Like the stars of the morning

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F e a t h e r   W e a t h e r

Rose Hill Cemetery

Macon, Georgia

>>>>++<<<<

When He cometh, when He cometh

To make up His jewels

All His jewels, precious jewels

His loved and His own

Like the stars of the morning

His brightness adorning

They shall shine in their beauty

Bright gems for His crown

He will gather, He will gather

The gems for His Kingdom

All the pure ones, all the bright ones

His loved and His own

Little children, little children

Who love their Redeemer

Are the jewels, precious jewels

His loved and His own

Like the stars of the morning

His brightness adorning

All His jewels, precious jewels

His loved and His own.

> William O. Cushing <

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And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day

when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them,

as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.

Malachi 3:17

And the LORD their God shall save them in that day

as the flock of his people:

 for they shall be as the stones of a crown,

lifted up as an ensign upon his land.

Zechariah 9:16

>>>>++<<<<

In Loving Memory of My Mother

Patricia Ann Sandifer Dykstra

on what would have been her eighty-sixth birthday

>>>>++<<<<

Happy Sunday

The perished patterns murmur

>>>>++<<<<

G i v e   M e   A   L i t t l e   S i g n

Palmer Street

Ridgeway, South Carolina

>>>>++<<<<

It's easy to invent a Life --

God does it -- every Day --

Creation -- but the Gambol 

Of His Authority --

It's easy to efface it --

The thrifty Deity

Could scarce afford Eternity

To Spontaneity --

The Perished Patterns murmur --

But His Perturbless Plan

Proceed -- inserting Here -- a Sun --

There -- leaving out a Man --

> Emily Dickinson <

>>>>++<<<<

Happy Saturday

The learning hour

>>>>++<<<<

W h y   Y e l l o w   T h e r e

Pilkington North America Factory

Rossford, Ohio

>>>>++<<<<

There is some hour -- like a cast off load --
When our proud had been fully tamed.
The learning hour -- on each life-long road --
Is predestined and great.

The time, in which -- our arms just had been thrown
Down to the feet of shown by His hand --
The solder’s purple to the gray-fur gown
We’re changing on the seashore sand.

O, this great hour -- like some loud trumpet,
Rising us up from free-will of a date!
O, this great hour, when like some ear, ripened,
We’re low-bending to our weight.

The ear has risen, and the hour -- been crowned,
And now the ear is thirsty for the mill.
O, Law! O, Law! Yet in a womb of ground
My yoke by my own will.

The learning hour! But we see and know
Another light, -- another bright sunrise.
Be ever blessed, now rising him below,
High time when lone will be each of us!

> Maria Tsvetaeva <

>>>>++<<<<

Happy Wednesday

As loud as my heart

>>>>++<<<<

B e a r i n g   U p

Front Porch

Columbia, South Carolina

>>>>++<<<<

Come up to meet you,

Tell you I'm sorry
You don't know how lovely you are

I had to find you
Tell you I need you
Tell you I set you apart

Tell me your secrets
And ask me your questions
Oh, let's go back to the start

Running in circles
Coming up tails
Heads on a science apart

Nobody said it was easy
It's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be this hard

Oh, take me back to the start

I was just guessing
At numbers and figures
Pulling the puzzles apart

Questions of science
Science and progress
Did not speak as loud as my heart

But tell me you love me
Come back and haunt me
Oh, and I rush to the start

Running in circles
Chasing our tails
Coming back as we are

Nobody said it was easy

Oh, it's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy

No one ever said it would be so hard

I'm going back the start.

> Berryman/Buckland/Champion/Martin <

>>>>++<<<<

Happy Tuesday

Look and look forever more

>>>>++<<<<

F l a t   B r o k e

Rose Hill Cemetery

York, South Carolina

>>>>++<<<<

Where are the loves that we have loved before
When once we are alone, and shut the door?
No matter whose the arms that held me fast,
The arms of Darkness hold me at the last.
No matter down what primrose path I tend,
I kiss the lips of Silence in the end.
No matter on what heart I found delight,
I come again unto the breast of Night.
No matter when or how love did befall,
’Tis Loneliness that loves me best of all,
And in the end she claims me, and I know
That she will stay, though all the rest may go.
No matter whose the eyes that I would keep
Near in the dark, ’tis in the eyes of Sleep
That I must look and look forever more,
When once I am alone, and shut the door.

> Willa Cather <

>>>>++<<<<

Happy Monday

Thus abide with me

>>>>++<<<<

S i m p l e   T r u t h s

St. Paul's Chapel

New York, New York

>>>>++<<<<

Abide with me; fast falls the eventide
The darkness deepens; Lord with me abide
When other helpers fail and comforts flee
Help of the helpless, O abide with me.

Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day
Earth's joys grow dim; its glories pass away
Change and decay in all around I see
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.

Not a brief glance I beg, a passing word
But as Thou dwell'st with Thy disciples, Lord
Familiar, condescending, patient, free
Come not to sojourn, but abide with me.

Come not in terrors, as the King of kings
But kind and good, with healing in Thy wings
Tears for all woes, a heart for every plea
Come, Friend of sinners, thus abide with me.

I need Thy presence every passing hour
What but Thy grace can foil the tempter's power
Who, like Thyself, my guide and stay can be
Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.

I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness
Where is death's sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.

Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies
Heaven's morning breaks, and earth's vain shadows flee
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

> Henry Francis Lyte <

>>>>++<<<<

But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us:

for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.

