Thursday, October 15, 2009



Energy, Enthusiasm, Generosity

All great virtues.

I have been browsing in a book that sits by my bedside, 'Being Generous - The Art of Right Living', and I thought I would like to post my thoughts on this very vibrant quality of life.

However I am weary tonight, and lacking in the spirit it would take to do this subject justice.

But all is not lost.

I keep Longfellow handy, and his poem 'A Psalm of Life' has been lanquishing on the dining room table, sending me signals as my enthusiasm has waned with the dastardly deed Jack Frost performed, three nights running.... stealing that beautiful few weeks we call Indian Summer, when the trees are brilliant with colour, and leaving in its place a landscape of saddened shades, as if they had all been dipped in an iron mordent. The scarlet maples. their leaves touched with frost, dry and ready to drop, are pale shades of their usual splendour.

And yet, how can I complain and not appreciate the melancholy earthy colours that transform the trees and bushes? And the sparkle of the ice in the orchards where the farmers had left their sprinklers on for protection.



But it was dispiriting, and I pick up the Psalm of Life and read it over, and will it to transfer its enthusiasm to my soul.

Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.


and then the last verse, stirs the spirit and sparks the soul!

Let us then be up and doing,
with a heart for any fate'
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

3 comments:

Regina said...

Lovely words and quotes. Great skies. Wonderful post.

Enjoy the weekend.

The Weaver of Grass said...

That last verse is my mantra Hildred - we don't know how long we have left so let's make the most of every minute. Sorry about Jack Frost ruining your autumn colours but he does look lovely where he touches the cobweb, doesn't he?

Judy said...

I came for Skywatch Friday, but the image with the ice caught my eye! I am so glad you explained how the ice was formed, as I think mid-October is still far too early for snow and ice to occur naturally!