August2012
For Larry
A brave man who is still doing well and refuses to be beaten
When you walk through a storm
Hold your head up high
And don't be afraid of the dark
At the end of the storm
Is a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of the lark
Walk on through the wind
Walk on through the rain
Though your dreams be tossed and blown
Walk on walk on with hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone
You'll never walk alone
~~R. Rogers/O. Hammerstein II~~
Dec-2011
Happy New Year
And there's a hand, my trusty fere!
And gie's a hand o' thine!
And we'll tak a right gude-willie waught,
For auld lang syne.
This verse from Robert Burns speaks from my heart to yours at this end of year time. Many thanks to all of you for your support, kindness and friendship.
Hope goes out to all but especially to Larry for his courage.
Blessed 2012 to all of you
Jess.
Nov 2011
Remembrance
Please view in Original size
11th Hour of the 11 Day of the 11th Month. Two Minutes Please.
They went with songs to the battle, they were young.
Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.
~~Laurence Binyon~~
Dec 2010
Merry Christmas 2010
So this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
And so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young
A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
And so this is Christmas
For weak and for strong
For rich and the poor ones
The world is so wrong
And so happy Christmas
For black and for white
For yellow and red ones
Let's stop all the fight
A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
John Lennon
Nov 15 2010
After The Rain
Weep not for me though I am gone;
into that gentle night.
Grieve if you will but not for long,
upon my soul's sweet flight.
I am at peace,
my soul's at rest.
There is no need for tears.
For with your love I was blessed;
for all those many years.
There is no pain,
I suffer not,
The fear now all is gone.
Put now these things out of your thoughts.
In your memory I live on.
Remember not my fight for breath;
remember not the strife.
Please do not dwell upon my death,
but celebrate my life.
~~Constance Jenkins~~
28-JAN-2010
"A Soldier's Prayer Book"
A soldier using a deck of ordinary playing cards as an aid to prayer and meditation dates back at least to 1788. The popular song Deck of Cards (sometimes known as "A Soldier's Prayer Book") was written in 1948 by "T." Texas Tyler. The song itself was based on a tract that was found sandwiched between the sheets of an old 1811 bible.
Ace: The one true God
Deuce: The Old Testament and New Testament in the Bible
Trey/Three: The Holy Trinity; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit/Ghost
Four: St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke, and St. John, evangelists and authors of the four Gospels
Five: The two groups of five virgins who trimmed their lamps for a wedding. Five were wise (by saving enough oil) and were admitted, while the other five were foolish (did not have enough oil) and were shut out.
Six: God created the Earth in six days.
Seven: God rested on the seventh day, now known as the Sabbath.
Eight: The eight righteous people whom God saved during the Great Flood: Noah, his wife, their three sons, and their wives.
Nine: Of the ten lepers whom Jesus cleansed, nine of them didn't even thank him.
Ten: The Ten Commandments God handed down to Moses.
King: Jesus Christ, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, or alternatively, God the Father.
Queen: Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of Jesus and Queen of Heaven.
Jack or Knaves: Satan or the Devil
365 Spots: Days in a year (basic deck actually contains 364 + one Joker, though most decks of cards will contain two jokers)
52 Cards: Number of weeks in a year
Thirteen Tricks: Number of weeks in a quarter
Four Suits: Approximate number of weeks in a month (can also mean the four seasons but this is not included in the song)
Twelve Face Cards: Number of months in a year
10-DEC-2009
The Book
THERE is no frigate like a book
To take us lands away,
Nor any coursers like a page
Of prancing poetry.
This traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of toll;
How frugal is the chariot
That bears a human soul!
~~Emily Dickinson (1830–86)~~
15-AUG-2009
Twilight Years
Age is opportunity no less
than youth itself,
though in another dress,
And as the evening twilight fades away
the sky is filled with stars,
invisible by day.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
(1807 - 1882)
21-JUN-2009
Will you walk into my Parlour?
"Will you walk into my parlour?"
Said the spider to the fly;
"'Tis the prettiest little parlour
That ever you did spy.
The way into my parlour
Is up a winding stair;
And I have many curious things
To show you when you're there."
