You
were the stranger in the house
the sullen face across the table.
You
were the accuser in the house
certain of your imaginary world.
You
were the lost in the house
confused by our reality.
You
were in the house,
but we did not reach
You.
invocation- for an auction November 16, 2013
Duplicate post (also on rotaryinvocations.wordpress.com) Tonight my little Rotary Club held our annual auction. With the support of very generous guests, we raised over $37,000 for our projects. We are a small but very active club. Two of our members regularly travel to Africa to a school where we sponsor 200 school lunches, some members sponsor tuition, and we help them with other projects, like a computer lab, and a water tower. One of our members takes a dental team to the mountains of Ecuador. We donate funds to vaccinate 20 children against polio every week. Closer to home we have many community projects. Here is the non-sectarian invocation that I presented tonight:
Margaret Mead said,
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
Let us be thankful for the small group of committed people who, with your help tonight, are changing the world
one lunch,
One polio vaccination
One dental filling
One community project at a time.
Let us be thankful for the opportunity to gather together for a good meal with good friends.
Let us be thankful.
poem-seasonal delusions November 15, 2013
It’s misty in the hills
Rain falls in spatters on the windshield
How can there be a Christmas Craft Fair
when there is no snow?
poem- I am November November 14, 2013
I am November
Light vanishing on a whim
Tears shed in painful memory
Grey and black
Dreary days.
.
..
But lots of celebration to be had, as well, because apparently on Tuesday evening, this blog had its 100,000th visitor! How exciting! Thanks for sharing my world!
🙂
today haikus November 13, 2013
It’s just one day, but
one is all it takes to change
everything. Today.
.
Today is just one
day, but one is all it takes
to change everything.
.
One is all it takes
to change everything. Just one
but it’s today.
.
To change everything,
just one is all it takes–just one,
It’s one day: today.
.
♥
This is my 900th post on this blog! Yay!
Thanks for being here with me to celebrate the moment!
poem- hills aflame
Through the blackness
glow scarlet gashes on the mountain
Drivers on the winding highway
sniff the smoke , entranced
by danger dancing above
.
.
It’s hard to keep your eyes on the road when the hills above you are blazing!
It’s also nerve-wracking for an asmatic to be anywhere near burning, controlled or not. (and we think this was controlled).
poem- Remembrance Day November 11, 2013
“Every one is going, Mom!”
“You have to do your duty, Son.”
“We desperately need the money, Hon.”
“It’ll all be jolly good fun,
and over scarce moments once it’s begun!”
.
Voices echo, arms wave farewell,
as adventurous lads descend into hell.
They see what boys should never see
March in when the sensible would turn and flee
They rise each day at reveille
to create a future for you and me
Built on their fear, their pride, their aim
To fight whether they be slain.
.
When men return, once battles end
They toast their comrades and their friends
Through years of anguish in the night
When dreams return them to the fight
Today we salute them, the wounded boys
the men of valour, whose youth was deployed
into a horror of noise and mud
baptizing them with gore and blood
So we can stand before the cenotaph
To honour their sacrifice on our behalf.
We do not glorify their war
but we know what they were fighting for.
.
To the boys who left home, to the men who returned whole or broken, in thanks.
.
Here’s a link to the song “Soldier Boy” by The Pids. I went to high school with Stu Aspinall, who will donate a portion of all iTunes sales of this song to PTSD services for returned combatants.
.
Remembrance Day- Eric Bogle’s And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda November 10, 2013
Here is my other favourite Remembrance Day tune, also by Eric Bogle. The marching in April that he refers to is for ANZAC Day which is the memorial day for Australian and New Zealand troops fighing in Gallipolli during WW1.
This video was put together by a Canadian teacher for a Remembrance Day assembly at her Middle School. This song represents so much: Respect for those who fought. Sadness at the loss of young lives. Desire for peace to keep it from happening again. Frustration that we still have war.
I remember in the 1970s when I’d go to the cenotaph with my dad, how sad it was that fewer and fewer people attended every year, but these days, it’s heart warming how large the crowds are. So many families with small children attend, which they didn’t when I was a kid. I was used to being the only young person there, aside from the cadets .
Enjoy this one. It’s poignant, powerful, and beautiful.
.
poem- I Dwell in Possibility by Emily Dickinson
I’ll link to this one, via a site that actually has permission to reprint this poem. 🙂
I have had a little plaque that says “Dwell in possibility” for several years now, and only today did I get around to actually looking up the poem itself. Wow. Kinda a profound! It also fits with my philosophy of life. Check it out:
Remembrance Day song- Green Fields of France
Eric Bogle wrote my two favourite Remembrance Day songs. I always weep while I play or sing sing them. Beautiful and poignant pieces that explore huge themes. While we acknowledge the sacrifices of those who went away to war, we must also recognize the need to better ways to deal with conflict. When dealing with bullies, it’d be nice if discussion would bring about resolution, but so often, they only understand a big stick. It is the worst thing about humanity. The fact that people are willing to deal with those bullies, for whatever motivation, is still sadly necessary. So, here is Eric Bogle’s “Green Fields of France.”
.
Shawn L. Bird 