Psalm 130 Poem by Isaac Watts

 

Don't Give Up ~ By Phoebe Cary

 The Weekly True Democrat 22 Nov  1907-Page 12

I note where sharp thorns sit, by Joy Lenton

 I note where sharp thorns sit

waiting to pierce us

unawares, elicit shrieks,

for they know how vulnerable

human skin can be,

how easily a barrier

can be broken,

and a raw wound gape

and bleed, like slitting

open an envelope sleeve.

And I'm learning how a girl like me

can hide away, close to a veiled,

unseeing parental gaze.

This bushy undergrowth is like

a world within a world,

one I long to lose myself in,

to press into darkness

while my heart seeks out the tiny,

flickering pinpricks of light

found glittering in the gaps as stars,

gently pointing the way

forward—like a litany of psalms.

© joylenton

Fine Dining by Violet Nesdoly

 This is not about fashionably late

with candlelight shimmering in glasses of Pinot Gris

snowy napkins, pewter flatware

and stacks of food on square plates

over smudges of condiment reduction,

but about two Corelle bowls

heaped with spinach salad at five

green beans steaming in brown Corningware

mushroom chicken bubbling in a Pyrex casserole

a stainless steel pot of fragrant rice.

a tub of margarine, pocked as pumice

and three bottles: Balsamic, Raspberry, Ranch

all on wood trivets to protect the old tablecloth.

Now that it’s light              

we watch people stroll babies and dogs

on the path below our townhouse window.

It’s not the view we would get

at Pelagos on the Beach

but the sum of it is certainly

dining at its finest.

© by Violet Nesdoly.

"To See a World..." (Fragments from "Auguries of Innocence") by: William Blake

To see a World in a Grain of Sand And a Heaven in a Wild Flower, Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand And Eternity in an hour. A Robin Redbreast in a Cage Shudders Hell thro’ all its regions. Puts all Heaven in a Rage. A dove house fill’d with doves and pigeons A Horse misus’d upon the Road A Dog starv’d at his Master’s Gate Predicts the ruin of the State. Calls to Heaven for Human blood. Shall never pass the Polar Bar. Each outcry of the hunted Hare A fiber from the Brain does tear. He who shall train the Horse to War Poison gets from Slander’s tongue. The Beggar’s Dog and Widow’s Cat, Feed them and thou wilt grow fat. The Gnat that sings his Summer song It is right it should be so; The poison of the Snake and Newt Is the sweat of Envy’s Foot. A truth that’s told with bad intent Beats all the Lies you can invent. Some to Misery are Born. Man was made for Joy and Woe; And when this we rightly know Thro’ the World we safely go. Every Night and every Morn Every Morn and every Night Some are Born to Endless Night. Some are Born to sweet delight. Some are Born to sweet delight,