"Oh no, no," said the little Fly,
"to ask me is in vain,
For who goes up your winding stair
can ne'er come down again."
~~Mary Howitt (1799-1888)~~
22-DEC-2008
If Winter come, can Spring be far behind?
My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one!
Drive my dead thoughts over the universe
Like withered leaves to quicken a new birth!
And, by the incantation of this verse,
Scatter, as from an unextinguished hearth
Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind!
Be through my lips to unawakened earth
The trumpet of a prophecy! O, Wind,
If Winter come, can Spring be far behind?
~~~ by Percy Bysshe Shelley ~~~
18-DEC-2008
From our house to Yours
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
Much pleasure dost thou bring me!
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
Much pleasure dost thou bring me!
For every year the Christmas tree,
Brings to us all both joy and glee.
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
Much pleasure dost thou bring me!
11-NOV-2008
We Three.
"We Three" that is what they called themselves.
Brother, Sister and Father, representing the three services in WW2. Navy, Army and Air-force on a rare time they were all home on leave at the same time.
Jess
"At the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month we will remember them."
“They shall grow not old as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.”
“For the Fallen”
by Lancaster-born poet Laurence Binyon (1869-1943)
July 2008
A Red, Red Rose
My love is like a red, red rose
That’s newly sprung in June :
My love is like the melody
That’s sweetly played in tune.
As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
So deep in love am I :
And I will love thee still, my dear,
Till a’ the seas gang dry.
And fare thee weel, my only love,
And fare thee weel a while !
And I will come again, my love,
Thou’ it were ten thousand mile.
~~Robert Burns~~
JUN-2008
She walks in Beauty
SHE walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that 's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellow'd to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impair'd the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.
And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!
~~George Gordon Byron, Lord Byron~~
Note: This is my mother at 18 years of age.
JUN-2008
XXII Hiawatha's Departure
By the shore of Gitche Gumee,
By the shining Big-Sea-Water,
At the doorway of his wigwam,
In the pleasant Summer morning,
Hiawatha stood and waited.
All the air was full of freshness,
All the earth was bright and joyous,
And before him, through the sunshine,
Westward toward the neighboring forest
Passed in golden swarms the Ahmo,
Passed the bees, the honey-makers,
Burning, singing In the sunshine.
Bright above him shone the heavens,
Level spread the lake before him;
From its bosom leaped the sturgeon,
Sparkling, flashing in the sunshine;
On its margin the great forest
Stood reflected in the water,
Every tree-top had its shadow,
Motionless beneath the water.
~~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.~~
JUN-2008
The Soldier
If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England's, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.
And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.
~~Rupert Brooke~~
Note : This is a photo of my father taken in 1914
MAY-2008
The Rubaiyat
Wake! For the Sun, who scatter'd into flight
The Stars before him from the Field of Night,
Drives Night along with them from Heav'n, and strikes
The Sultan's Turret with a Shaft of Light.
Come, fill the Cup, and in the fire of Spring
Your Winter-garment of Repentance fling:
The Bird of Time bas but a little way
To flutter--and the Bird is on the Wing.
Each Morn a thousand Roses brings, you say;
Yes, but where leaves the Rose of Yesterday?
And this first Summer month that brings the Rose
Shall take Jamshyd and Kaikobad away.
A Book of Verses underneath the Bough,
A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread--and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness--
Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!
~~Omar Khayyam~~
MAY-2008
Crossing the Bar
Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,
But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.
Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;
For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crost the bar
~~Alfred, Lord Tennyson~~
MAY-2008
The Day is Done
THE DAY is done, and the darkness
Falls from the wings of Night,
As a feather is wafted downward
From an eagle in his flight.
Come, read to me some poem,
Some simple and heartfelt lay,
That shall soothe this restless feeling,
And banish the thoughts of day
And the night shall be filled with music,
And the cares, that infest the day,
Shall fold their tents, like the Arabs,
And as silently steal away.
~~~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.~~~
MAY-2008
The Invitation
Away, away, from men and towns,
To the wild wood and the downs -
To the silent wilderness
Where the soul need not repress
Its music, lest it should not find
An echo in another's mind,
While the touch of Nature's art
Harmonizes heart to heart
~~Percy Bysshe Shelley ~~
