Thoughts for Today
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SPEAKING FROM THE HEART, prayer, poem, sacred text … and Wednesday’s Writing Prompt
May the door of this home be wide enough
to receive all who hunger for love,
all who are lonely for friendship.
May it welcome all who have cares to unburden,
thanks to express, hopes to nurture.
May the door of this house be narrow enough
to shut out pettiness and pride, envy and enmity.
May its threshold be no stumbling block
to young or strained feet.
May it be too high to admit to complacency,
selfishness, and harshness.
May this home be for all who enter,
the doorway to richness and a more meaningful life.
This is from a Jewish book of daily prayers. I think it may be meant for a wedding ceremony or perhaps as a blessing for a new home, but I can see it applied to a broader good. “Siddur” apparently means “order” and that sounds as hope-filled as “love” and “welcome” … perhaps to the refugees that are arriving on so many foreign shores.
*****
From La Vita Nuova
In that book which is My memory . . .
before which little can be read,
Appear the words
‘Incipit vita nova:
Here begins the new life.
– Dante Allegro
This was written in the medieval spirit of courtly love but also sounds to me like warm welcome to people escaping violent, repressive and hopeless environments. Today it’s them. Tomorrow it might as easily be you or me … let compassion and uncommon good sense reign.
*****
Excerpt from Surat al-Ma’ida, 48
“We have appointed a law and a practice for every one of you. Had God willed, He would have made you a single community, but He wanted to test you regarding what has come to you. So compete with each other in doing good. Every one of you will return to God and He will inform you regarding the things about which you differed.”
Surat = chapter of the Qur’an
WRITING PROMPT
Speaking from your heart, write a prayer, poem or psalm, or a prose paragraph that expresses a welcome to whatever person, family or group with whom you feel a connection and for whom you wish peace and safety. Click on the Mister Linky icon below and enter you name and the link to your piece so that we may all read and enjoy. (Please DON’T enter the link to your blog. DO enter the link to the relevant post.) I’ll check back on this week’s Mister Linky for two weeks. You don’t need to link in something today.
May Peace Prevail In Our World, Our Homes and Our Hearts.
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THE BREATH OF SPIRIT – a response to last Wednesday’s Writing Prompt
This is Renee Espriu’s response to last Wednesday’s Writing Prompt.
I use to pray when asking or wanting
was all I thought there was
when I used the energy of my being
as if kinetic magnetic waves
to bring me absolute truth
when now with years of searching
I find that closing my eyes
to breathe quietly within
the mist begins to clear as
though sun rays warm my spirit
the dew drops melt on blades of grass
to find me walking a deserted shore
where the ocean winds touch my hair
and the watery brine is lifted thus
to coat my skin with salty jewels
where words are not labels or script
but the beauty of butterflies laced
with birdsong and seeded with pearls
that transcend time and space
filling my soul with balm and peace
© November 2016 Renee Espriu
Renee is tenacious in her study and work and in getting her poetry out to a variety of publications. The charming illustration is hers: “Image Taken From Morgue File & Digitized by Myself.”
Here’s what she has to say of herself:
RENEE ESPIRU: I am a daughter, mother, grandmother, great grandmother and seeker of Spiritual Peace and Soul Filled Freedom. I have been to graduate school at Pacific Lutheran University and have a Bachelors Degree in Sociology. I have also been to Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary from which I acquired a Certificate in Theology. I have eclectic beliefs that encompass many faiths and believe Nature to be the basis of everything that is and that everything that is is also a part of Nature.
Due to emergent open heart surgery in 2015 I am now retired and devoting more of my time to writing, which includes the writing of a fiction book and one that is solely poetry. I have a Blog site at reneejustturtleflight where I have been posting my writing since 2011. I have been a guest contributor to The BeZine and participated in The BeZine 2016 100,000 Poets for Change virtual event. I also have a passion for art. I draw and paint.
VISIT “THE POET BY DAY” TOMORROW FOR
THIS WEDNESDAY’S WRITING PROMPT
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The Little Squirrel Who Stopped Traffic
When we left the café parking area the sky was a bit overcast but the late afternoon was delightfully busy with birds, bees and squirrels. It’s baby-season here for squirrels. Well, I guess maybe some of them are in their teens now. My friend was about to turn the car right onto Whipple Avenue, a main drag leading to a freeway. She stopped first to check for through traffic. Less than a half-block up the cars were at a standstill. Why? Finally we glimpsed a tiny squirrel huddled in the middle of the street. Some people left their cars. A quiet crowd gathered but no one beeped a horn. No one shouted. No one cursed in anger. Remarkable! Such uncharacteristic behavior, especially for commute time.
Since there were no cars behind us on the side street, we sat waiting to see what would happen. It appeared everyone was suspended mid-breath until a utility worker stepped out of the crowd and scooped up the poor thing. A large rough and tumble sort of fellow, he was petting it and cooing to it as he walked away, clearly pleased and not at all self-conscious. As drivers returned to their cars and started back down Whipple, I found myself smiling. What a delight: human beings at their kind and courteous best and the power of a wee creature to still our little corner of the world. It was a moment of grace and compassion juxtaposed against the stresses of a fractious presidential campaign and a citizenry anxiously awaiting election outcomes.
This post is dedicated to my neighbor, Jeanette, and her pet squirrel.
© words, Jamie Dedes; photo Babbage under the CC A 2.0 Generic license
Jamie Dedes' THE POET BY DAY Webzine 