How are you today?
Just wondering how are you today? Are you okay? Have you taken a few minutes to just pause, breathe or simply close your eyes for a moment? If you have not please do, do it for you, for your peace and serenity.
It has been a full day for me, working on my email, working on Soul Purpose and watching my new addiction CNN and thinking and planning the work ahead. I continue to be inspired by President Obama and his steadfast work ethic and ability to hit the ground running doing whatever needs to be done to get the job done correctly. I am inspired to do even more and work a little harder.
In the midst of the hard work however we have to take the time out to care for our selves, our souls and our spirits. I just finished watching a show on Public Television called Basic Black. They interviewed Elizabeth Alexander who was the poet who read at the Inauguration. I didn't really make much note of the poem at the inauguration but when I read the words online today they really resonated with me. I will leave them with you this evening to reflect on. Until!!!!
Much love,
Nadine
Here is Miss Alexander’s poem. It is called Praise Song For The Day.
PRAISE SONG FOR THE DAY: A POEM FOR BARACK OBAMA’S PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATION
Each day we go about our business,walking past each other, catching each other’seyes or not, about to speak or speaking.
All about us is noise. All about us isnoise and bramble, thorn and din, eachone of our ancestors on our tongues.
Someone is stitching up a hem, darninga hole in a uniform, patching a tire,repairing the things in need of repair.
Someone is trying to make music somewhere,with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum,with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.
A woman and her son wait for the bus.A farmer considers the changing sky.A teacher says, Take out your pencils. Begin.
We encounter each other in words, wordsspiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed,words to consider, reconsider.
We cross dirt roads and highways that markthe will of some one and then others, who saidI need to see what’s on the other side.
I know there’s something better down the road.We need to find a place where we are safe.We walk into that which we cannot yet see.
Say it plain: that many have died for this day.Sing the names of the dead who brought us here,who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges,
picked the cotton and the lettuce, builtbrick by brick the glittering edificesthey would then keep clean and work inside of.
Praise song for struggle, praise song for the day.Praise song for every hand-lettered sign,the figuring-it-out at kitchen tables.
Some live by love thy neighbor as thyself,others by first do no harm or take no morethan you need. What if the mightiest word is love?
Love beyond marital, filial, national,love that casts a widening pool of light,love with no need to pre-empt grievance.
In today’s sharp sparkle, this winter air,any thing can be made, any sentence begun.On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp,
praise song for walking forward in that light.
©Elizabeth Alexander 2009, All Rights Reserved.
It has been a full day for me, working on my email, working on Soul Purpose and watching my new addiction CNN and thinking and planning the work ahead. I continue to be inspired by President Obama and his steadfast work ethic and ability to hit the ground running doing whatever needs to be done to get the job done correctly. I am inspired to do even more and work a little harder.
In the midst of the hard work however we have to take the time out to care for our selves, our souls and our spirits. I just finished watching a show on Public Television called Basic Black. They interviewed Elizabeth Alexander who was the poet who read at the Inauguration. I didn't really make much note of the poem at the inauguration but when I read the words online today they really resonated with me. I will leave them with you this evening to reflect on. Until!!!!
Much love,
Nadine
Here is Miss Alexander’s poem. It is called Praise Song For The Day.
PRAISE SONG FOR THE DAY: A POEM FOR BARACK OBAMA’S PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATION
Each day we go about our business,walking past each other, catching each other’seyes or not, about to speak or speaking.
All about us is noise. All about us isnoise and bramble, thorn and din, eachone of our ancestors on our tongues.
Someone is stitching up a hem, darninga hole in a uniform, patching a tire,repairing the things in need of repair.
Someone is trying to make music somewhere,with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum,with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.
A woman and her son wait for the bus.A farmer considers the changing sky.A teacher says, Take out your pencils. Begin.
We encounter each other in words, wordsspiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed,words to consider, reconsider.
We cross dirt roads and highways that markthe will of some one and then others, who saidI need to see what’s on the other side.
I know there’s something better down the road.We need to find a place where we are safe.We walk into that which we cannot yet see.
Say it plain: that many have died for this day.Sing the names of the dead who brought us here,who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges,
picked the cotton and the lettuce, builtbrick by brick the glittering edificesthey would then keep clean and work inside of.
Praise song for struggle, praise song for the day.Praise song for every hand-lettered sign,the figuring-it-out at kitchen tables.
Some live by love thy neighbor as thyself,others by first do no harm or take no morethan you need. What if the mightiest word is love?
Love beyond marital, filial, national,love that casts a widening pool of light,love with no need to pre-empt grievance.
In today’s sharp sparkle, this winter air,any thing can be made, any sentence begun.On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp,
praise song for walking forward in that light.
©Elizabeth Alexander 2009, All Rights Reserved.
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