Wisdom

When I have ceased to break my wings Against the faultiness of things, And learned that compromises wait Behind each hardly opened gate, When I have looked Life in the eyes, Grown calm and very coldly wise, Life will have given me the Truth, And taken in exchange--my youth. Sara Teasdale I went looking for this poem by Sara Teasdale, to try to express a truth about the loss of innocence when we gain - finally - a realistic view of life. In the process I found all the poems of my youth amongst Teasdale's Love Poems. The Beloved, the words of which have always spoken to me of the endearing qualities that Husband brought to my life. It is enough of honor for one lifetime To have known you better than the rest have known The shadows and the colors of your voice, Your will, immutable and still as stone. The shy heart, so lonely and so gay, The sad laughter and the pride of pride, The tenderness, the depth of tenderness Rich as the earth, and wide as heaven is wide. - Sara Teasdale - And Barter, LIFE has loveliness to sell, All beautiful and splendid things, Blue waves whitened on a cliff, Soaring fire that sways and sings, And children's faces looking up Holding wonder like a cup. Life has loveliness to sell, Music like a curve of gold, Scent of pinetrees in the rain, Eyes that love you, arms that hold, And for your spirit's still delight, Holy thoughts that star the night. Spend all you have for loveliness, Buy it and never count the cost; For one white singing hour of peace Count many a year of strife well lost, And for a breath of ecstasy Give all you have been, or could be. Sara Teasdale For a while I was caught between April and October, remembering the romance of the youthful years, - the eternal optimism, - the wonderful careless acceptance of the vitality and brightness of life. But eventually I turned again to the mellow months, - and the poems that express the mix of somber acceptance of reality, and the splendid colours of the dying season. A Prayer UNTIL I lose my soul and lie Blind to the beauty of the earth, Deaf though shouting wind goes by, Dumb in a storm of mirth; Until my heart is quenched at length And I have left the land of men, Oh, let me love with all my strength Careless if I am loved again. Sara Teasdale In a Burying Ground This is the spot where I will lie When life has had enough of me, These are the grasses that will blow Above me like a living sea. These gay old lilies will not shrink To draw their life from death of mine, And I will give my body's fire To make blue flowers on this vine. "O Soul," I said, "have you no tears? Was not the body dear to you?" I heard my soul say carelessly, "The myrtle flowers will grow more blue." Sara Teasdale A quiet October stream, hedged with the beautiful golds, the subtle greens and the Naples yellows of the grasses of Autumn.

In Loving Memory of Dolly

B Feb. 16, 1902 - D Oct. 4, 1957












The past cannot be forgotten while memory lasts and love preserves. Janette Hospital

October Journey by Margaret Walker


I want to tell you what hills are like in October

when colors gush down mountainsides
and little streams are freighted with a caravan of leaves,
I want to tell you how they blush and turn in fiery shame

and joy,

how their love burns with flames consuming and terrible
until we wake one morning and woods are like a smoldering

plain--

a glowing caldron full of jewelled fire; the emerald earth a dragon's eye the poplars drenched with yellow light and dogwoods blazing bloody red. Travelling southward earth changes from gray rock to green

to velvet. -

This affinity I have with the Fall has been a life long affair, and if it were not so I would suspect it of springing from the chronology of my life, and where I am in that respect. I am hoping that is where my life is, - part of the mellow months of September and October. It is possible I may have slipped over into melancholy November, but I think not yet.....

Today Husband and I journeyed to Penticton, and as we sped over the pass I took moving pictures from the window of the car.


















On our way home the slight breeze had died and the waters of Yellow Lake mirrored the jewel like foliage that lined the shore.


We stopped at the side of the lake and marveled at the clarity of the reflections in the water.



















Here is a little love song to October, and to those we hold dear as we leave the summer of our life behind.

Now Blue October


Now blue October, smoky in the sun,
Must end the long, sweet summer of the heart.
The last brief visit of the birds is done;
They sing the autumn songs before they part.
Listen, how lovely--there's the thrush we heard
When June was small with roses, and the bending
Blossom of branches covered nest and bird,
Singing the summer in, summer unending--
Give me your hand once more before the night;
See how the meadows darken with the frost,
How fades the green that was the summer's light.
Beauty is only altered, never lost
And love, before the cold November rain,
Will make its summer in the heart again.
ROBERT NATHAN