Category: Quotation

A Question by Robert Frost

“A voice said, Look me in the stars
And tell me truly, men of earth,
If all the soul-and-body scars
Were not too much to pay for birth.”

Effort, it seems to me, is what makes gain so sweet. Moving has stretched us beyond what we thought we were capable of, but never have we doubted our purpose. Tired and sore, we are quick to laugh over lost eyeglasses, agree in unison that eating out is the solution, and eagerly rise to never before seen sunrises.

Good question, Mr. Frost, to which I’d respond: Indeed!

Try Routine

On our family chat, the kids have been making fun of the number of times I have moved house. Later, my daughter ask me about it.

“Don’t you feel funny about leaving all the ties you’ve made?” she asked.

“The ties that matter stay intact,” I assure her. “It’s the adventure of the new that I am looking forward to. Change always leads to good things.”

Well, in my experience anyway.

On Silence

“When you sit in silence long enough, you learn that silence has a motion. It glides like water. Its colour is silver. And silence has a sound you hear only after hours of wading inside it. The sound is soft, like flute notes rising up, like the words of glass speaking. Then there comes a point when you must shatter the blindness of its words the blindness of its light.”

Growing up fifth of six kids, I learned that life was chaos and noise. It was where I thrived. Always shared a room, and later, an apartment, and marriage, and my own children, and when finally silence found me, it was shattering. It took a long while for me to appreciate the gift in silence, and like anything in life, I had to learn not to rest there too long.

Balance and moderation. That’s what I seek.

But, oh, I do love silence.

Don’t Go Back To Sleep – Rumi

(Rumi’s words have been on my mind lately, so I’ve decided to share them for today’s post.)

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don’t go back to sleep.

You must ask for what you really want.
Don’t go back to sleep.

People are going back and forth across the door sill
Where the two worlds touch.

The door is round and open.
Don’t go back to sleep.