22 replies to this topic

[sandyrun]

THERE ARE MEN TOO GENTLE
TO LIVE AMONG THE WOLVES

by - James Kavanaugh

Some people do not have to search -
They find their niche early in life and rest there,
seemingly contented and resigned.
they do not seem to ask much of life,
sometimes they do not seem to take it seriously.
At times I envy them, but usually I do not understand them.
Seldom do they understand me.

I am one of the searchers.
there are, I believe, millions of us.
We are not unhappy, but neither are we really content.
We continue to explore life,
hoping to uncover its ultimate secret.
We continue to explore ourselves, hoping to understand.

We like to walk along the beach -
We are drawn by the ocean, taken by its power,
its unceasing motion,
its mystery and unspeakable beauty.
We like forests and mountains,
deserts and hidden rivers,
and the lonely cities as well.
Our sadness is as much a part of our lives
as is our laughter.
to share our sadness with one we love is perhaps
as great a joy as we can know ---
unless it be to share our laughter.

We searchers are ambitious only for life itself,
for everything beautiful it can provide.
Most of all we want to love and be loved.
We want to live in a relationship that
will not impede our wandering,
nor prevent our search,
nor lock us in prison walls;
that will take us for what little we have to give.
We do not want to prove ourselves to another
or to compete for love.

We are wanderers, dreamers and lovers --
lonely men and women who dare to ask of life
everything good and beautiful.
Those who are too gentle to live among wolves.

[sandyrun]

WHO HAS THE HANDICAP?
October 11, 1999

I'm learning each and everyday, from a young man who can hardly speak
He teaches me something new each day, as I watch him mop and sweep

His staggered gate doesn't stop him, from walking to work each day
And everytime I talk to him, he has a smile and a nice word to say

As he struggles to open the liner, to empty the trash each night
I am reminded of how much he has, visioned cleared with true insight

He has no degrees or education, but he is wiser than most I've met
And tonight I saw him sitting alone, head bowed--he seemed upset

"What's wrong Brandon?", I asked
He replied, "Nothing is wrong with me."
"I feel bad for a kid I saw, he's little and can't even see!"

So when I think I have it bad, feeling down and emotionally flat
I think of Brandon and start to wonder, who has the handicap?

--- Copyright © 1999 Brian G. Jett --- Kentucky

[sandyrun]

THROUGH MY EYES

I see people walk by me
and I go into my own world and think,
what if my disability hadn't come?
Would I still be friendly or would I be mean?

A bunch of questions pop into my mind.
I ask myself if cancer had not killed my dad
would he be here? Would I be the same,
or would I be weaker?

I think what if one day they find a cure for cancer
and no more people die and leave their loved ones?
They would still be happy and smiling...pain free.
They would be free...nothing killing them inside.

But then I think if I didn't have a disability
I wouldn't have the time to notice
that people sitting in wheelchairs
are wonderful and funny and more like
the rest of the world than they are different.

I might have passed them by assuming
that they can't do anything.
Pretty much like the rest of the world thinks
about people sitting in wheelchairs.

by Minna

Attached Thumbnails

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[sandyrun]

My New Set of Wheels

There you stand, and I see you stare
Thinking, poor dear, she's stuck in that chair.
But I'm not sad, I'm very happy because
I haven't forgotten the way it was.

You'd say, "How about a trip to the zoo?
A walk in the park will be good for you."
I was thinking tomorrow, I'll be a wreck,
From my aching feet, to the pain in my neck.

You'd want to go shopping, all over town.
I was thinking but there's no place to sit down.
For you it's a snap, just to go to the store.
But for me the ordeal was more of a chore.

Now I can go wherever I please
I can shop in the mall with newfound ease,
Do all the things that have to be done,
And even go out and have some fun.

So, do you want to know how it really feels,
To be sitting here between these wheels?
Can you remember back that far,
When you got your very first car?

Well, that's how these wheels feel to me.
They don't hold me down, they set me free.
So, don't think all those pitiful things:
These aren't wheels, I think they're my wings.

By Darlene Uggen
from Chicken Soup for the Unsinkable Soul
Copyright 1999 by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen

[sandyrun]

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, 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 marked 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

[LuckyinKentucky]

I walked a mile with pleasure, she chattered all the way;
But left me none the wiser, for all she had to say.
I walked a mile with Sorrow and ne'er a word said she;
But' oh' the things I learned from her when sorrow walked with me!

Robert Browning Hamilton


Sandy is'nt it boggling... the things that can change the point of view..."In my eyes"; and how all those things melt together to forge our strengthened selves!

