Not many the joys the gods grant to mortals:
the joy of the springtime, the summer's sweetness,
the season of autumn, the pause before snows,
to plough and to sow, to heap high the harvest,
to reach at last peace, rest labor's reward.

Not many the sorrows the gods grant to mortals:
heartbreak falls heavy, simple living is hard labor,
until silent and stealthy death steals swiftly nigh.
Fair friends prove false, youth's a fleeting fable.
Long reknown the sole reward of a life well-lived.

Of what should I sing then? Of what should my song speak,
of any other joys or sorrows but these?
What tale could I tell that has not been told>
a thousand times and a thousand times more
by Sheherazades so much more skilled than I?

Sing shall I then, of what is given to sing of!
Sly tricks or mere skill are not songs for the ages --
present to the people these poems with power:
chant of the year-change, the chimeric seasons,
the proud pageant of life, the procession of death!

But bright rainbow beams all else under heaven,
glistening faery-gold, glimmering fox-fire.
The true poet shall tell his tale, terrible and truth-filled,
a gift we are granted, growing like a goddess,
springing full-formed from the pen to the fretful page.

Of men there are many, and many the singers.
One is the song that shall rise above all:
of man sing the song then! The ideal! The spirit!
Away shall pass peoples, but never the power
of song, nor the poet who sings the soul of his people.

Copyright © 1999 CL.Ward/Gunnora Hallakarva

Earth cry

sitting on this lonely cliff top
I watch the waves crashing against the rocks below.
high as I am
the spray still sparkles on the grass all around me...
feeling cool and fresh on my naked skin.
the wind...
blowing through my tousled hair,
seems to carry a sound, a cry...
not the screeching of the gulls overhead..
but another.. older.. deeper sound
that touches my very soul.
is it the cry of the earth
calling out to anyone who listens?
is it the cry of the earth
asking us to cease our destruction
before it is too late?
before we destroy the very ground we walk upon...
asking us to return to her
all that we have taken...
so thoughtlessly..
so needlessly..
and I wonder how long it will be
before mankind hears his mother's plea
and heeds her troubled song?
how long will it be
before we join together and cease our endless wars...
to put behind us the ways of hate
...the differences we fail to understand...
and save our wondrous world..
so lovingly created
yet so easily destroyed? 
                                                    -- Author Unknown 





"The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it." - Albert Einstein




One of the great things about America, one of the beauties of our country, is that when we see a young, innocent child blown up by an IED, we cry. President G. Bush Washington, D.C., Mar. 29, 2006

We support the election process, we support democracy, but that doesn't mean we have to support governments that get elected as a result of democracy. President G. Bush -Washington, D.C., Mar. 29, 2006

People have not been horrified by war to a sufficient extent ... War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige as the warrior does today.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy







   
      



 




Where are we without the animals?