The veil is getting thin

all the lives we ever lived

October Gold  1922               Franklin Carmichael   Autumn Colors “And all the lives we ever lived and all the lives to be are full of trees and changing leaves…” ~ Virginia Woolf   “To all the ancient ones from their houses, the Old Ones from above and below. In this

What heart heard of, ghost guessed

    Here is one of my all-time favorite poems, by Gerard Manley Hopkins:   Spring and Fall to a young child   Márgarét, áre you gríeving Over Goldengrove unleaving? Leáves like the things of man, you With your fresh thoughts care for, can you? Ah! ás the heart grows older It will come to

And of all the forgotten faces

Christian Schloe     Annabel Lee   “…a stone, a leaf, an unfound door; of a stone, a leaf, a door. And of all the forgotten faces. Naked and alone we came into exile. In her dark womb we did not know our mother’s face; from the prison of her flesh have we come into the

Cold has caught the wings of birds

    “My tidings for you: the stag bells, Winter snows, Summer is gone.   Wind high and cold, low the sun, Short his course, sea running high.   Deep-red the bracken, its shape all gone, The wild goose has raised his wonted cry.   Cold has caught the wings of birds. Season of ice

Jack O’Lantern

Here is some interesting Halloween lore: “Perhaps the most famous icon of the holiday is the jack-o-lantern.  Various authorities attribute it to either Scottish or Irish origin.  However, it seems clear that it was used as a lantern by people who traveled the road this night, the scary face to frighten away spirits or faeries who might otherwise

O hushed October morning mild

Here’s a lovely poem from Robert Frost:     “O hushed October morning mild, Thy leaves have ripened to the fall; Tomorrow’s wind, if it be wild, Should waste them all. The crows above the forest call; Tomorrow they may form and go. O hushed October morning mild, Begin the hours of this day slow.

Singing of trees

Autumn Birches       Katherine Slusar Buck     Here’s a long and wonderful piece on trees by Herman Hesse: “For me, trees have always been the most penetrating preachers. I revere them when they live in tribes and families, in forests and groves. And even more I revere them when they stand alone. They

The birds fly quietly through us

  “The birds fly quietly through us. Oh, I who wish to grow, I look out, and inside me the tree grows. ( … )I take refuge, and refuge is inside me.” Rainer Maria Rilke    

Approaching Halloween

  Here’s a poem from an unknown writer.  I like it because it expresses some of my own feelings about this mysterious season:   The Veil is Getting Thinner   “As I went out walking this fall afternoon, I heard a whisper whispering. I heard a whisper whispering, Upon this fine fall day…   As