" My Soul has a Hat "

 

MY SOUL HAS A HAT

I counted my years
And realized that I have
Less time to live by,
Than I have lived so far.

I feel like a child who won a pack of candies: at first he ate them with pleasure
But when he realized that there was little left, he began to taste them intensely.

I have no time for endless meetings
where the statutes, rules, procedures and internal regulations are discussed,
knowing that nothing will be done.

I no longer have the patience
To stand absurd people who,
despite their chronological age,
have not grown up.

My time is too short:
I want the essence,
My spirit is in a hurry.
I do not have much candy
In the package anymore.

I want to live next to humans,
Very realistic people who know
How to laugh at their mistakes,
Who are not inflated by their own triumphs
And who take responsibility for their actions.
In this way, human dignity is defended
And we live in truth and honesty.                                                                                                                     It is the essentials that make life useful.                                                                                                                                               

I want to surround myself with people                                                                                                         Who know how to touch the hearts of those whom hard strokes of life
have learned to grow with sweet touches of the soul.

Yes, I’m in a hurry.
I’m in a hurry to live with the intensity that only maturity can give.
I do not intend to waste any of the remaining desserts.

I am sure they will be exquisite,
Much more than those eaten so far.
                                                                                                                                                                   My goal is to reach the end satisfied
And at peace with my loved ones and my conscience.

We have two lives
And the second begins when you realize you only have one.

By Mario de Andrade

see also the links that I sent for :

1. Nightingale Serenade  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXApBvgUNBQ&ab_channel=TatianaBlue

2. Take Time 

" the Hill we Climb" - Amanda Gorman

 

Gorman

“The Hill We Climb”    Amanda Gorman

When day comes we ask ourselves, where can we find light in this never-ending shade? The loss we carry, a sea we must wade. We’ve braved the belly of the beast, we’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace and the norms and notions of what just is, isn’t always justice. And yet the dawn is ours before we knew it, somehow we do it, somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed a nation that isn’t broken but simply unfinished.

We, the successors of a country and a time where a skinny black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother can dream of becoming president only to find herself reciting for one. And, yes, we are far from polished, far from pristine, but that doesn’t mean we are striving to form a union that is perfect, we are striving to forge a union with purpose, to compose a country committed to all cultures, colours, characters and conditions of man.

So we lift our gazes not to what stands between us, but what stands before us. We close the divide because we know to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside. We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another, we seek harm to none and harmony for all.

Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true: that even as we grieved, we grew, even as we hurt, we hoped, that even as we tired, we tried, that we’ll forever be tied together victorious, not because we will never again know defeat but because we will never again sow division.

Scripture tells us to envision that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree and no one should make them afraid. If we’re to live up to our own time, then victory won’t lie in the blade, but in in all of the bridges we’ve made.

That is the promise to glade, the hill we climb if only we dare it because being American is more than a pride we inherit, it’s the past we step into and how we repair it. We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it. That would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy, and this effort very nearly succeeded. But while democracy can periodically be delayed, but it can never be permanently defeated.

In this truth, in this faith, we trust, for while we have our eyes on the future, history has its eyes on us, this is the era of just redemption we feared in its inception we did not feel prepared to be the heirs of such a terrifying hour but within it we found the power to author a new chapter, to offer hope and laughter to ourselves, so while once we asked how can we possibly prevail over catastrophe, now we assert how could catastrophe possibly prevail over us.

We will not march back to what was but move to what shall be, a country that is bruised but whole, benevolent but bold, fierce and free, we will not be turned around or interrupted by intimidation because we know our inaction and inertia will be the inheritance of the next generation, our blunders become their burden. But one thing is certain: if we merge mercy with might and might with right, then love becomes our legacy and change our children’s birthright.

So let us leave behind a country better than the one we were left, with every breath from my bronze, pounded chest, we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one, we will rise from the golden hills of the West, we will rise from the windswept Northeast where our forefathers first realized revolution, we will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the Midwestern states, we will rise from the sun baked South, we will rebuild, reconcile, and recover in every known nook of our nation in every corner called our country our people diverse and beautiful will emerge battered and beautiful, when the day comes we step out of the shade aflame and unafraid, the new dawn blooms as we free it, for there is always light if only we’re brave enough to see it, if only we’re brave enough to be it.