[sandyrun]

yes, assuredly

[Trail-Boss]

When I Am Old...
I shall wear diamonds
And a wide brimmed straw hat
With silver and leather on it
and I shall spend my social security
On ice tea and carrots...
And sit in the alley of my barn
And listen to my horses breath.
I will sneak out in the middle of a summer's night
And ride my paint mare
Across the moonstruck meadow.
as long as my old bones will allow.
And when people come to call I will smile and nod
as I walk them past the gardens, to the barn
And show, instead, the beauty growing there.
In stalls fresh-lined with shavings and straw.
I will still love to shovel and sweat and
Wear hay in my hair as if it were a jewel.
And I will be an embarrassment to all
who look down on me.
Who have not yet found the peace in being free
To love a horse as a friend,
A friend who waits at midnight hour
With muzzle and nicker and patient blue eyes
for the kind of woman I will be
When I am Old.


Unknown Author

I love this, Its who I am, Stick-Tight

Edited by Trail-Boss, 09 March 2007 - 02:31 AM.

[sandyrun]

Stick-Tight, I love it too!!

Simplest Things

It's the simplest things
That make life worthwhile,
Sunlight on water
A baby's smile.

A robin's bright song
At the start of the day,
The sweet, clean aroma
Of freshly mown hay.
A breeze in the tree tops
That whispers and sighs,
Cold, brilliant starlight
In dark winter skies.

Crisp apple cider
On an October morn,
A mourning dove's call
Sad and forlorn.

Rain gently falling
On dry thirsty land,
A friend who will listen
And then understand.

A soft sandy beach
Stretching mile after mile,
It's the simplest things
That make life worthwhile.

~Laura Starbird

[sandyrun]

"I Love You"

I love you, not only for what you are,
but for what I am when I am with you.
I love you, not only for what you have made of
yourself, but for what you are making of me.
I love you for the part of me that you bring out;
I love you for putting your hand into my heaped-up
heart and passing over all the foolish, weak things
that you can't help dimly seeing there, and for drawing
out into the light all the beautiful belongings that no
one else had looked quite far enough to find.
I love you because you are helping me to make
of the lumber of my life not a tavern, but a temple;
Out of the works of my every day not a reproach,
but a song.
I love you because you have done more than
any creed could have done to make me good,
and more than any fate could have done
to make me happy.
You have done it without a touch,
without a word, without a sign.
You have done it by being yourself.
~ Roy Croft ~

Copyright © 1999 By ~Mau Mau~

[bigsmiles]

I SHALL NEVER LEAVE YOU:



by Anne Lebrecht



I am the breeze that forces through the open window,



Gently blowing across your face.



I am the tree swaying with the breeze.



I am the leaves falling softly to the ground.







The fragrance of the grass tantalizing your nostrils.



I am the hills, their soft curves caressing the sky.



I am the sea flowing gently or wildly slapping at the shore.







I shall never leave you, I am what you see, smell or touch.



I am the part of you that lives.



I am happy with each new day, for when you rejoice,



I am alive once again.

[margaret]

I asked God for stregth, that I might achieve,
I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey.

I asked God for health, that I might do greater things,
I was given infirmity, that I might do better things.

I asked for riches, that I might be happy,
I was given poverty, that I might be wise.

I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men,
I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God.

I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life,
I was given life, that I might enjoy all things.

I got nothing that I asked for - but everything I had hoped for.

Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.
I am among men, most richly blessed.

Found on the body of a valient Southern soldier 1861-1865
Known but to God

[sandyrun]

not exactly a poem....

The Serenity Prayer
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

--Reinhold Niebuhr

[sandyrun]

My dear daddy gave me a copy of the following either when I was in my late teens or early 20s. I still have it, but can't locate it at the moment. I believe the one my daddy gave me was The Man In The Glass. Searching the internet, it appears that the original is The Guy in the Glass. I also came across one The Woman in the Glass.

The Guy in the Glass

by Dale Wimbrow, © 1934

When you get what you want in your struggle for pelf,

And the world makes you King for a day,

Then go to the mirror and look at yourself,

And see what that guy has to say.



For it isn't your Father, or Mother, or Wife,

Who judgement upon you must pass.

The feller whose verdict counts most in your life

Is the guy staring back from the glass.



He's the feller to please, never mind all the rest,

For he's with you clear up to the end,

And you've passed your most dangerous, difficult test

If the guy in the glass is your friend.



You may be like Jack Horner and "chisel" a plum,

And think you're a wonderful guy,

But the man in the glass says you're only a bum

If you can't look him straight in the eye.



