Fire and Ice BY ROBERT FROST

 

Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.

From what I’ve tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire.

But if it had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice

Is also great

And would suffice.

This Is Just To Say BY WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS

I have eaten

the plums

that were in

the icebox

and which

you were probably

saving

for breakfast

Forgive me

they were delicious

so sweet

and so cold

The Moment - Margaret Atwood

The moment when, after many years

of hard work and a long voyage 
you stand in the centre of your room, 
house, half-acre, square mile, island, country, 
knowing at last how you got there, 
and say, I own this, 

is the same moment when the trees unloose 
their soft arms from around you, 
the birds take back their language, 
the cliffs fissure and collapse, 
the air moves back from you like a wave 
and you can't breathe. 

No, they whisper. You own nothing. 
You were a visitor, time after time 
climbing the hill, planting the flag, proclaiming. 
We never belonged to you. 
You never found us. 
It was always the other way round. 

Make the ordinary come alive - William Martin

Do not ask your children

to strive for extraordinary lives.

Such striving may seem admirable,

but it is the way of foolishness.

Help them instead to find the wonder

and the marvel of an ordinary life.

Show them the joy of tasting

tomatoes, apples and pears.

Show them how to cry

when pets and people die.

Show them the infinite pleasure

in the touch of a hand.

And make the ordinary come alive for them.

The extraordinary will take care of itself.

Life ~ john roedel

 this isn't how I planned for 

my life to look like," I whispered

under my breath as I walked to my car

"tell me about it,"

an eavesdropping cloud

replied to me from above 

I looked up and watched

the cloud billow between looking

like a dove and an open hand

the cloud continued:

"I used to be a snowfield in Montana.

I used to be a dewdrop kiss on a lily.

I used to be a puddle in a parking lot.

I used to be a river in Mexico.

I used to be a glacier.

I used to be a waterfall mist in a jungle.

I used to be so many things.

"doesn't that make you sad?" I asked the cloud

"it used to - but not anymore," the cloud replied while wrapping herself around me like a scarf.  "I don't think either of us were created to stay the same form our entire life."

"I’m not sure I can let go of my old life," I sighed

"oh you simply must," the cloud whispered in my ear. 

" because once you release what you used to be

and embrace who you are meant to be now - 

something amazing will happen," the cloud said

"what's that?" I asked while looking at my hands that were beginning to billow and shapeshift. 

"you'll start to float."

and with that my feet lifted off the ground 

Be Drunk - Charles Baudelaire

Always be drunk.

That's it!

The great imperative!

 

In order not to feel

Time's horrid fardel

bruise your shoulders,

grinding you into the earth,

Get drunk and stay that way.

 

On what?

On wine, poetry, virtue, whatever.

But get drunk.

 

And if you sometimes happen to wake up

on the porches of a palace,

in the green grass of a ditch,

in the dismal loneliness of your own room,

 

your drunkenness gone or disappearing,

ask the wind,

the wave,

the star,

the bird,

the clock,

 

ask everything that flees,

everything that groans

or rolls

or sings,

everything that speaks,

ask what time it is;

 

and the wind,

the wave,

the star,

the bird,

the clock

will answer you:

"Time to get drunk!

 

Don't be martyred slaves of Time,

Get drunk!

Stay drunk!

On wine, virtue, poetry, whatever!" 

I confess by Alison Luterman

I stalked her

in the grocery store: her crown

of snowy braids held in place by a great silver clip,

her erect bearing, radiating tenderness,

watching

the way she placed yogurt and avocados in her 

basket,

beaming peace like the North Star.

I wanted to ask, "What aisle did you find

your serenity in, do you know

how to be married for fifty years or how to live 

alone,

excuse me for interrupting, but you seem to 

possess

some knowledge that makes the earth turn and 

burn on its axis—"

But we don’t request such things from strangers

nowadays. So I said, "I love your hair."