 

" The World is Closed today "

 

The World is Closed Today

 

They said the world was closed today

So I went to have a look,

I found it with the shutters down

And the phone was off the hook.

So I stood there for a little while

But no one was around,

Then silence came and startled me

With the most alarming sound.

I asked him where the others were,

And why the streets were bare,

He whispered ‘Life had ran away

While death was playing there’

‘Oh no’ I said ‘It can’t be true

For life is not afraid’

‘But no one ever goes’ he said

‘Where death has ever played.’

I understood and walked away

As Hope was standing there

With Courage in her afterglow

And the sunlight in her hair.

She said ‘Go home to those you love

This is no place to be,

For if we walk these streets today

Then no one shall be free’.

She threw her light to lead the way

And showed me where to go,

The very road that life had gone

Where the future flowers grow.

Then death showed me another way

But I didn’t want to look,

So I stumbled home in time for tea

And I read another book.

It was called The World is Closed Today

And the streets we shouldn’t roam,

The first line said ‘Just please be safe’

And the ending - ‘Stay at Home’

Author unknown

Stay Safe. Keep others Safe.

 

Reflections for " Staying at Home "

 

‘This too shall pass.’

 

There will be some very painful moments in your life, my friend.

There will be moments, days even, when the sun doesn’t seem to rise in your world and the breath feels sucked right out of your lungs.

When food has no taste, the world has no joy and everything seems like an effort too far.

Yes, my friend, there will be very painful moments in your life.

But you will get through them

‘This too shall pass.’

Because life has a way of throwing you a rope, just at the very moment when you thought you couldn’t swim another stroke.

All you have to do is grab it.

Then one day, as is the way of this life, the sun will suddenly beat down on your face again and the air will feel fresher than it ever did.

And there will be laughter. And love. And joy. So much joy.

And life will be sweet, like summer after a long winter. A winter that was so dark each colour that appears, feels like the first time you are seeing it.

This is when you must live. Really live.

For, just as the bad times do not last forever neither do the good.

‘This too shall pass.’

But that is life.

So, embrace the joy when it comes and let fear slide away. And when the dark times come around again – and they will – remember you have what you need to survive. And you will survive my friend.

You really will.

Keep the important people close and focus on what truly matters and you will find yourself dragged to safety, each and every time the storms come.

And on those days, when your sun is high in the sky but you notice another facing bad weather, you drop your raft and you go to them.

And if they won’t climb in with you, to safety, you simply stay with them in the stormy water till the sun rises again.

And it will.

it always does.

Donna Ashworth

Spare a thought for our Health Care Workers.

 

The respect is gone. The appreciation is gone. The understanding and patience is gone.

The “thank you so much for working through this” has been replaced by “this is ridiculous”.

Understandably the frustration felt by patients and their relatives is at an all time high. The annoyed eye rolls and huffy sighs when you tell them “it shouldn’t be much longer,” “we are doing the best that we can” are really starting to chip away at our morale.

The free coffee and meals are a thing of the past. Not sure when I last heard a “Thank You.”

The hotel lights in the shape of hearts aren’t on anymore.

The neighbours that waved us off to work and told us to “stay safe” have gone back inside.

And the local news is back to pointing out our short comings even though the number of patients that we care for has doubled.

We are still here.                                                                                                                                                          

We are still fighting.                                                                                                                                       

We are working harder than we ever have.

We are exhausted.

We are frustrated.

We are frightened because we may take this home to our Loved Ones.

We are so emotionally and physically drained.

We are skipping breaks and eating whatever is handy just to keep us going.

We are going in early and coming home late.

We are working too many double shifts.

We are missing time with our families.

We are doing THE. BEST. THAT. WE. CAN.

We aren’t “healthcare heroes” anymore.                                                                                                                                                                                                   We have become slaves to this pandemic, and it is really exhausting.