence of my spirit,
O Blessing God.
J. Phillip Newell, Celtic
Benediction
The difference between the right and the nearly right word
is the same as that between lightning and the lightning bug.
Mark Twain
It happens that, as time goes by and I use English
more, it grows less alien to me, but I feel the real medium for poets is silence,
so I could be writing in any language to reflect the inner silence to give it
body. That is all we are doing. We use the voice to make the silence more present.
It’s like in architecture where the medium is not really stone nor metal but
the space they enclose. We use materials—brick, glass, words—to inflect space
both outer and inner. So I would say the real medium of poetry is inner space,
the silence of our deepest interior.
Li Young Lee, The Sun Magazine,"
August 2005
The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don't go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want. Don't go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across the doorsill where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open. Don't go back to sleep.
Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks
May today there be peace within.
May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.
May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.
May you be content knowing you are a child of God.
Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us.
Saint Therese of Lisieux
Close your eyes and you will see clearly
Cease to listen and you will hear the truth
Be silent and your heart will sing
Seek no contact and you will find union
Be still and you will move forward in the tide of spirit
Be gentle and you will not need strength
Be patient and you will achieve all things
Be humble and you remain whole.
