Choice of Attention

"To pay attention to this and ignore that
is to the inner life what choice of action is to the outer.
In both cases, a man is responsible for his choice
and must accept the consequences, whatever they may be."

-W.H. Auden

What You Realize When Cancer Comes

"You will not live forever—No
you will not, for a ceiling of clouds
hovers in the sky.

You are not as brave
as you once thought.
Sounds of death
echo in your chest.

You feel the bite of pain,
the taste of it running
through you.

Following the telling to friends
comes a silence of
felt goodbyes. You come to know
the welling of tears.

Your children are stronger
than you thought and
closer to your skin.

The beauty of animals
birds on telephone lines,
dogs who look into your eyes,
all bring you peace.

You want no more confusion
than what already rises
in your head and heart.

You watch television less,
will never read all those books,
much less the ones
you have.

Songs can move you now, so that
you want to hold onto the words
like the hands of children.

Your own hands look good to you.
old and familiar
as water.

You read your lover's skin
like a road map
into yourself.

All touch is precious now.

There are echoes

in the words thrown
before you.

When they take your picture now
you wet your lips, swallow once
and truly smile.

Talk of your lost parents
pulls you out, and
brings you home again.

You are in a river
flowing in and through you.
Take a breath. Reach out your arms.
You can survive.

A river is flowing
flowing in and through you.
Take a breath. Reach out your arms."

-From A River Remains by Larry Smith

A Poem;with Love and Awe

..."(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens;only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody;not even the rain,has such small hands"

-From 100 Selected Poems
by e.e. cummings

Quiet Being

"It is not necessary that you leave the house.
Remain at your table and listen.
Do not even listen, only wait.
Do not even wait, be wholly still and alone.

The world will present itself to you for its unmasking;
it can do no other;
in ecstasy it will writhe at your feet."

- Franz Kafka

Song of Solomon 2:15 (KJV)

"Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes. "

-The scriptural basis for Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman (1941)

Psych!

"This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever."

- Sigmund Freud speaking of the Irish

Photographs By:

"For half a century photography has been the 'art form' of the untalented.

Obviously some pictures are more satisfactory than others,
but where is credit due?

To the designer of the camera?
To the finger on the button?
To the law of averages?"

-Gore Vidal

Dry Wit

"I have a fine sense of the ridiculous, but no sense of humour."

From Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (act I)

by Edward Albee

Crazy Faith

I lit my love and watched it burn;
asking nothing in return
except the lessons I would learn
holding crazy faith.

I've been touched by that bright fire
down to the root of my desire,
while the smoke it rises higher
on crazy faith.

'Am I a fool for hanging on?'
'Would I be a fool to be long gone?'
'When is daylight gone to dawn
on my crazy faith?'

The questions will not let me sleep;
The answer's buried way too deep
at the bottom of a lovers' leap
made by crazy faith.

Love your losing; lose your love.
Let the hawk fly from the glove
and do not search the skies above;
search your crazy faith.

Love is lightning; love is ice.
It only strikes the lucky twice:
once, so you will know the price;
and once for crazy faith.

You're not asking if I love this man...
I know you don't; you don't believe you can.
Yet I've seen love open like a dancer's fan.
It's crazy I know;
but my faith says so-
it tells me.

by Allison Krauss and Union Station
on New Favorite

To Loving Support Among Friends

You and me,
We're the kind of people other people
Would like to be.
Wand'ring free,
We present the kind of picture
People are glad to see.
And we don't care that tomorrow
Comes with no guarantee;
We've each other for company.
And come what may,
You and me, we'll stay together
Year after year,
Won't we, my dear?
That's why we're you and me.

You and Me
From Victor/Victoria
Music by Henry Mancini
Lyrics by Leslie Bricusse