You can fool the whole world down the pathway of years,

And get pats on the back as you pass,

But your final reward will be heartaches and tears

If you've cheated the guy in the glass.

Edited by sandyrun, 13 March 2007 - 06:27 AM.

[sandyrun]

America the Beautiful
by Katharine Lee Bates (1859-1929)


O' beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!

America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O' beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose sterm impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!

America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!

O' beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife.
Who more than self the country loved
And mercy more than life!

America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!

America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!


Bates wrote this anthem after visiting Pike's Peak in a prairie wagon. She revised it before its final version came out in 1913. Traditionally, the poem is sung to music by Samuel Augustus Ward.

[sandyrun]

100 Years from Now

One hundred years from now

It will not matter what kind of car I drove,

What kind of house I lived in,

How much money I had in my bank account,

Nor what my clothes looked like.

But one hundred years from now

The world may be a little better

Because I was important

In the life of a child.

~Author Unknown

[sandyrun]

Children Learn What They Live


If children live with hostility,
they learn to fight.

If children live with ridicule,
they learn to be shy.

If children live with tolerance,
they learn to be patient.

If children live with encouragement,
they learn confidence.

If children live with praise,
they learn to appreciate.

If children live with fairness,
they learn justice.

If children live with security,
they learn faith.

If children live with approval,
they learn to like themselves.

If children live with acceptance, and friendship,
they learn to find love in the world.



Dorothy Law Nolte, Ph. D.

[sandyrun]

If
Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you.
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat these two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

[sandyrun]

LESSONS ON LIFE

I feared being alone, until I learned to like myself.

I feared failure, until I realized that I only fail when I don't try.

I feared success, until I realized that I had to try in order to be happy with myself.

I feared people's opinions, until I learned that people would have opinions about me anyway.

I feared rejection, until I learned to have faith in myself.

I feared pain, until I learned that it's necessary for growth.

I feared the truth, until I saw the ugliness in lies.

I feared life, until I experienced its beauty.

I feared death, until I realized that it's not an end, but a beginning.

I feared my destiny, until I realized that I had the power to change my life.

I feared hate, until I saw that it was nothing more than ignorance.

I feared love, until it touched my heart, making the darkness fade into endless sunny days.

I feared ridicule, until I learned how to laugh at myself.

I feared growing old, until I realized that I gained wisdom every day.

I feared the future, until I realized that life just kept getting better.

I feared the past, until I realized that it could no longer hurt me.

I feared the dark, until I saw the beauty of the starlight.

I feared the light, until I learned that the truth would give me strength.

I feared change, until I saw that even the most beautiful butterfly had to undergo a metamorphosis before it could fly.

(I do not know the author.)

[bigsmiles]

One of my favourites

This is the tale of Sonia Snell,
To whom an accident befell.
An accident which may well seem
Embarrassing in the extreme.
It happened, as it does to many,
That Sonia had to spend a penny.
She entered in with modest grace
The properly appointed place
Provided at the railway station,
And there she sat in meditation,
Unfortunately unacquainted
The woodwork had been newly painted
Which made poor Sonia realise
Her inability to rise.
And though she struggled, pulled and yelled
She found that she was firmly held.
She raised her voice in mournful shout
"Please someone come and help me out."
Her cries for help then quickly brought
A crowd of every kind and sort.
They stood around and feebly sniggered
And all they said was "I'll be jiggered."
"Gor blimey" said the ancient porter
"We ought to soak her off with water."
The Station Master and the staff
Were most perverse and did not laugh
But lugged at Sonia's hands and feet
And could not get her off the seat.
The carpenter arrived at last
And, finding Sonia still stuck fast
Remarked "I know what I can do',
And neatly sawed the seat right through.
Sonia arose, only to find
A wooden halo on behind.
An ambulance came down the street
And bore her off, complete with seat
To take the wooden bustled gal
Off quickly to the hospital.
They hurried Sonia off inside
After a short but painful ride
And seizing her by heels and head
Laid her face down on the bed.
The doctors all came on parade
To render her immediate aid.
A surgeon said "Upon my word
Could anything be more absurd,
Have any of you, I implore,
Seen anything like this before?"
"Yes" said a student, unashamed,
"Frequently... but never framed."



SONIA SNELL
by
Cyril Fletcher

[sandyrun]

HEAVEN'S VERY SPECIAL CHILD

A meeting was held quite far from earth.
"It's time again for another birth,"
Said the Angels to the Lord above,
"This special child will need much love.

His progress may seem very slow
Accomplishments he may not show
And he'll require extra care
From the folks he meets way down there.

