A Dream Within a Dream

"Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow-
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand-
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep- while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?"

~Edgar Allan Poe~

Desiderata by Max Erhmann

"A poem of peace - truth - spirit - life. How to live at peace with God and your soul in this world."

"You are a child of the universe ..."

Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore, be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be and whatever your labours and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Written by Max Ehrmann in the 1920s --

[NOTE:  "Found in Old St. Paul's Church in 1692]

Photos posted at FB with due credits:

Art photograph by Albarran Cabrera 

Worthwhile

It is easy enough to be pleasant, when life flows by like a song,
But the man worthwhile is one who will smile, when everything goes dead wrong;
For the test of the heart is trouble, and it always comes with the years,
And the smile that is worth the praises of earth is the smile that shines through tears.

It is easy enough to be prudent, when nothing tempts you to stray,
When, without or within, no voice of sin is luring your soul away;
But it’s only a negative virtue until it is tried by fire,
And the life that is worth the honor of earth is the one that resists desire.

By the cynic, the sad, the fallen — who had no strength for the strife,
The world’s highway is cumbered today; they make up the sum of life;
But the virtue that conquers passion, and the sorrow that hides in a smile,
It is these that are worth the homage on earth, for we find them but once in a while.

by Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850 – 1919)