Deserts are People Too!!!!

Yes, I know the statement is pathetic but what can I say. So, this past weekend, I was in Utah visiting my family. I got to see my Grandma and Papa and the dogs and hellions (Birds from the epitome of HELL) and spend some time at a church that was way too small for its own good. But most importantly, I admitted that I was wrong and almost got killed doing it. Once upon a time when I decided to be my usual stubborn and obnoxious self, I told my boy that there was no such thing as a pretty desert. Last year, he showed me Zion (which, to me, is not a desert) so I refused to recant my statement. This past weekend, he took me to see the Hoodoos in Bryce Canyon where we decided to attempt suicide by taking a little hike. Ordinarily we know where the hike will end before we set out on it, but this time we ignore the voice of reason (gravity) and decided to attempt it anyway thinking that it came out at the next turn out. What we eventually determined was that the trail sign lied and that we were headed into the basin (the last place on earth we were prepared to be) to we made the stupid mistake of assuming the highway, which we had thought we had been going parallel to, was on the other side of the ledge and that we would hike to the top and to the road following that to the next lookout. When we finally got to the top we see the next turn out...over a mile away as the crow flyes with a 800 foot ravine between us and our destination. To make matters worse, this path is so unfrequented that there have been many sightings of bears in these regions. Curiously enough, we three little travellers began hearing something rather large coming through the trees.

Now, all those who know my mommy and I know that we are not in the best of shape (unless doctor's have begun counting 'round' as a shape). We are not incredibly athletic and the hike to the '1/2 mile' sign to Angel's Landing took us the better part of a day and multiple cattle prods. Knowing this as well as the fact that we are lost and have to go all the way back up the mountain with the possible running across a bear, my boyfriend tries to get the two of us back up to the trail head in two seconds (an effort which quickly ending in dismale failure). When we finally did arrive back at the trail head (without sighting any bears) the one mile hike that was suppose to take twenty minutes had become a 4 mile hike lasting multiple hours. After thirsting to near dehydration, damaging my delicate exterior and posterior, and hours of excruciating torment caused by gravity, we decided to continue the torment by hiking more well-travelled paths.

All in all, the journey that was supposed to be a gentle and exciting adventure proved to be a little too much to chew. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Papa built more of his train layout and decided to hold our Wii at ransom having fallen madly in love with Wii Sports Bowling become a Pro in just three days of game play (not continuous). We had a truly fun and exhilarating trip.

To See a World in a Grain of Sand!

Auguries of Innocence

To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.

A robin redbreast in a cage
Puts all heaven in a rage.

A dove-house fill'd with doves and pigeons
Shudders hell thro' all its regions.
A dog starv'd at his master's gate
Predicts the ruin of the state.

A horse misused upon the road
Calls to heaven for human blood.
Each outcry of the hunted hare
A fibre from the brain does tear.

A skylark wounded in the wing,
A cherubim does cease to sing.
The game-cock clipt and arm'd for fight
Does the rising sun affright.

Every wolf's and lion's howl
Raises from hell a human soul.

The wild deer, wand'ring here and there,
Keeps the human soul from care.
The lamb misus'd breeds public strife,
And yet forgives the butcher's knife.

The bat that flits at close of eve
Has left the brain that won't believe.
The owl that calls upon the night
Speaks the unbeliever's fright.

He who shall hurt the little wren
Shall never be belov'd by men.
He who the ox to wrath has mov'd
Shall never be by woman lov'd.

The wanton boy that kills the fly
Shall feel the spider's enmity.
He who torments the chafer's sprite
Weaves a bower in endless night.

The caterpillar on the leaf
Repeats to thee thy mother's grief.
Kill not the moth nor butterfly,
For the last judgement draweth nigh.

He who shall train the horse to war
Shall never pass the polar bar.
The beggar's dog and widow's cat,
Feed them and thou wilt grow fat.

The gnat that sings his summer's song
Poison gets from slander's tongue.
The poison of the snake and newt
Is the sweat of envy's foot.

The poison of the honey bee
Is the artist's jealousy.

The prince's robes and beggar's rags
Are toadstools on the miser's bags.
A truth that's told with bad intent
Beats all the lies you can invent.

It is right it should be so;
Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know,
Thro' the world we safely go.

Joy and woe are woven fine,
A clothing for the soul divine.
Under every grief and pine
Runs a joy with silken twine.

The babe is more than swaddling bands;
Every farmer understands.
Every tear from every eye
Becomes a babe in eternity;

This is caught by females bright,
And return'd to its own delight.
The bleat, the bark, bellow, and roar,
Are waves that beat on heaven's shore.

The babe that weeps the rod beneath
Writes revenge in realms of death.
The beggar's rags, fluttering in air,
Does to rags the heavens tear.

The soldier, arm'd with sword and gun,
Palsied strikes the summer's sun.
The poor man's farthing is worth more
Than all the gold on Afric's shore.

One mite wrung from the lab'rer's hands
Shall buy and sell the miser's lands;
Or, if protected from on high,
Does that whole nation sell and buy.

He who mocks the infant's faith
Shall be mock'd in age and death.
He who shall teach the child to doubt
The rotting grave shall ne'er get out.

He who respects the infant's faith
Triumphs over hell and death.
The child's toys and the old man's reasons
Are the fruits of the two seasons.

The questioner, who sits so sly,
Shall never know how to reply.
He who replies to words of doubt
Doth put the light of knowledge out.

The strongest poison ever known
Came from Caesar's laurel crown.
Nought can deform the human race
Like to the armour's iron brace.

When gold and gems adorn the plow,
To peaceful arts shall envy bow.
A riddle, or the cricket's cry,
Is to doubt a fit reply.