He may not run or laugh or play
His thoughts may seem quite far away
In many ways he won't adapt,
And he'll be known as handicapped.

So let's be careful where he's sent
We want his life to be content.
Please, Lord, find the parents who
Will do a special job for You.

They will not realize right away
The leading role they're asked to play
But with this child sent from above
Comes stronger faith and richer love.

And soon they'll know the privilege given
In caring for this gift from Heaven
Their precious charge, so meek and mild
Is Heaven's very special child."

-Author Unknown



Beatitudes for Disabled People....by Marjorie Chappell.

Blessed are you that never bids us "hurry up" and more blessed
are you that do not snatch our tasks from our hands to do them
for us, for often we need time rather than help.

Blessed are you who take time to listen to defective speech,
for you help us to know that if we persevere, we can be understood.

Blessed are you who walk with us in public places and ignore the
stares of strangers, for in your companionship we find havens of
relaxation.

Blessed are you who stand beside us as we enter new ventures,
for our failures will be outweighed by times we surprise ourselves
and you.

Blessed are you who ask for our help, for our greatest need is
to be needed.

Blessed are you when by all these things you assure us that the
thing that makes us individuals is not our peculiar muscles,
nor our wounded nervous system,
but is the God-given self that no infirmity can confine.

Blessed are those who realize that I am human and don't expect me
to be saintly just because I am disabled.

Blessed are those who pick things up without being asked.

Blessed are those who understand that sometimes I am weak and
not just lazy.

Blessed are those who forget my disability of the body and see the
shape of my soul.

Blessed are those who see me as a whole person, unique and complete,
and not as a "half" and one of God's mistakes.

Blessed are those who love me just as I am without wondering
what I might have been like.

Blessed are my friends on whom I depend,
for they are the substance and joy of my life!!!!

[bigsmiles]

Heavens very special child Sandy was written by Edna Massionilla 1981 for proud parents of Downs children..very nice too.




When an old lady died in the geriatric ward of a small hospital near Dundee, Scotland, it was felt that she had nothing left of any value. Later, when
the nurses were going through her meager possessions, they found this poem.
Its quality and content so impressed the staff that copies were made and
distributed to every nurse in the hospital.

One nurse took her copy to Ireland. The old lady's sole bequest to posterity
has since appeared in the Christmas edition of the News Magazine of the
North Ireland Association for Mental Health. A slide presentation has also
been made based on her simple, but eloquent, poem. ... And this little old
Scottish lady, with nothing left to give to the world, is now the author of
this "anonymous" poem winging across the Internet. Goes to show that we all
leave "SOME footprints in time".....



What do you see, nurses, what do you see?
What are you thinking when you're looking at me?
A crabby old woman, not very wise,
Uncertain of habit, with faraway eyes?
Who dribbles her food and makes no reply
When you say in a loud voice, "I do wish you'd try!"

Who seems not to notice the things that you do,
And forever is missing a stocking or shoe.....
Who, resisting or not, lets you do as you will,
With bathing and feeding, the long day to fill....
Is that what you're thinking? Is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, nurse; you're not looking at me.

I'll tell you who I am as I sit here so still,
As I do at your bidding, as I eat at your will.
I'm a small child of ten ... with a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters, who love one another.

A young girl of sixteen, with wings on her feet,
Dreaming that soon now a lover she'll meet.
A bride soon at twenty -- my heart gives a leap,
Remembering the vows that I promised to keep.
At twenty-five now, I have young of my own,
Who need me to guide and a secure happy home.
A woman of thirty, my young now grown fast,
Bound to each other with ties that should last.
At forty, my young sons have grown and are gone,
But my man's beside me to see I don't mourn.
At fifty once more, babies play round my knee,
Again we know children, my loved one and me.

Dark days are upon me, my husband is dead;
I look at the future, I shudder with dread.
For my young are all rearing young of their own,
And I think of the years and the love that I've known.
I'm now an old woman ... and nature is cruel;
'Tis jest to make old age look like a fool.
The body, it crumbles, grace and vigor depart,
There is now a stone where I once had a heart.
But inside this old carcass a young girl still dwells,
And now and again my battered heart swells.

I remember the joys, I remember the pain,
And I'm loving and living life over again.
I think of the years .... all too few, gone too fast,
And accept the stark fact that nothing can last.

So open your eyes, nurses, open and see,
Not a crabby old woman; look closer ... see ME!!

[SusanSusan]

Here I sit
All broken hearted,
Ran like hell
and only farted.

Yesterday
I took a chance,
took my time
and messed my pants.