A few poems by Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Self Reliance"

Henceforth, please God, forever I forego
The yoke of men's opinions.  I will be
Light hearted as a bird, and live with God.
I find him in the bottom of my heart,
I hear continually his voice therein.

The little needle always knows the North,
The little bird remembereth his note,
And this wise Seer within me never errs.
I never follow, when I act aright.
[October 9, 1832]


And when I am entombed in my place,
Be it remembered of a single man,
He never, though he dearly loved his race,
For fear of human eyes swerved from his plan.

Oh what is Heaven but the fellowship
Of minds that each can stand against the world
By its own meek and incorruptible will?

The days pass over me
And I am still the same;
The aroma of my life is gone
With the flower with which it came.

[1833]


"The Informing Spirit"

                I

There is no great and no small
To the Soul that maketh all:
And where it cometh, all things areI
And it cometh everywhere.

                II

I am owner of the sphere,
Of the seven stars and the solar year,
Of Caesar's hand, and Plato's brain,
Of Lord Christ's heart, and Shakespeare's strain.
[1904 ]


"Grace"

How much, preventing God, how much I owe
To the defences thou hast round me set;
Example, custom, fear, occasion slow,--
These scorned bondmen were my parapet.
I dare not peep over this parapet
To gauge with glance the roaring gulf below,
The depths of sin to which I had descended,
Had not these me against myself defended.
[1842]



"The Apology"

Think me not unkind and rude
    That I walk alone in grove and glen;
I go to the god of the wood
    To fetch this word of men.

Tax not my sloth that I
    Fold my arms beside the brook;
Each cloud that floated in the sky
    Writes a letter in my book.

Chide me not, laborious band,
    For the idle flowers I brought;
Every aster in my hand
    Goes home loaded with a thought.

There was never mystery
    But 't is figured in the flowers;
Was never secret history
    But birds tell it in the bowers.

One harvest from they field
    Homeward brought the oxen strong;
A second crop thine acres yield
    Which I gather in a song.

[1847]

If only I could explain to the critters that it's only 2 more weeks of chaos…

 

At least that is the projected timeline for the contractors to be here. They seem to be flying through the job. The roof is done and they are starting on the siding. After that it's the deck, indoor carpentry and shed. It's helped that the rain comes at night so it's not slowing them down much. The critters don't really care for all the work or the strangers presence.

The older cat hides all the time under my son's bed. The dog is jumpy and barks constantly. The younger cat is ready to run, but is okay as long as the contractors are outside. *lol* The animals are slowly adjusting to my nephew coming in and out. He works for the contractor, but since it's Gramma's house, he comes and goes as he pleases on breaks. I have to admit that the humans are ready to have the strangers gone as well. *lol*

On top of having people here, we have run the roads for the last 3 out of 4 days which hasn't been exactly fun either. We have one more day of running, then we are home until Sunday.

Two more weeks, two more weeks, two more weeks…

Green tootsies

I stepped outside to refill the hummingbird feeder and decide to quick mow the front lawn…barefoot.  So now, my tootsies are green and black even after being washed.  Oh well, it will wear off.

I am surprised at how dry parts of the yard were in spite of the nasty t-storm we had this morning and all the rain that we've had this spring.  It's been a really, really wet spring so far.  The ground squishes when you walk on it.  *lol* 

I eventually did put some shoes on when walking on the stupid tree saplings started to hurt too much.  I swear the 5 trees in my yard could reforest the Sahara.  *lol*