A Hymn I heard in Mass today

Today I was at mass and at the offertory they played my favorite hymn "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence", I was struck at the beauty of it even more than usual since it has been quite awhile since I have heard it. The Words come from the Liturgy of St James in the Fourth Century, translated from Greek and the music comes from a French Carol from around 1906.
If you have ever heard this you must know how amazing it is, especially when sung in chorus. The words itself are so beautiful and when I hear them they cause me to feel the amazing power of God.
Here is a transcript of "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence."
Let all Mortal Flesh Keep Silence,
And with fear and trembling stand;
Ponder nothing earthly minded,
For with blessing in his hand,
Christ our God to earth descendth,
Our full homage to demand.

King of Kings yet born of Mary,
As of old on earth He stood,
Lord of Lords ,in human vesture,
In the body and the blood;
He will give to all the faithful,
His own self for heavenly food.

Rank on rank the hosts of heaven,
Spreads its vanguard on the way,
As the light of lights descending,
From the realms of endless day,
That the powers of hell may vanish,
As the darkness clears away.

At His feet the six winged seraph,
Cherubim with sleepless eye,
Veil their faces to the prescence,
As with ceaseless voice we cry:
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia
Lord most High!
I hope, if you haven't already, you get to hear this someday.

My friend, the believer in Fairy's.

I think I am better at "journaling" than poetry, so here goes again.


Today I was with an old friend of mine, I met her when we were both eleven, our parents had put us into a "Canoe Camp". Two full days of non-stop water action.At that time in my youth, I was much more out-going than any of my peers, well more out-going than most anyone, I guess being in theater and having a big family gave me many lessons in the art of people and how to entertain them.
For the whole of the first day I roamed around aimlessly, and when we first connected it was a sort of magic that took place.My friend, Emily, was as outgoing than even I, we spent the whole of our 20 mile canoe ride singing and laughing, annoying, of course, everyone in our presence. At that time in my life I had hoped to be a child forever and after reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn I was convinced that I would go to the Mississippi and build a raft and simply live there.SO the whole of that Summer was spent in plotting and wearing nothing but my favorite pair of overalls and denim baseball cap.
Even as I grew I kept my childlike sense, though Emily sure had me beat in that regard. Though after awhile I grew to like the idea of growing old, I still kept my childlike sense, as I still try to keep up. My quiz has for true imagination and childlike thought has been Antoine De Saint-Exupery' work of art The Little Prince. If you get a chance open up the first page and without reading it look at the picture and state what you think it is, then read and find out what it means.
To this day I am sure Emily will be able to pass that test with flying colors. When I first met her I thought we were so similar, she loved One Saturday Morning (Cartoon Show) as much as I,and though I was raised much different than her and new more of the world than she, not to slam her.... but I did, but there was an underlying core of unity that after a few years I thought was lost for sure.
You see, as we grew into early teens, her "innocence" annoyed me to the point of anger, I once got so mad at her insistence that fairy's were real that I screamed so loudly and tried to "change" her to the ways of the world.After that instance I waited a long time before being with again, I felt terrible about getting so angry about Fairy's of all things. But after being with her after I realized that she was not ready to leave ideas like the Easter Bunny, Santa Clause and such. I was the kid who always found the gifts before they were wrapped and given, she was the child that even after having her parents have her pick out and buy the gifts with her only later to wrap them and say "from Santa" still insist Santa was real.
After being with her today and from times past, I have thought back on our childhood and though there were many times I was happy to be able to walk the streets of New York City and belong, even at age 6, I have wished too, that even for a little while to have the ability to simply believe and not care really what anybody else says, no matter the reality, and that, I believe , is the faith that Christ wishes all of us to have. Just think, to be able to simply believe.
I am so glad that fairy's didn't come between us after too long, that would have been a sad way to end a relationship......Fairy's.....

As a part of my blog I like to still have a "journaling" section, if you will, so here is another "entry".
Today I have decided to begin to finish all of the books that I have "half read". I have always had the problem of having too many ideas and too many directions, there have been times I have seriously thought of Veterinary school, Fashion Design, Psychology, Photography as a possible careers, I am still finding where I should be. The same thing applies to my "literary" life, I have begun many books only to put them down for others, e.g: Pride and Prejudice, there is a book many of my friends think that I would love, I don't know why, but though many of my girlfriends gush at the thought of Mr Darcy and Elizabeth, I still want to say "get on with it already!!!"
I am not saying, by any means, that Pride and Prejudice is a bad novel, it reminds me much of Dickens Pickwick Papers, very enjoyable for a day at the beach to get lost in, but when I am on the bus or in my Papasan chair after a long day of work and school I like to read drama, Death of a Salesman, Long Days journey into night, Tomorrow will be Better etc.
So today I have vowed to finish the list of books I have begun and finish them, if I can get through Lolita, I believe I can get through anything. (No offense to lovers of Nabokov, I just thought it was odd and unnecessary)

Some of my old works.



