Invictus

William Ernest Henley

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbow'd.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

I Love You

Roy Croft

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 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 my life, of my everyday
Not a reproach, but a song.
I love you,
Because you have done
More than any creed could have done
To make me feel my goodness.
You have done it,
With your touch, with your words,
With yourself.

Diary 1985, Hannover, Germany

A. Ferrer, 1985, somewhere in Hannover, Germany:

“Hunger is, as such, negative. But nevertheless, it is a much lesser evil in comparison to Greed. In fact, there is no plausible comparison between the two. Hunger can be stilled with a generous portion of a decent meal. But greed? Greed is insatiable. No amount of portion, be it generous or little, can satisfy greed. It is not a mere virus of the society, but a malignant cancer that should be taken away as soon as possible, in order to save what is still left of what has been once a healthy part of social life. Greed can be found nowhere else but in the very core of human beings infested and corrupted by it. Money, power, influence, property, or all of the aforementioned are the ‘foods’ of greed: Foods that will never fill up a bottomless hole. People from all walks of life are both victims and carriers of this cancer. I am not for eliminating walking cancers, my friend. But we can do something directly against the situation:

DO NOT FEED THEM.
DO NOT ALLOW THEM TO INFEST ANYBODY, FROM TODDLERS TO ADULTS.
DO NOT DEAL WITH THEM.
DO NOT WORK FOR OR WITH THEM.
AVOID THEM WITH ALL YOUR POWER AND DETERMINATION.
DO NOT VOTE THEM INTO OFFICE, WHETHER GOVERNMENTAL OR ECCLESIASTICAL.
DO NOT SHOW RESPECT FOR THEM BECAUSE THAT WILL SEND A DEADLY SIGNAL OF TOLERANCE, ACCEPTANCE OR IMMORAL INDIFFERENCE.
DESPISE THEM AND LET THEM FEEL THAT THEY ARE DESPISED.
DON’T GET CARRIED AWAY BY THEIR SWEET TALKS AND PROMISES.
NEVER EVER ENTER INTO AN AGREEMENT WITH THEM. CANCER CELLS SPREAD RAPIDLY. BEFORE YOU KNOW IT, THEY HAVE GOTTEN YOU ALREADY.

And yet, my friend, every person can change from within… a thorough change… a METANOIA. Should there be clear and genuine transformation, authenticated by deeds and action, another chance should be given them. Just as we would want another chance after true repentance, so should we be to our fellowmen. But unless there is this METANOIA, be strong and determined to fight this devastating social cancer called Greed.”

Annabel Lee

Edgar Allan Poe

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee.
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea,
But we loved with a love that was more than love -
I and my Annabel Lee -
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsmen came,
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulcher
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me -
Yes! - that was the reason
(as all men know,
in this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out the cloud by night,
chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we -
of many far wiser than we -
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever disever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee: -

For the moon never came, without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee,
And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee:
And so, all the night tide I lie down by the side
Of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride
In the sepulcher there by the sea -
In her tomb by the sounding sea.

Roses

Pierre Ronsard

I send you here a wreath of blossoms blown,
And woven flowers at sunset gathered.
Another dawn had seen them revived; ruined,
and shed loose leaves upon the grass, at random strewn.
By this, their sure example, be it known
That all your beauties, now in perfect flower,
Shall fade as these, and wither in an hour,
Flower-like and brief of days, as the flowers sown.
Ah, time is flying, lady - time is flying;
Nay, 'tis not time that flies but we that go,
Who in short space shall be in churchyard lying,
And of our loving parley none shall know,
Nor any man consider what we were:
Be therefore kind, my love, whilst thou art fair.

The Road Not Taken

Robert Frost

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 travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Ode on Solitude

Alexander Pope

Happy the man whose wish and care
A few paternal acres bound,
Content to breathe his native air,
In his own ground.

Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread,
Whose flocks supply him with attire,
Whose trees in summer yield him shade,
In winter fire.

Blest, who can unconcern'dly find
Hours, days, and years slide soft away,
In health of body, peace of mind,
Quiet by day,

Sound sleep by night; study and ease,
Together mix'd; sweet recreation;
And Innocence, which most does please
With meditation.

Thus let me live, unseen, unknown,
Thus unlamented let me die,
Steal from the world, and not a stone
Tell where I lie.