Beauty is simply reality seen with the eyes of love. -Rabindranath Tagore
Learning to accept your current situation is not necessarily easy. But it is the way to peace.
Consistent action leads to enduring excellence.
LOVE AFTER LOVE
by Derek Walcott
The time will come
when, with elation,
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror,
and each will smile at the other’s welcome,
and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you
all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,
the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.
This reading is part of On Being’s poetry archive.
Complement it with other poetry-lovers’ readings of favorite poems: Amanda Palmer reads Wislawa Szymborska, David Whyte reads Mary Oliver, Joanna Macy reads Rainer Maria Rilke, and my reading of Mark Strand.
https://onbeing.org/poetry-home/
On random wires the rows of summer swallows
Wait for their liftoff.
They will soon be gone
Before All Saints' and before All Hallows'
The changing time when we are most alone.
–May Sarton (1912–95)
If ignorance is bliss, Why seek out the knowledge you can't handle?
It is through creating, not possessing, that life is revealed. ~ Vida D. Scudder
Consistency is more valuable than intensity.
Our imagination flies; we are its shadow on the earth. - Vladimir Nabokov
“Instead of saying ‘let it go,’ we should probably say ‘let it be.’ This recognizes that the mind won’t let go and the problem may not go away, and it allows you to form a healthier relationship with what’s bothering you.” - Jon Kabat-Zinn
“The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot” - Michael Altshuler
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. ~ Aristotle
“Do you know what you do when you can't take it anymore? We change. "
Alberto Moravia - The indifferent ones
You’re smart.
You’re amazing. You’re talented. You’re beautiful. You’re not alone. You matter.It is also in the interests of a tyrant to keep his people poor, so that they may not be able to afford the cost of protecting themselves by arms and be so occupied with their daily tasks that they have no time for rebellion. - Aristotle
Faith is the bird that feels the Light and sings when the dawn is still dark. - Tagore
Paying attention to our lives is key to growth We cannot change or fix what we don't see.
