Anthology

The old, the sappy, the happy and hopeful poems of my youth to the present.

Masks
By Shel Silverstein, Everything On It

She had blue skin,
And so did he.
He kept it hid
And so did she.
They searched for blue
Their whole life through,
Then passed right by-
And never knew.

Dream Deferred
By Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore--
And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

If I Can Stop One Heart from Breaking

By Emily Dickinson

If I can stop one heart
from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;

If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,

Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,

I shall not live in vain.

Quotes

"And now that you don't have to be perfect, you can be good." - John Steinbeck, East of Eden

"That's why I'm talking to you. You are one of the rare people who can separate your observation from your preconception. You see what is, where most people see what they expect." - John Steinbeck, East of Eden

"To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable." - C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves

"I asked them to describe their world as it was and as they would like it to be. It was a simple exercise I'd done many times, a way for people to bridge the reality of their communities and their lives with the things they could conceivably change." - Barack Obama, A Promised Land

"Jesus is not trigger-happy. Not harsh, reactionary, easily exasperated. He is the most understanding person in the universe." - Dane C. Ortlund, Gentle and Lowly

"He found himself understanding the wearisome of this life, where every path was an improvisation and a considerable part of one's waking life was spent watching one's feet." - William Golding, Lord of the Flies