Inspiration: Poems

Under a sky the color of pea soup she is looking at her work growing away there actively, thickly like grapevines or pole beans as things grow in the real world, slowly enough. If you tend them properly, if you mulch, if you water, if you provide birds that eat...

when the world goes mad be wildly kind to everyone everyone everyone ~ you can’t control much but you control how you treat others in these breaking news heartbreaking times when nothing feels certain let your raw kindness be a certainty allow your compassion to...

Never again will I weep And wring my hands And beat my head against the wall Because Me nolentem fata trahunt* But When I have had enough I will arise And go unto my Father And I will say to Him: Father, I have had enough. *Because fate drags me, unwilling." Me...

My wish for you Is that you continue          Continue To be who and how you are To astonish a mean world With your acts of kindness          Continue To allow humor to lighten the burden Of your tender heart          Continue In a society dark with cruelty To let the...

One morning we will wake up and forget to build that wall we’ve been building, the one between us the one we’ve been building for years, perhaps out of some sense of right and boundary, perhaps out of habit. One morning we will wake up and let our empty hands hang...

I know, I know If you could go back you would walk with Jesus You would march with King Maybe assassinate Hitler At least hide Jews in your basement It would all be clear to you But people then, just like you were baffled, had bills to pay and children they didn’t...

Some stood up once, and sat down. Some walked a mile, and walked away. Some stood up twice, then sat down. “It’s too much,” they cried. Some walked two miles, then walked away. “I’ve had it,” they cried, Some stood and stood and stood. They were taken for fools, they...

If people ask me, I always tell them: "Quite well, thank you, I'm very glad to say." If people ask me, I always answer, "Quite well, thank you, how are you to-day?" I always answer, I always tell them, If they ask me Politely..... BUT SOMETIMES I wish That they...

Mathematicians     have worked out how to calculate     the bounciness of a ball: (the coefficient of this x the cosine of that) +   the differential of today's weather     all ÷ by a piece of string     (and the speed of the train) = the same as    dropping different...

Enthroned upon the mighty truth, Within the confines of the laws, True Justice seeth not the man, But only hears his cause. Unconscious of his creed or race, She cannot see, but only weighs; For Justice with unbandaged eyes Would be oppression in disguise.

We have memorized America how it was born and who we have been and where. In ceremonies and silence we say the words, telling the stories, singing the old songs. We like the places they take us. Mostly we do. The great and all the anonymous dead are there. We know the...

Now we will count to twelve and we will all keep still. For once on the face of the earth, let's not speak in any language; let's stop for a second, and not move our arms so much. It would be an exotic moment without rush, without engines; we would all be together in...

When the light around lessens And your thoughts darken until Your body feels fear turn Cold as a stone inside, When you find yourself bereft Of any belief in yourself And all you unknowingly Leaned on has fallen, When one voice commands Your whole heart, And it is...

This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes As an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all! Even if they're a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of its...

As you prepare your breakfast — think of others. Don’t forget to feed the pigeons. As you conduct your wars — think of others. Don’t forget those who want peace. As you pay your water bill — think of others. Think of those who have only the clouds to drink from. As...

I thought it was a marathon-- the work that must be done. I learned it was a relay. That changed everything.

I am the people—the mob—the crowd—the mass. Do you know that all the great work of the world is done through me? I am the workingman, the inventor, the maker of the world’s food and clothes. I am the audience that witnesses history. The Napoleons come from me and the...

I killed a spider Not a murderous brown recluse Nor even a black widow And if the truth were told this Was only a small Sort of papery spider Who should have run When I picked up the book But she didn't And she scared me And I smashed her I don't think I'm allowed To...

May we raise children who love the unloved things – the dandelion, the worms and spiderlings. Children who sense the rose needs the thorn & run into rainswept days the same way they turn towards sun… And when they’re grown & someone has to speak for those who...