Poetry is a resource that definitely inspires, pleases and comforts us. Poems and inspirational quotations on the site are collated here for easy reference.
Number one has to be :
What then? Shall we sit idly down and say
The night has come; it is no longer day?
Something remains for us to do, or dare;
Even the oldest tree some fruit may bear;
For age is opportunity no less
Than youth itself, though in another dress,
And as the evening twilight fades away
The sky is filled with stars invisible by day.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
NEW EVERY MORNING
Every day is a fresh beginning,
Listen my soul to the glad refrain.
And, spite of old sorrows
And older sinning,
Troubles forecasted and possible pain,
Take heart with the day and begin again.
Susan Coolidge
TODAY
If ever there were a spring day so perfect,
so uplifted by a warm intermittent breeze
that it made you want to throw
open all the windows in the house
and unlatch the door to the canary’s cage,
indeed, rip the little door from its jamb,
a day when the cool brick paths
and the garden bursting with peonies
seemed so etched in sunlight
that you felt like taking
a hammer to the glass paperweight
on the living room end table,
releasing the inhabitants
from their snow-covered cottage
so they could walk out,
holding hands and squinting
into this larger dome of blue and white,
well, today is just that kind of day.
Billy Collins
And time to smile :
A PRAYER FOR ALL WHO ARE GETTING OLDER
(Supposedly written by a nun in the 16th Century)
Lord, Thou knowest better than I know myself that I am growing older and will some day be old.
Keep me from becoming talkative and particularly from the fatal habit of thinking that I must say something on every subject and on every occasion. Release me from craving to try to straighten out everybody’s affairs. Make me thoughtful but not moody; helpful but not bossy. With my vast store of wisdom it seems a pity not to use it all, but Thou knowest Lord that I want a few friends at the end!! Keep my mind free from the recital of endless details : give me wings to get to the point. Seal my lips from many aches and pains. They are increasing and my love of rehearsing them is becoming sweeter as the years go by. I ask for grace enough to listen to the tales of others’ pains. Help me to endure them with patience. Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally it is possible that I may be mistaken! Help me to extract all possible fun out of life; there are so many funny things around us and I do not want to miss any of them. AMEN.
A NIGHT ON THE DUNE
God of the Open Air
These are the things I prize
And hold of dearest worth:
Light of sapphire skies,
Peace of the silent hills,
Shelter of forests, comfort of the grass
Music of birds, murmur of little rills,
Shadows of cloud that swiftly pass,
And, after showers,
The smell of flowers
And of the good brown earth.
And best of all, along the way, friendship and mirth.
Henry Van Dyke (1852 – 1933)