Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow
For Thine is the Kingdom
Tag: <span>poem</span>
“It’s hypocrisy to call yourself a Christian and chase away a refugee or someone seeking help, someone who is hungry or thirsty, toss out someone who is in need of my help,” he said. “If I say I am Christian, but do these things, I’m a hypocrite.” Pope Francis, 2016
I don’t have much to say today. Just wanted to share a poem that is dear to me.
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
MORTAL:
“The night is cold, the hour is late, the world is bleak and drear;
Who is it knocking at my door?”
I haven’t’ felt much excitement about the new year. 2016 was a pretty crappy year, may the new one not be as bad, please. That was my silent plea. I never make New Year resolutions, but surprisingly have one for the upcoming year. “Stay calm and don’t give up hope.”
The Calf-Path
Sam Foss (1890)
One day, through the primeval wood,
A calf walked home, as good calves should;
But made a trail all bent askew,
A crooked trail as all calves do.
When I was young, I looked at the older me
saw the vision of what I longed to become.
I could see myself dancing in the future
whirling along a path, that hadn’t been built yet.
“The Station”
Tucked away in our subconscious is an idyllic vision.
We are traveling by train, out the windows,
we drink in the passing scenes of children
waving at a crossing,
cattle grazing on a distant hillside,
row upon row of corn and wheat,
flatlands and valleys,
mountains and rolling hillsides
and city skylines.
Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.
(America never was America to me.)