Saturday, May 09, 2015

Post #588: Random Observations

A quiet, gentle place
`
There is no Frigate like a Book
To take us Lands away
Nor any Coursers like a Page
Of prancing Poetry—
This Travers may the poorest take
Without oppress of Toll—
How frugal is the Chariot
That bears the Human soul.


Emily Dickinson

Miss Meghan loved to read. I wonder if I ever recited that poem for her. I hope I did. Come to think of it, I'd almost bet that she could recite it herself.

These are just a series of disconnected musings that were posted about, here and there. In honor of the memory of my beloved, little friend, I'm going to make a serious attempt to keep it positive this morning. Wish me luck.

********************************

1. A Lost Thought

By chance, I found this posting that I made on New Years Eve 2012 on my Facebook page. I don't even remember writing it:

Here is where I would like to be right now: It's a place deep in the woods in the middle of a blizzard. It looks to all the world like an ugly cinder block warehouse. But inside it's beautiful - with all of the comforts of home; with a complete library of books, music and films. It's a place of laughter and thought; joy and contemplation. The world is going mad outside of the door and beyond the woods. Inside it is serene.

Yeah, I was probably intoxicated at the time but, drunk or sober, it's a sweet thought. I want to go there.

2. Think Peace

Resentment is cancer. Try to envision yourself embracing someone who has broken your heart. It will enable you to dance beneath the diamond sky. It doesn't matter if one hand is waving free or both. Keep on dancing!

3. The Ashra Sanctuary:

I'm in love with Tracy Murphy. Her farm in Newfane, NY is totally dedicated to creating Heaven on Earth for animals. This is what she lives for and she is indeed living a beautiful life. Her entire being radiates love. I think that she's a saint; the creatures under her tender care certainly think so. She'll throw her head back and laugh at that description, but that's only because she is blessed with humility. It's next to impossible for me to be hurled into the depths of despair. All I need to remember is that Tracy Murphy walks among us. 

4. Another Oldie:

The following was posted on this site on Christmas Day 2006:

Keep your eyes open for the miracles all around you. And remember the simple truth that there is more music to be found in the laughter of a single child than can be found in all of the symphonies ever composed by all of the composers who ever lived.

I should etch that one in stone but I've misplaced my chisel.
 
********************************

See? I kept it positive. That was trickier than you might imagine. Then again, that was also one of the shortest pieces I ever wrote. At least give me an A for effort, alright?

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY 

A Nocturnal meditation from the wee hours of July 28, 2014:

 She was the personification of a shooting star. It appears upon the horizon, rapidly making its way across the night sky, illuminating the heavens in a brilliant and beautiful light. Then, in an instant, it's gone.

A gentle remembrance:


SUGGESTED READING:

Little Bird
a poem by Melladee Lydia Makelacy

 http://writerquake.blogspot.com/2013/12/friday-flash-55-little-bird.html 

A total stranger reaching out across a continent to a family bowed in grief.

`Still we will remember Mama's little girl.

18 Comments:

At 8:02 AM, Blogger Tom Degan said...

This is a very special piece. Any off-topic postings will be immediately deleted.

 
At 8:08 AM, Blogger Jefferson's Guardian said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

 
At 8:12 AM, Blogger Jefferson's Guardian said...

Great move, Tom!...I sense this may be a start to taking the asylum back from the inmates.

Kindest regards,

 
At 8:16 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

A MOTHER'S DAY PROCLAMATION
(1870)
By JULIA WARD HOWE

Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."
From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe our dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God -
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

 
At 8:28 AM, Blogger Jefferson's Guardian said...

Tom Degan: "Think Peace"

In a world of perpetual and permanent war, initiated and funded by an empire that's out of control, let's hope our intentions stand taller and stronger than theirs.

The second hand is moving closer to midnight and I fear that nobody's watching, and nobody cares, because nobody can read an analog clock anymore.

 
At 8:46 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well said, Jefferson.

I posted the Julia Ward Howe poem in honor of peace and in honor of mother's day, and as an antidote to the troll (it's only one, despite his efforts to look like a crowd) who disrespects Tom's efforts.

The poem's last two lines:

The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace

 
At 1:54 PM, Blogger Mozart1220 said...

I don't know how one would make peace with a nest full of angry hornets, but if it were me, the first step would be to stop poking it with a stick.

Nice piece Tom. I have a friend who loves Emily Dickenson.

 
At 5:30 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

If you continue to delete the rabble, I might start reading once again....

 
At 8:05 AM, Anonymous marlin said...

Good stuff, Tom. We will all miss Meghan and hopefully we will pay her goodness and desire for knowledge and wisdom forward. Let's all love and think in her honor.

Marlin

 
At 8:17 AM, Blogger Tom Degan said...

Thank you, Marlin. It was a great thing to meet you yesterday. Isn't it wonderful how this little gal brings complete strangers together?

Keep in touch, pal!

Tom

 
At 9:34 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

 
At 2:05 PM, Blogger Dave Dubya said...

Resentment is cancer.

Amen to that!

The far Right has been feeding and fueling that cancer since Nixon's Southern Strategy.

“Mobilization of resentments” was employed by the Nixon campaign, and has been the ongoing strategy for the radical Right ever since.

It reeks of fascistic demonization of liberals, socialists, educators, unions, journalists, moderates, and anyone outside the Radical Right Bubble Cult.

I noted this in the first year of Obama’s presidency.

“Republicans mobilized the resentments of angry white voters during the civil rights struggle. Republicans are employing the same strategy today with angry white voters. Resentment is being cultivated for an African American president and his entire party. Resentment is fueled by frightening terms like fascism, communism, and death panels. Resentment is mobilized toward the removal, and destruction, of all political opposition to the radical right.”

 
At 7:19 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The poem's last two lines:

"The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace"


How would you do this with ISIS?

 
At 7:21 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Do liberals resent the rich?

 
At 7:25 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Since the topic is random thoughts, how do you determine which posts are random and which ones aren't?

For example is this random?

The Colorado business owned by Hispanic Americans that plans to hold a “white Appreciation Day” was shut down unexpectedly and everyone forced to leave on Friday evening.

The Washington Times reported that Rubbin’ Butz BBQ, owned by Edgar Antillon, has received major backlash for daring to show his appreciation for white Americans, and on Friday, credible threats were made against both Antillon and his establishment, forcing him to close his business and leave the building for several hours.

Does the left hate whites?

 
At 9:14 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dw_mRaIHb-M

I am impressed with Aamer Rahman. In the above clip he puts things in historical perspective.

It's nice to have a clean place without the fox news talking points.

Sometimes a little housecleaning is a good thing.

 
At 1:44 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Or CNN News or MSNBC News

 
At 12:47 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I wish you would cut the rabble everyday, but I still read you.

 

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