
Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues,
but the parent of all the others.
— Cicero
I Worried
by Mary Oliver
I worried a lot. Will the garden grow, will the rivers
flow in the right direction, will the earth turn
as it was taught, and if not how shall
I correct it?
Was I right, was I wrong, will I be forgiven,
can I do better?
Will I ever be able to sing, even the sparrows
can do it and I am, well,
hopeless.
Is my eyesight fading or am I just imagining it,
am I going to get rheumatism,
lockjaw, dementia?
Finally, I saw that worrying had come to nothing.
And gave it up. And took my old body
and went out into the morning,
and sang.
i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything
wich is natural which is infinite which is yes
(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun’s birthday;this is the birth
day of life and love and wings:and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)
how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any-lifted from the no
of all nothing-human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?
(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)
– e. e. cummings
Chickadee
-6 degrees
Chickadee
One part heart
Three parts feather
How big is the spark
That beats in you
And doing so
Warms us both?
— Claudia Kern
You can find this poem and others along with some of Claudia Kern’s art at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Upper Valley website.
Also… tomorrow, 20 March 2021, at 5:37AM (0937 UTC) marks the Vernal Equinox.
Happy Spring!!!
Words of wisdom from the inside of a Dove chocolate wrapper.
Congratulations President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris!
“Inhale the future,
Exhale the past.”
———-Layne R., Ohio
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
– Steve Jobs