Be Grateful
photo by sxc.hu
To Make You Think
Otherwise by Jane Kenyon
I got out of bed
on two strong legs
It might have been
otherwise. I ate
cereal, sweet milk, ripe, flawless
peach. It might
have been otherwise.
I took the dog uphill
to the birch wood.
All morning I did
the work I love.
At noon I lay down
with my mate. It might
have been otherwise.
We ate dinner together
at a table with silver
candlesticks. It might
have been otherwise.
I slept in a bed
in a room with paintings
on the walls, and
planned another day
just like this day.
but one day, i know,
it will be otherwise.
Birch Trail
Quotes/Proverbs
I went to the woods because i wished to live deliberately, to confront only the essential facts of life and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. ~ Henry David Thoreau
Life is half spent before one knows what life is. ~ French proverb
If I had to live my life again, I'd make the same mistakes, only sooner. ~ Tallulah Bankhead
Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage. ~ Anais Nin
For love is not like a river, confined between two banks. Its very essence is to overflow. ~ Mike Mason
Let us strive to awaken, awaken. Take heed, do not squander your life. ~ An evening prayer (Zen Buddhism)
It opens the lungs, washes the countenance, exercises the eyes, and softens down the temper. So cry away. ~ Charles Dickens
If there are two courses of action, you should take the third. ~ Yiddish proverb
The biggest sin is sitting on your ass. ~ Florynce Kennedy
There is no desire so deep as the simple desire for companionship. ~ Graham Greene
To love with all one's soul and leave the rest to fate. ~ Vladimir Nabokov