Footprints



One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking
along the beach with the LORD. Across the sky flashed scenes
from his life. For each scene he noticed two sets of footprints in
the sand: one belonging to him, and the other to the LORD.

When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked
back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times
along the path of his life there was only one set of footprints. He
also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest
times in his life.

This really bothered him and he questioned the LORD about it:
"LORD, you said that once I decided to follow you, you'd
walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the
most troublesome times in my life, there is only one set of
footprints. I don't understand why when I needed you most
you would leave me."

The LORD replied: "My son, my precious child, I love you
and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and
suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was
then that I carried you."


                        - By Margaret Fishback Powers 

Joy in Death


If tolling bell I ask the cause.
    'A soul has gone to God,'
I'm answered in a lonesome tone;
    Is heaven then so sad?

That bells should joyful ring to tell
    A soul had gone to heaven,
Would seem to me the proper way
    A good news should be given.


                        -By Emily Dickinson

A Smile

A SMILE costs nothing, but it creates much.
It enriches those who receive
without impoverishing those who give.
It happens in a flash,
and the memory of it sometimes lasts forever.
None are so rich that they can get along without it,
and none are so poor but are richer for a smile.
It creates happiness in the home,
fosters goodwill in a business,
and is the countersign of friends.
It is rest to the weary,
daylight to the discouraged,
sunshine to the sad,
and nature's best antidote for trouble.
It cannot be bought, begged, borrowed or stolen,
for it is something that is no earthly good to anybody
till it is given away.
And if it ever happens
that some people should be too tired to give you a SMILE,
why not leave one of yours?
For nobody needs a SMILE so much
as those who have none left to give.

                               -Author Unknown


The Happiest Day

The happiest day -- the happiest hour
My sear'd and blighted heart hath known,
The highest hope of pride and power,
I feel hath flown.

Of power! said I? yes! such I ween;
But they have vanish'd long, alas!
The visions of my youth have been-
But let them pass.

And, pride, what have I now with thee?
Another brow may even inherit
The venom thou hast pour'd on me
Be still, my spirit!

The happiest day -- the happiest hour
Mine eyes shall see -- have ever seen,
The brightest glance of pride and power,
I feel- have been:

But were that hope of pride and power
Now offer'd with the pain
Even then I felt -- that brightest hour
I would not live again:

For on its wing was dark alloy,
And, as it flutter'd -- fell
An essence -- powerful to destroy
A soul that knew it well.

                           -By Edgar Allan Poe


My Shadow

I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,
And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.
He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;
And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.

The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow--
Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;
For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball,
And he sometimes goes so little that there's none of him at all.

He hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play,
And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.
He stays so close behind me, he's a coward you can see;
I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!

One morning, very early, before the sun was up,
I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;
But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head,
Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.

                                          -By Robert Louis Stevenson


"Hope" Is the Thing with Feathers


"Hope" is the thing with feathers--
That perches in the soul--
And sings the tune without the words--
And never stops--at all--

And sweetest--in the Gale--is heard--
And sore must be the storm--
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm--

I've heard it in the chillest land--
And on the strangest Sea--
Yet, never in Extremity,
It asked a crumb--of Me.

                            -By Emily Dickinson


The Road Not Taken

Two Roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth; 

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same, 

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back. 

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
                            
                           -by Robert Frost


Summer Nights


Late summer nights I look out my window,
With a gentle breeze blowing through the screen.
The trees sway from side to side,
And the street lights sparkle with a sheen.

As the sun sets, all becomes quiet,
All that is left is a little hoot owl.
The day is over, it is time to rest,
I guess it is time to throw in the towel.

                                    -this is an original poem by Me