The Worries.

The worries which stand before me,

I will not fear, for they are nothing in comparison

to the strength in which you bear.

I need not fret with You by my side
For the thing which wounds me
Will be pulled out of tide.

You are stronger than all of your
adversaries and the power you posses
you do not scorn.

You are just and merciful and compassionate to all.
When I walk in the darkness and don't see the light
I do not fear.
Because you are my Lord and you never disappear.


The Masquerade
A Masquerade Ball has so often been seen
As something playful and not very keen.

I look to it thought and I can often seem.
As someone inn a masquerade
Someone unseen.

My dabbling in theater hast taught me well
In how to cover up and be someone else.
With ease it comes and I lose of myself.

I look in the mirror and at times I wonder-
What is your name? Do I know who you are?
My confidence makes me seem as though I have much.
Though down deep there is not as such.

There re some days when I wish my masquerade
Would come off for everyone to see.
What it is like to be me.

And then I remember everyone has one too.
Unless you are a spouse you can never really see
the person in front of you fully.
For we all have a masquerade and the world
is our Ball.




The Strength of one person
The Strength of one person is not tested by weights
It is the ability to see things through
The strength of one person is
persistence in things and loving those
who hurt you.
The Strength of one person
can be unseen, the person
can even wear a skirt.
The Strongest person need not
show it off
Because true strength of the inside
is such that is known to ourselves only
and therefore we need not to boast.

The Great Poets

I have not been able to post as often due to the fact my laptop recently crashed....I spent the weekend looking through my old poetry books and have found some great poems....

The Donkey

When fishes flew and forests walked
And figs grew upon thorn,
Some moment when the moon was blood
Then surely I was born.

With monstrous head and sickening cry
And ears like errant wings,
The devil's walking parody
On all four-footed things;

The tattered outlaw of the earth,
Of ancient crooked will:
Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb,
I keep my secret still.

Fools! For I also had my hour,
One far fierce hour and sweet;
There was a shout about my ears,
And palms before my feet.
G.K Chesterton



Remember
Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far into the silent land;
When you can no longer hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go, yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more, day by day,
You tell me of our future that you planned:
Only remember me, you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.
Christina Georgina Rossetti


And two classics everyone knows.

Sonnet XVIII
Shall I compare me to a Summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the lovely buds of May,
And Summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair declines,
By chance of nature's changing course untrimmed:
But thy eternal Summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wanderest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So Long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this and , and this gives life to thee.
William Shakespeare

And one of my favorite poems:

The Road Not Taken.
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both the morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost

Time in the country

As the poem I just wrote gives much into the childlike way I feel right now. Being in the company and living in such simplicity is such a wonderful thing for me.

I am from the city and have always loved the hustle and bustle of bright lights and activity, but in this week I have been here I have never felt more at peace.

The quietude of people sipping Iced Tea on their porches is something I thought that I would not welcome. When I was first here I believed that I would be bored and simply spend all of my time on my computer and such.

I have been able to really enjoy the small town feel and have to time to relax and really see all the wonderful things God has done for me. Being here makes me realize just how blessed I really am and how the little things that I worry about all the time are so insignificant to the big picture.
My prayer, therefore, is for everyone, even in the great cities of the world, to be able to sit back and really enjoy life and thank God for the wonderful things he has done for us.

Sweet Country

The Country air so sweet and nice,
A retreat from the city it makes.
The passerbys Hello! Whether you know them or not
What a sweet home the country can be.

When I lay in my Hammock
I look to the lake and
wish my siblings would have had the same.

For now I shall sit on my porch with my Gram,
After making Pies and cakes and Jam.

I thank God for this life I am able to lead here.
I hope than everyone will be able to see.
The wonderful life the country can be.

I looked out my window

For a time I waited,
I looked out my window,
I looked for something that would not come.

As my gaze fell into the trees,
I dreamt of better days.

I saw the time we used to laugh,
I saw when I used to cry,
I saw when we were happy.
I saw when he used to try.

Was I sad he was gone?
Why yes, for awhile.
But life was easier without him.

And after awhile of mourning
I awoke unto the new day.
I saw the new horizon and
the pain melted away.

Outside my door

Outside my door there is much to be found,
The world could shake unto the ground.
My thoughts run wild and depth is true,
What has gone on keeps running through.

For a time I shall dwell,
in hopes of it going well.
Outside my door there is a world to discover,
In hopes to find another.