Public Posts Seattle, WA Seattle, WA

But then there comes that moment rare
When, for no cause that I can find,
The little voices of the air
Sound above all the sea and wind.

The sea and wind do then obey
And sighing, sighing double notes
Of double basses, content to play
A droning chord for the little throats—

The little throats that sing and rise
Up into the light with lovely ease
And a kind of magical, sweet surprise
To hear and know themselves for these—

For these little voices: the bee, the fly,
The leaf that taps, the pod that breaks,
The breeze on the grass-tops bending by,
The shrill quick sound that the insect makes.

(Poem is in the Public domain)

Kathleen Mansfield Murry (née Beauchamp; 1888 –1923) was a New Zealand writer, essayist and journalist, considered one
of the most influential and important authors of the modernist movement. Her works are celebrated across the world, and have been published in many languages. Wikipedia

Franz Kafka (1883 – 1924) was a Czech Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. His best known works include the short story "The Metamorphosis" and novels The Trial and The Castle.  Kafka's unfinished novels, including "The Man Who Disappeared" (also known as "Amerika" or "The Missing Person"), "The Castle," and "The Trial," were published posthumously and have come to be regarded as among the most influential works of 20th-century literature.The term Kafkaesque has entered English to describe absurd situations, like those depicted in his writing.

Alongside the river
of love and desire,
my heart is strong,
my soul is a pyre.

I love others,
as I want to do,
for there is no one
as lovely as you.

JOHN O'DONOHUE (1956 - 2008) was an Irish poet, philosopher and scholar, a native Gaelic speaker. He wrote numerous international best-selling books including: Anam Cara, Beauty, Eternal Echoes, and Benedictus: A Book of Blessings- Published in the US as To Bless the Space Between Us. John O'Donohue Official Website.

Quote source: Excerpt from John O’Donohue's book "Anam Cara" (p17)

We cannot all be men of fame,
We cannot all be men of wealth,
We cannot all be known by name,
We cannot all have perfect health,
We cannot all be men of power,
We cannot all be of one mind;
But we can all be, every hour,
Hopeful, cheerful men, and kind.

Edgar Albert Guest (1881 – 1959) was a British-born American poet who became known as the People's Poet. His family moved from England to Detroit, Michigan when he was ten years old and he lived there the rest of his life. He worked for the Detroit Free Press for 64 years. He published more than twenty volumes of poetry and was thought to have written over 12,000 poems. His poems often had an inspirational and optimistic view of everyday life. Of his poems he said, "I take simple everyday things that happen to me and I figure it happens to a lot of other people and I make simple rhymes out of them. "His popularity led NBC to produce a weekly 15-minute radio program, “Guest in Your Home,” which ran from 1931 to 1942.The Globe editorialized his passing by quoting Philip Coldren, the late editorial page editor who wrote that the key to Guest’s greatness was “that among the thousands of Guest poems, ‘there has not been a single one that has promoted wickedness or meanness or anything else but kindness and gentleness and peace and hope"

Frederick Douglass (1817 - 1895) - Frederick Augustus Washington  American abolitionist, social reformer, writer, orator and statesman. Born a slave, he escaped from slavery in Maryland and became a national leader of the abolitionist movement. Known for his oratory and antislavery writings. He was described by abolitionists in his time as a living counterexample to slaveholders' arguments that slaves lacked the intellectual capacity to function as independent American citizens. Douglass wrote three autobiographies, describing his experiences as a slave and later times of his life. Douglass also actively supported women's suffrage, and held several public offices.

Demented the soul,
before it began.
Demented the soul,
the aged man.

Cure all your ills,
before it began.
If you are guilty,
it's good you ran.

Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874 –1936) was an English writer,[philosopher, Christian apologist, and literary and art critic. He has been referred to as the "prince of paradox" Chesterton created the fictional priest-detective Father Brown,] and wrote on apologetics. Even some of those who disagree with him have recognized the wide appeal of such works as Orthodoxy and The Everlasting Man. Chesterton routinely referred to himself as an "orthodox" Christian, and eventually converted to Roman Catholicism from high church Anglicanism. 

"In The Story of Ferdinand (public library), a gentle-souled young misfit bull sits out the perpetual head-butting by which his peers hone their bull-skills, choosing instead to smell the flowers under his favorite cork tree in solitude. His mother, at first worried about his bullness, recognizes her son’s difference and trusts that he would find his way" And so he does..... Read more

Aesop (620 – 564 BC) Greek fabulist and story teller

Image: Diego Velazquez - Asoep | Museo Del Prado

Across the far horizon,
across the vast sea,
I'll search the World over
until I find my love, thee.

A full circle of love,
has appeared in my mind.
Wondering now, about
a circle of love, this kind.