"He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often and loved much; who has gained the respect of intelligent men and the love of little children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who has left the world better than he found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul; who has never lacked appreciation of earth's beauty or failed to express it; who has always looked for the best in others and given them the best he had; whose life was an inspiration; whose memory a benediction." - Bessie Stanley(published 11/30/1905 in the Lincoln (Kansas) Sentinel -- an adaptation of this is often attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson, though nothing like it has been found in his writings)
Wiki says: "Elisabeth-Anne "Bessie" Anderson Stanley (born before 1900 - d. 1952) is the author of the poem Success (What is success? or What Constitutes Success?), which is often incorrectly misattributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson or Robert Louis Stevenson.
Her poem was written in 1904 for a contest held in Brown Book Magazine, by George Livingston Richards Co. of Boston, Massachusetts. Mrs. Stanley, of Lincoln, Kansas, submitted the words in the form of an essay, rather than as a poem. The competition was to answer the question "What is success?" in 100 words or less. Mrs. Stanley won the first prize of $250."
Even after all this time,
The sun never says to the earth,
"You owe me."
Look what happens with
A love like that.
It lights the whole sky.
- Hafiz of Persia
Loping WordsThey gather near me
so often and I welcome them
as ever. Easy
loping words bounding
within reach of my warm hands
while I get ready
to receive them here
within me as if I was
the womb of the world.
November 20, 2009 8:48 PM
Modified May, 17, 2011 7:45 PM
like a ray of sun.
ReplyDeleteyou know what i learned today
(from my student)
we live on sunlight
the leaves gather the sun to form sugar and starches
and we eat the leaves
the sun always giving
like the words that gather close to you
you are the womb of the world
The Bottom Line
ReplyDeletePlants conform to life,
therefore eat the sun not raw
but filtered through life
and the rest of us
feed on plants or those who feed
on the blue green blood,
the copper color
holding sun, or iron red
holding air the same.
Well done my friend.
ReplyDeletegasoline 'n matches
ReplyDeleteHmmm. Gasoline n matches. Sometimes I wish you wuz ma nex door naybor.
ReplyDelete