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]

Sage advice....

Four things you can't recover:

1. The stone after the throw
2. The word after it's said
3. The occasion after it's missed
4. The time after it's gone.

Poem: DRINK, STEAL, SWEAR & LIE

DRINK, STEAL, SWEAR & LIE

I met a man who has a motto he lives by everyday.

He said to listen carefully and
live by these 4 rules:  Drink, Steal, Swear, & Lie.


I was shaking my head 'no', but he then told me to listen
while he explained his four rules. Here they are:

1.. "Drink" from the "everlasting cup" every day.

2.. "Steal" a moment to help someone that
is in worse shape than you are.

3.. "Swear" that you will be a better
person today than yesterday.

4.. And last, but not least, when you "lie" down at night
thank God you live in America and have freedom.

I am not as good as I should be, I am not as good
as I could be. but THANK GOD,
I am better than I used to be!

(author unknown to me)

Poem

Cleaning Poem

I asked the Lord to tell me
Why my house is such a mess.
He asked if I'd been 'computering',
And I had to answer 'yes.'

He told me to get off my fanny
And tidy up the house.
And so I started cleaning up...
The smudges off my mouse.

I wiped and shined the topside.
That really did the trick...
I was just admiring my work..
I didn't mean to 'click.'

But click, I did, and oops
I found a real absorbing site.
That I got SO way into it
I was into it all night.

Nothing's changed except my mouse
It's very, very shiny.
I guess my house will stay a mess...
While I sit here on my hiney.

Poem

MINNESOTA  POEM


IT'S WINTER IN MINNESOTA

AND THE GENTLE BREEZES BLOW

SEVENTY MILES AN HOUR

AT THIRTY-FIVE BELOW



OH HOW I LOVE  MINNESOTA

WHEN THE SNOW'S UP TO YOUR BUTT

YOU TAKE A BREATH OF WINTER AIR

AND YOUR NOSE GETS FROZEN SHUT



YES, THE WEATHER HERE IS WONDERFUL

SO I GUESS I'LL HANG AROUND

I COULD NEVER LEAVE  MINNESOTA

CAUSE I'M FROZEN TO THE GROUND!!

A bit late, but here goes :)

THANKSGIVING TABLE PRAYER

We thank You, Lord, for harvest gifts
Bestowed upon us here;
We're thankful too for blessings sent
Each day throughout the year.

We're thankful for the Pilgrims
Who braved the perilous sea
That all may worship here today
In this land of the free.

For shelter warm and family ties,
For loved ones far and near;
We're thankful for each little child,
So special and so dear.

For daily bread in ample share
We lift our thanks to Thee;
Oh, may we share with those in need
Wherever they may be.

We're thankful for this food prepared,
Each loved one gathered here.
We're thankful for Your presence Lord;
You seem so very near.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ideals Magazine, Kay Hoffman

Encouraging poem I found today....

"When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all up hill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up though the pace seems slow--
You may succeed with another blow,
Success is failure turned inside out--
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit--
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit."
~ Unknown

You Can Eat An Elephant

On my medical transcription school's forum we have a thread called Mini-Goalers; this is where we set small goals to help us study in this self-paced course. It's our way of keeping ourselves on track, encouraging each other and let's us see our progress.

I joined the moderators team at the end of 2007. It's a team of students who come up with an encouraging quote, quote or story. Afterwards we make comments to the various members of the Mini-Goaler threads based on their responses from the previous week. It's a great way to connect with other students and help one another.

I thought I would share what I wrote for this week. It's my second post to the MG thread. I'll only post the initial part of my writing here and leave off my personal comments to individuals as to protect the privacy of the other forum.

>start paste<

Question: How do you eat an elephant?
Answer: One bite at a time.

~~~~

YOU CAN EAT AN ELEPHANT

You can eat an elephant.
Oh,yes you can it's true.
They may be huge but not to worry,
they aren't to big for you.

"Just how can I eat such a thing
that's so immense in size?"
"Just look at it in pieces
and make them all bite size."

You see to look from head to tail
can be a daunting task.
Many would just give up now
and let the elephant pass.

Look at it as if you can
eat it piece by piece,
It may take you a while,
but your goal you will reach.

So, next time you have a task
that is difficult to do,
Remember, you can eat an elephant
so take a piece and chew.

~~~~~~

Graduating and becoming a working MT is our elephant. We can do it by taking one lesson or report at a time. That's the beauty of the MG thread, it allows us to chop our elephant into bite-size pieces. Let's see how your bites are coming along

>end paste<


Anything we do in life can be an elephant whether it be parenting, work, household projects, educating our children, volunteering, Bible study, friendships, etc... If we break things down into manageable bites, it's much easier to tackle and not become overwhelmed.

Any thoughts? Please feel free to share them in the comments section. Thanks for reading