Who Am I?

Who am I? They often tell me
I stepped from my cell’s confinement
Calmly, cheerfully, firmly,
Like a squire from his country-house.
Who am I? They often tell me
I used to speak to my warders
Freely and friendly and clearly,
As though it were mine to command.
Who am I? They also tell me
I bore the days of misfortune
Equally, smilingly, proudly,
Like one accustomed to win.

Am I then really all that which other men tell of?
Or am I only what I myself know of myself?
Restless and longing and sick, like a bird in a cage,
Struggling for breath, as though hands were
compressing my throat,
Yearning for colors, for flowers, for the voices of birds,
Thirsting for words of kindness, for neighborliness,
Tossing in expectation of great events,
Powerlessly trembling for friends at an infinite distance,
Weary and empty at praying, at thinking, at making,
Faint, and ready to say farewell to it all?

Who am I? This or the other?
Am I one person today and tomorrow another?
Am I both at once? A hypocrite before others,
And before myself a contemptibly woebegone weakling?
Or is something within me still like a beaten army,
Fleeing in disorder from victory already achieved?
Who am I? They mock me, these lonely questions of mine.
Whoever I am, Thou knowest, O God, I am Thine!

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Let's dance

Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance

Be careful of what you say

Do not be too quick to declare, God has a way of making you eat your words and it is not palatable!

Definition of humility

Humility is eating the humble pie graciously

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.
    -- Robert Frost

God's gifts put man's best dreams to shame.

- ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING, Sonnets from the Portuguese

Are you plucking blackberries?

Earth's crammed with heaven,

And every common bush afire with God;

But only he who sees, takes off his shoes,

The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries,

And daub their natural faces unaware.

- ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING, Aurora Leigh

For other quotes from Elizabeth Barret Browning

The sovereignty you have over your work will inspire far more people than the actual content ever will. - Hugh McLeod - Ignore Everybody

We are either the masters or the victims of our attitudes.

We are either the masters or the victims of our attitudes. It is a matter of personal choice. Who we are today is the result of choices we made yesterday. Tomorrow, we will become what we choose today. To change means to choose to change.

John Maxwell

'Be yourself, everybody else is already taken' - Oscar Wilde

"When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain?"(First Witch in Macbeth)

On Idiots

George W. Bush says "Never argue with an idiot. It will bring you down to his level and he’ll win because of experience."

Beam me up, Scotty. There's no intelligent life down here.

March to a different drum beat

If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer, let him step to the music he hears, however measured or far away.

- Henry David Thoreau -

Make Your Choice

by Michael Charles Messineo

The winds of change are controlled by you.

Sometimes you wait for destiny's touch
to help pick your choices, decisions and such
change all your maybe's into yes's or no's
direct your own path that you should have chose

But waiting allows your goals to be tweaked
by weakened decisions preferred by the meek
your roads will be handpicked by unknown fate
and then comes regret, and by then it's too late

Your decisions and choices are easy to make
but your excuses are many, and reasons all fake
step up and stand tall, announce your decision
don't ever look back with mirrored revision.

Life's too short

by Michael Charles Messineo

Life's too short to dwell on things
that pull and tear on your heart strings
so park those thoughts that make you worry
and create new goals to which you''ll hurry.

Make your list of things to do
that always seemed not part of you
make yourself explore unknowns
write down your thoughts dig up those bones

Take a step toward things that scare you
Show who''s boss while mind prepares to
overcome what seems unrealistic
before you lose it and go ballistic

Do something different every day
and watch as life shows new path ways
Life''s too short to dwell on things
that pull and tear on your heart strings.