Month: July 2018
Wealth
From what old ballad, or from what rich frame
Did you descend to glorify the earth?
Was it from Chaucer’s singing book you came?
Or did Watteau’s small brushes give you birth?
Nothing so exquisite as that slight hand
Could Raphael or Leonardo trace.
Nor could the poets know in Fairyland
The changing wonder of your lyric face.
I would possess a host of lovely things,
But I am poor and such joys may not be.
So God who lifts the poor and humbles kings
Sent loveliness itself to dwell with me.
– Joyce Kilmer
31st July – On This Day In History
Born:
1965 JK Rowling (author – Harry Potter)
Died:
2009 Bobby Robson (English footballer and manager)
On This Day:
1976 Seychelles Independence declared
Have a good Tuesday, 31st July
Pennies
A few long-hoarded pennies in his hand
Behold him stand;
A kilted Hedonist, perplexed and sad.
The joy that once he had,
The first delight of ownership is fled.
He bows his little head.
Ah, cruel Time, to kill
That splendid thrill!
Then in his tear-dimmed eyes
New lights arise.
He drops his treasured pennies on the ground,
They roll and bound
And scattered, rest.
Now with what zest
He runs to find his errant wealth again!
So unto men
Doth God, depriving that He may bestow.
Fame, health and money go,
But that they may, new found, be newly sweet.
Yea, at His feet
Sit, waiting us, to their concealment bid,
All they, our lovers, whom His Love hath hid.
Lo, comfort blooms on pain, and peace on strife,
And gain on loss.
What is the key to Everlasting Life?
A blood-stained Cross.
– Joyce Kilmer
30th July – On This Day In History
Born:
1818 Emily Bronte (author – Wuthering Heights)
Died:
1918 Joyce Kilmer (poet)
On This Day:
1980 Vanuatu gains independence (from Britain and France, used to be New Hebrides)
Have a good Monday, 30th July
Citizens Of The World
No longer of Him be it said
“He hath no place to lay His head.”
In every land a constant lamp
Flames by His small and mighty camp.
There is no strange and distant place
That is not gladdened by His face.
And every nation kneels to hail
The Splendour shining through Its veil.
Cloistered beside the shouting street,
Silent, He calls me to His feet.
Imprisoned for His love of me
He makes my spirit greatly free.
And through my lips that uttered sin
The King of Glory enters in.
– Joyce Kilmer
29th July – On This Day In History
Born:
1956 Patti Scialfa (singer, East Street Band and married to Bruce Springsteen)
Died:
1833 William Wilberforce (abolitionist)
On This Day:
1938 The first appearance of “Dennis The Menace”
Have a good Sunday, 29th July
Stars
Bright stars, yellow stars, flashing through the air,
Are you errant strands of Lady Mary’s hair?
As she slits the cloudy veil and bends down through,
Do you fall across her cheeks and over heaven too?
Gay stars, little stars, you are little eyes,
Eyes of baby angels playing in the skies.
Now and then a winged child turns his merry face
Down toward the spinning world — what a funny place!
Jesus Christ came from the Cross (Christ receive my soul!)
In each perfect hand and foot there was a bloody hole.
Four great iron spikes there were, red and never dry,
Michael plucked them from the Cross and set them in the sky.
Christ’s Troop, Mary’s Guard, God’s own men,
Draw your swords and strike at Hell and strike again.
Every steel-born spark that flies where God’s battles are,
Flashes past the face of God, and is a star.
– Joyce Kilmer