The emmet's inch and eagle's mile
Make lame philosophy to smile.
He who doubts from what he sees
Will ne'er believe, do what you please.

If the sun and moon should doubt,
They'd immediately go out.
To be in a passion you good may do,
But no good if a passion is in you.

The whore and gambler, by the state
Licensed, build that nation's fate.
The harlot's cry from street to street
Shall weave old England's winding-sheet.

The winner's shout, the loser's curse,
Dance before dead England's hearse.

Every night and every morn
Some to misery are born,
Every morn and every night
Some are born to sweet delight.

Some are born to sweet delight,
Some are born to endless night.

We are led to believe a lie
When we see not thro' the eye,
Which was born in a night to perish in a night,
When the soul slept in beams of light.

God appears, and God is light,
To those poor souls who dwell in night;
But does a human form display
To those who dwell in realms of day.

~William Blake

Good-bye, proud world! I'm going home.

This is a poem that truly defines my perspective on life. I understand that this is not likely to be a popular perspective, but it is mine regardless. This poem describes for me a time when I truly and completely understood that nothing on this earth was better than what I would have in heaven with my Father. Upon reading this poem, all I could think of was King Solomon's words basically saying everything on this earth is meaningless, like chasing the winds. Nothing we do in this world, like how much money we make, or what car we drive is going to matter because the dead will be forgotten and all that will matter is the living. This is part of the reason I really don't care much about my family tree because no matter what I do, I will never know my ancestors in this world personally. My ancestory is as meaningless to me as the King of France in the 1300s. I don't know them and I never will. I may know of them, but in the end, everything one person does is only remember by those whose lives that person touched. The point, therefore, of my tale is that if you want to be remembered, then you must touch the lives of others so that they will carry on the memory of who you were. Otherwise this poem will completely apply and all of your life will have been wasted for nothing.

Good-bye

Good-bye, proud world! I’m going home:
Thou art not my friend, and I’m not thine.
Long through thy weary crowds I roam;
A river ark on the ocean brine,
Long I’ve been tossed like the driven foam;
But now, proud world! I’m going home.

Good-bye to Flattery’s fawning face;
To Grandeur with his wise grimace;
To upstart Wealth’s averted eye;
So supple Office, low and high;
To crowded halls, to court and street;
To frozen hearts and hasting feet;
To those who go, and those who come;
Good-bye, proud world! I’m going home.

I am going to my own hearthstone,
Bosomed in yon green hills alone,—
A secret nook in a pleasant land,
Whose groves the frolic fairies planned;
Where arches green, the livelong day,
Echo the blackbird’s roundelay,
And vulgar feet have never trod
A spot that is sacred to thought and God.

O, when I am safe in my sylvan home
I tread on the pride of Greece and Rome;
And when I am stretched beneath the pines,
Where the evening star so holy shines,
I laugh at the lore and the pride of man,
At the sophist schools, and the learned clan;
For what are they all, in their high conceit
When man in the bush with God may meet?

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson "Give All to Love"

If you have ever loved someone and had them slip away in pursuit of some other than perhaps this is something for you although I am not sure how inspiring it will be. It's not really a "be-happy" poem but simply a tale of how love is and how it can be wasted.

Give All to Love

Give all to love;
Obey thy heart;
Friends, kindred, days,
Estate, good fame,
Plans, credit, and the Muse,--
Nothing refuse.

'Tis a brave master;
Let it have scope:
Follow it utterly,
Hope beyond hope:
High and more high
It dives into the noon,
With wind unspent,
Untold intent;
But it is god,
Knows its own path
And the outlets of the sky.

It was never for the mean;
It requireth courage stout.
Souls above doubt,
Valor unbending,
It will reward,--
They shall return
More than they were,
And ever ascending.

Leave all for love;
Yet, hear me, yet,
One word more thy heart behoved,
One pulse more of firm endeavor,--
Keep thee today,
Tomorrow, forever,
Free as an Arab
Of thy beloved.

Cling with life to the maid;
But when the surprise,
First vague shadow of surmise
Flits across her bosom young,
Of a joy apart from thee,
Free be she, fancy free;
Nor thos detain her vesture's hem,
Nor the palest rose she flung
From her summer diadem.

Though thou loved her as thyself,
As a self of purer clay,
Though her parting dims the day,
Stealing grace from all alive;
Heartily know,
When half gods go,
The gods arrive.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Quotes to Consider and to Live By

“Try not to become a man of success but a man of value.”
~Albert Einstein

“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them.”
~Henry David Thoreau

“Men do less than they ought, unless they do all they can.”
~Thomas Carlyle

“Let thy words be few.”
~Ecclesiastes 5:2

“There are seven sins in the world: Wealth without work, Pleasure without conscience, Knowledge without character, Commerce without morality, Science without humanity, Worship without sacrifice and politics without principle.”
~Mahatma Gandhi

“Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true.”
~Leon J. Suenes

“We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and ‘slipped the surly bonds of earth’ to ‘touch the face of God.’”
~President Ronald Reagan “Challenger”

“First say to yourself what you would be and then do what you have to do.”
~Epictetus

“19You are convinced that you are a guide for the blind and a light for people who are lost in darkness. 20You think you can instruct the ignorant and teach children the ways of God. For you are certain that God’s law gives you complete knowledge and truth. 21Well then, if you teach others, why don’t you teach yourself? You tell others not to steal, but do you steal? 22You say it is wrong to commit adultery, but do you commit adultery? You condemn idolatry, but do you use items stolen from pagan temples? 23You are so proud of knowing the law, but you dishonor God by breaking it. 24No wonder the Scriptures say, “The Gentiles blaspheme the name of God because of you.”
~Romans 2:19-24