Poetry Thursday - Enough

IT IS ENOUGH

It is enough to have this morning's day
The sky swept clean by stars' adventurous light
That garnished earth and gave the animals
Freelancing songs and stillnesses of night.

We share the entire wealth of calendars
That hold the love of earth and happy heaven
Marking our own spot in centuries
Writing our own labors in our own love given.

It's quite a legacy to have charge of Time
To tick the meaning of the endless ages
Custodians of streets and roads and houses
Spelling our own names on our own pages.
Speaking our deeds and hopes on holy earth
Entrusted to us at our lucky birth.

by Sister Mary Faith Schuster, OSB

For another beautiful poem by this poet, which I shared in the summer of 2007, click here.

photo by Aisling, November 22, 2009

Thanksgiving

Today I am thankful for the abundance of my life. I had to scrape pennies together - almost literally - to purchase the little odds and ends that I needed to complete my holiday meal. I felt overwhelmed with the bounty of my life even as I did so. I bypassed the sugary sodas and hoped that my family would not feel like our holiday meal was served without "special beverages" but I couldn't justify the expense of a non-nutritive food item. We'll have coffee and tea and hot chocolate as options, a pitcher of lemonade, and an endless supply of fresh water from the well. In all this world, how many people have so many options for refreshment?

I couldn't afford fancy gourmet items for the table. We'll make do with simple fare, much of it inspired by my southern-roots. Cornbread, green beans with sage and onion, Black eyed peas with greens... along with the usual mashed potatoes, acorn squash, and wild rice, and barley pilaf stuffed portabella mushrooms. We'll have pumpkin pie and apple cake and a cranberry relish loaded with other fruits; pineapple, apple, orange and ginger. This feast, while not as spectacular as some folks will have, is a wealth of sustenance. Sometimes we are too worried over financial troubles, the economic downturn, or work and school related stresses, to notice the riches that abound in our average American lives.

When I compare my home to some of the "cottages on the lake" that are built around here... I might notice that our house is smaller, shabbier, less showy... but instead I've noticed that ours is warm, and dry, and comfortable, and overflowing with the treasures that can't be bought.

Wherever you are, whatever the weather, I wish you the joy of being thankful for the blessings in your life.

All Things Bright and Beautiful...

I was born a few days before Christmas, and my second Christmas I received the rocking horse above as a gift from my parents. I was a little too small to play with him a whole lot that first year, but my older brother had fun with him until I grew enough to climb on Hoss's back. As I got a little bigger, two younger brothers rode Hoss to the wild, wild west of their imaginations and beyond. When he had been well-loved and worn to a frazzle, he was tucked up into the rafters in an outbuilding.

I didn't realize that Hoss had been saved and had moved with my parents to two other houses, but one year when my oldest daughter was a toddler (she is almost 19 now) my parents pulled this guy out of storage and refurbished him. My dad secured his joints, repainted, glossed him up. I think my Mom was responsible for his fluffy new rope tail. At Christmas time, about 25 years after I first met Hoss, he was presented to my daughter. Again, he has been ridden and climbed over by four more children over the course of the last two decades. He sits in the corner of my dining room, and five-year old Tanka rides him across the white linoleum "fields" every once in a while. Yesterday, my nine-year old son, Sijo, crowned him with this pilgrim hat. I smile every time I look at him.

I love this hymn and the lyrics, while always meaningful, are especially so at Thanksgiving. Wherever you are, whatever your plans for the day, I wish you a beautiful and bountiful day.

"All things bright and beautiful,

All creatures great and small,

All things wise and wonderful,

The Lord God made them all.

Each little flower that opens,

Each little bird that sings,

He made their glowing colours,

He made their tiny wings.

All things bright and beautiful,

All creatures great and small,

All things wise and wonderful,

The Lord God made them all

The purple-headed mountain,

The river running by,

The sunset and the morning,

That brightens up the sky;

All things bright and beautiful,

All creatures great and small,

All things wise and wonderful,

The Lord God made them all

The cold wind in the winter,

The pleasant summer sun,

The ripe fruits in the garden,

He made them every one;

All things bright and beautiful,

All creatures great and small,

All things wise and wonderful,

The Lord God made them all

The tall trees in the greenwood,

The meadows for our play,

The rushes by the water,

To gather every day

All things bright and beautiful,

All creatures great and small,

All things wise and wonderful,

The Lord God made them all

He gave us eyes to see them,

And lips that we might tell

How great is God Almighty,

Who has made all things well.

All things bright and beautiful,

All creatures great and small,

All things wise and wonderful,

The Lord God made them all."

~ Cecil F. Alexander

..

photo by Aisling, November 26, 2008

Twas the Night before Thanksgiving

This was a school day for me, but my children were home from school. The little boys were thrilled that their babysitters, my 15 year old Haiku and her friend, had some pre-Thanksgiving fun and games in mind. When I returned home with a few bags of all the things I forgot when I grocery shopped several days ago, my house was sweetly decorated for the holiday. There are pilgrim hats on various things around the house, smiling turkeys on my lightswitches and cupboard doors, and little pilgrims and Native Americans on my window glass.

Tonight, I am jotting down my meal plan. I keep things simple, but want to plan what to make early and set in the refrigerator and what to make at the last minute. I don't watch sports on television generally speaking, as my hubby does, but just love a day where I can set aside school and work responsiblities and be in the kitchen almost the entire day. Five year old Tanka decided that he and I should have a "coloring with crayons" marathon as a Thanksgiving tradition, so that is on my agenda too.

We have just one single friend coming up from another area of the state to join us for the meal, and a few days visiting after that. I dont' know his arrival time, so I plan to be flexible with the meal time. Late in the evening, I hope to find a really good old-fashioned Christmas movie on television: pjs, a snuggly quilt, someone to snuggle with... and I'll be truly satisfied.

Below is a tiny bit of a Native American Thanksgiving prayer that I enjoyed reading. You will find the whole thing here.

"We are all thankful to the powers we know as the Four Winds.

We hear their voices in the moving air as they refresh us and purify the air we breathe.

They help to bring the change of seasons.

From the four directions they come, bringing us messages and giving us strength.

With one mind, we send our greetings and thanks to the Four Winds."

~ A Haudenosaunee "Thanksgiving" Prayer

...

photos by Aisling 1) one of Haiku's paper turkeys. 2) Sijo's turkeys, one with a hat on both ends! , on the window glass.

,,,