"Do Not Cry"
Do not stand at my grave and weep,I am not there; I do not sleep.I am a thousand winds that blow;I am the diamond glints on snow.I am the sunlight on ripened grain;I am the gentle autumn's rain.When you awaken in the morning hush,I am the swift uplifting rushOf quiet birds in circled flight.I am the soft star that shines at night.Do not stand at my grave and cry.I am not there; I did not die.
"Letter to a Friend"
I salute you. I am your friend and my love for you goes deep. There is nothing I can give you which you have not got. But there is much, very much, that while I cannot give it, you can take. No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in today. Take heaven! No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present little instance. Take peace! The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it, yet within our reach, is joy. Take joy! Life is so full of meaning and purpose, so full of beauty . . . that you will find earth but cloaks your heaven. Courage then to claim it, that is all! . . . And so I greet you, with profound esteem and with the prayer that for you, now and forever, the day breaks and the shadows flee away.
" Simple Gifts "‘Tis a gift to be simple‘Tis a gift to be free‘Tis a gift to come roundWhere we want to beAnd when we find ourselvesIn the place that is rightWe will be in the valleyOf love and delightWhen true simplicityIs gainedTo bow and to bendWe shall not be ashamedTo turn and to turnWill be our delightTill by turning, turningWe come round right.
"Our Revels"
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,As I foretold you, were all spirits andAre melted into air, into thin air;And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces,The solemn temples, the great globe itself,Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuffAs dreams are made on, and our little life Is rounded with a sleep.
-The Tempest, by William Shakespeare; Prospero's closing speech
"Learn Something"The best thing for being sad, replied Merlyn, beginning to puff and blow, is to learn something. That is the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder in your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honor trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then - to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust and never dream of regretting. Learning is the thing for you.
"Midsummer"I know a bank where the wild thyme blowsWhere oxlips and the nodding violet growsQuite overcanopied with luscious woodbineWith sweet musk roses, and with eglantine.There sleeps Titania sometime of the nightLulled in these flowers with dances and delight,And there the snake sheds her enamelled skin,Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in.
-A Midsummer's Night Dream by William Shakespeare