And he went in to tarry with them.

Luke 24:29

>>>>++<<<<

Happy Sunday :: Happy Father's Day

Friends, he is like us

>>>>++<<<<

A n t i c i p a t i o n

Front Porch Feeder

Columbia, South Carolina

>>>>++<<<<

Do you remember the night Abraham first saw
The stars? He cried to Saturn: “You are my Lord!”
How happy he was! When he saw the Dawn Star,

He cried, “You are my Lord!” How destroyed he was
When he watched them set. Friends, he is like us:
We take as our Lord the stars that go down.

We are faithful companions to the unfaithful stars.
We are diggers, like badgers; we love to feel
The dirt flying out from behind our back claws.

And no one can convince us that mud is not
Beautiful. It is our badger soul that thinks so.
We are ready to spend the rest of our life

Walking with muddy shoes in the wet fields.
We resemble exiles in the kingdom of the serpent.
We stand in the onion fields looking up at the night.

My heart is a calm potato by day, and a weeping
Abandoned woman by night. Friend, tell me what to do,
Since I am a man in love with the setting stars.

> Robert Bly <

>>>>++<<<<

Happy Friday :: Happy Weekend

Something of an olden tone

>>>>++<<<<

H e r e ' s   Y o u r   S i g n

Elmwood Cemetery

Columbia, South Carolina

>>>>++<<<<

I know not how it falls on me,
This summer evening, hushed and lone;
Yet the faint wind comes soothingly
With something of an olden tone.

Forgive me if I've shunned so long
Your gentle greeting, earth and air!
But sorrow withers e'en the strong,
And who can fight against despair?

> Emily Brontë <

>>>>++<<<<

Happy Thursday

Something is lost now

>>>>++<<<<

M e m o r i e s   R   U s

Times Square 2011

New York, New York

>>>>++<<<<

Early is the evening,
Reluctant the dawn;
Once there was summer;
Sudden it was gone.
It fell like a leaf,
Whirled downstream.
Was there ever summer,
Or only a dream?
Was ever a world
That was not November?
Once there was summer,
And this I remember

Cornflowers and daisies,
Buttercups and clover,
Black-eyed Susans and Queen-Anne's lace,
A wide green meadow,
And bees booming over,
And a little laughing girl with the wind in her face.

Strident are the voices
And hard lights shine;
Feral are the faces;
Is one of them mine?
Something is lost now,
Tarnished the gleam;
Was there ever nobleness,
Or only a dream?
Yes, and it lingers,
Lost not yet;
Something remains
Till this I forget

Cornflowers and clover,
Buttercups and daisies,
Black-eyed Susans under blue and white skies
And the grass waist high
Where the red cow grazes,
And a little laughing girl with faith in her eyes.

> Ogden Nash <

>>>>++<<<<

Happy Wednesday

With the deluge of summer

>>>>++<<<<

W a i t   F o r   I t

Mount Olivet Cemetery

Nashville, Tennessee

>>>>++<<<<

And what is so rare as a day in June?
Then, if ever, come perfect days;
Then Heaven tries earth if it be in tune,
And over it softly her warm ear lays;
Whether we look, or whether we listen,
We hear life murmur, or see it glisten;
Every clod feels a stir of might,
An instinct within it that reaches and towers,
And, groping blindly above it for light,
Climbs to a soul in grass and flowers;
The flush of life may well be seen
Thrilling back over hills and valleys;
The cowslip startles in meadows green,
The buttercup catches the sun in its chalice,
And there's never a leaf nor a blade too mean
To be some happy creature's palace;
The little bird sits at his door in the sun,
Atilt like a blossom among the leaves,
And lets his illumined being o'errun
With the deluge of summer it receives;
His mate feels the eggs beneath her wings,
And the heart in her dumb breast flutters and sings;
He sings to the wide world, and she to her nest,
In the nice ear of Nature which song is the best?

Now is the high-tide of the year,
And whatever of life hath ebbed away
Comes flooding back with a ripply cheer,
Into every bare inlet and creek and bay;
Now the heart is so full that a drop overfills it,
We are happy now because God wills it;
No matter how barren the past may have been,
'Tis enough for us now that the leaves are green;
We sit in the warm shade and feel right well
How the sap creeps up and the blossoms swell;
We may shut our eyes but we cannot help knowing
That skies are clear and grass is growing;
The breeze comes whispering in our ear,
That dandelions are blossoming near,
That maize has sprouted, that streams are flowing,
That the river is bluer than the sky,
That the robin is plastering his house hard by;
And if the breeze kept the good news back,
For our couriers we should not lack;
We could guess it all by yon heifer's lowing,
And hark! How clear bold chanticleer,
Warmed with the new wine of the year,
Tells all in his lusty crowing!

Joy comes, grief goes, we know not how;
Everything is happy now,
Everything is upward striving;
'Tis as easy now for the heart to be true
As for grass to be green or skies to be blue,
'Tis for the natural way of living:
Who knows whither the clouds have fled?
In the unscarred heaven they leave not wake,
And the eyes forget the tears they have shed,
The heart forgets its sorrow and ache;
The soul partakes the season's youth,
And the sulphurous rifts of passion and woe
Lie deep 'neath a silence pure and smooth,
Like burnt-out craters healed with snow.

> James Russell Lowell <

>>>>++<<<<

Happy Tuesday