On Love:

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds
Or bends with the remover to remove.
O, no! It is an ever-fixed mark.
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand'ring bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come.
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error, and upon me proved,
I have never writ, nor no man ever loved.

---

On friendship:

Faithful Heart of a Friend

Author Unknown

Out of the mist comes the fragrance
We breathe in the heart of a rose;
Out of the world come the friendships
That brighten the day at its close;
Out of the heart comes the kindness
To comfort the hour of tears;
Out of time come gently
Our days, our weeks, our years;
Out of the boundless universe
Comes Divine love without end,
And all these treasures are blended
In the faithful heart of a friend.

---

On self-reflection:

The Man In The Glass

author unknown

When you get what you want in your struggle for self
And the world makes you king for a day,
Just go to the mirror and look at yourself
And see what that man has to say.

For it isn't your father or mother or wife
Whose judgement upon you must pass.
The fellow whose verdict counts most in your life
Is the one staring back from the glass.

You may be like Jack Horner and chisel a plum
And think you're a wonderful guy,
But the man in the glass says you're only a bum
If you can't look him straight in the eye.

He's the fellow to please - never mind all the rest,
For he's with you clear to the end.
And you've passed your most dangerous, difficult test
If the man in the glass is your friend.

You may fool the whole world down the pathway of years
And get pats on the back if you pass.
But your final reward will be heartache and tears
If you've cheated the man in the glass.

---

On waves, wind and stars

The Three Voices

By Robert Service (the bard of the Yukon)

The waves have a story to tell me 
       As I lie on the lonely beach;
Chanting aloft in the pine-tops,
       The wind has a lesson to teach;
But the stars sing an anthem of glory
       I cannot put into speach.

The waves tell of ocean spaces,
       Of hearts that are wild and brave,
Of populous city places,
       Of desolate shores they lave,
Of men who sally in quest of gold
       To sink in an ocean grave.

The wind is a mighty roamer;
       He bids me keep me free,
Clean from the taint of gold-lust,
       Hardy and pure as he;
Cling with my love to nature,
       As a child to the mother-knee.

But the stars throng out in glory,
       And they sing of the God in man;
They sing of the Mighty Master,
       Of the loom his fingers span,
Where a star or a soul is a part of the whole,
       And weft in the wondrous plan.

Here, by the campfire's flicker,
       Deep in my blanket curled,
I long for the peace of the pine-gloom,
       When the scroll of the Lord is unfurled,
And the wind and the wave are silent,
       And world is singing to world.

---

On Christopher's Birthday:
Christopher died when he was 7 years old. LEGO was his favorite toy.

Christopher's Window

By Dave

God called a little angel to sit upon His knee;
He hugged the boy, then gently asked, “My child, what do you see?”
The child turned; his smile grew wide as there, before his eyes,
An endless throng of angels in unison yelled, “Surprise!”

“Happy Birthday, child”, God whispered, “from me and all of Heaven;
You’ve blessed us with your presence here since you were only seven.”
The boy was overcome with all the love his friends were voicing;
It wasn’t just a party; it was more like a rejoicing.

He held God’s hand and mingled through the ever-growing crowd,
The Happy Birthday chorus had ne’er been sung so loud.
And later, when the celebrations started to subside,
God said, “I have a gift for you”, and took the boy aside.

God led him through a garden to a room that shone like gold;
A window with a chair was all the child could there behold.
God sat upon the chair and placed the boy upon his knee;
He hugged the boy and gently asked, “My child, what do you see?”

The boy peered out the window, to a distance through the haze,
His smile grew wide as well-known faces fell upon his gaze.
“God, you won’t believe it !”, his eyes bulged in a stare,
“I see my mom and dad and all my family over there!”

A tear embraced God’s cheek and a twinkle crossed his eye;
“What are they doing, my child, and can you tell me why?”
Shaped much like a Lego, the cake looked oh so fine,
“I think they’re having a birthday, and I think it’s mine !!”

For minutes the boy sat staring at the love before his eyes.
His little heart was aching as he hoped they’d realize
That in every moment passed since his journey from that place
He has felt their arms of love through the comfort of God’s grace.

God then did a wondrous thing; He opened the window wide;
The child touched His arm, as He stretched it far outside.
As God embraced each shoulder, the child gave a squeeze
“Make them extra long birthday hugs, God ….. please ”

They walked back through the garden, toward closing of the day
His hand in God’s, his heart at peace, the child began to say,
“When next you see my family.....”, but he paused to quell a tear,
“Please say how much I love them, and I’m really safe up here”

God knelt and hugged the boy real tight, “You bet I will, my son,
And now I must fulfill a deed I've so far left undone.
This morning I promised your parents; they asked that I be sure
To hug you close and say from them, ‘Happy Birthday, Christopher’”