Amy's Place .. Poetry and Potpourri .. July 7-8, 2004

7-7-04 | JustAmy, St.Louie1, MamaBear and Billie

[JustAmy]

"High Water from Summer Rain" © Mark Fletcher

Summer Rain
- Capricorn -

A smell of freshness now exudes
to fill my nostrils when respired,
While hungry gardens feasts on foods
from earth, to nurture as required.

Bright flowers lift their watered heads
with pride, their brilliant colours glow
as they arouse from sleep, their beds
begin to flourish as they grow.

The greenest grass looks painted on
the scene, so bright its vivid hue
Its turf spreads under skies that don
white clouds on shades of pastel blue

The sun now shyly peeks to test
if wind has blown the rain-clouds dry,
he sees all colours have been pressed
to curve an arc into the sky.

The rainbow bends through sprinkled rain
to end without a pot of gold
Yet wealth has scattered nature's lane
it's earthly treasures to unfold

[JustAmy]

Thank you for this lovely Welcome Graphic.

[JustAmy]

The Summer Sun Shone Round Me
~Robert Louis Stevenson~

THE summer sun shone round me,
The folded valley lay
In a stream of sun and odour,
That sultry summer day.

The tall trees stood in the sunlight
As still as still could be,
But the deep grass sighed and rustled
And bowed and beckoned me.

The deep grass moved and whispered
And bowed and brushed my face.
It whispered in the sunshine:
"The winter comes apace."

[JustAmy]

Tri-Berry Shake

2 cups strawberries, hulled and halved
1/2 cup skim milk
1/4 cup blueberries
1/4 cup raspberries
1/2 small ripe banana, sliced
2 Tbsp. honey
1 cup ice cubes
Mint sprigs for garnish

Combine strawberries, milk, blueberries, raspberries, banana, honey, and ice cubes in blender; purée until smooth. Garnish with mint. Makes 2 servings.

[JustAmy]

Pineapple Coconut Smoothie
by Online Reader

16 oz. canned pineapple, packed in juice, chunks undrained
6 oz. frozen orange juice concentrate
1/2 cup light coconut milk
1 cup ice cubes, or more as needed


Combine ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth, adding more ice cubes if necessary to create a thick puree. Pour into 4 tall glasses and serve. Yields about 1 cup per serving.

[JustAmy]

[JustAmy]

[OESY]

You have reminded me that I left something unfinished... Some work is difficult to complete.

If I was the catalyst, we all have benefited. You and Conspiracy Guy have a gift for poetry to be shared. For my part, I can really only retrieve what others have crafted. What follows is vaguely reminiscent of your poetic ode to your father, "Among the Trees."

To a Poet a Thousand Years Hence

I who am dead a thousand years,
And wrote this sweet archaic song,
Send you my words for messengers
The way I shall not pass along.
I care not if you bridge the seas,
Or ride secure in the cruel sky,
Or build consummate palaces
Of metal or of masonry.
But have you wine and music still,
And statues and a bright-eyed love,
And foolish thoughts of good and ill,
And prayers to them who sit above?
How shall we conquer? Like a wind
That falls at eve our fancies blow,
And old Maeonides the blind
Said it three thousand years ago,
O friend unseen, unborn, unknown,
Student of our sweet English tongue,
Read out my words at night, alone:
I was a poet, I was young.
Since I can never see your face,
And never shake you by the hand,
I send my soul through time and space
To greet you. You will understand.

-- James Elroy Flecker (1884-1915)

[Conspiracy Guy]

Very nice. NnB is a poet. I am a poemist.

[OESY]

I love the distinction. I think I know my place too.

[Conspiracy Guy]

Have I ever explained poemist?

[The Mayor]

July 8, 2004

Inner Strength

Read: Ephesians 3:14-21

[I pray] that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man. —Ephesians 3:16

Bible In One Year: Job 36-37; Acts 15:22-41

---

A large company uses suction to extract contaminating substances from steel drums. Powerful pumps draw the materials out of the barrels, but the workers must carefully regulate the force of these pumps. If they take out too much air, the drums will collapse like paper cups, because the outer pressure will exceed the inner pressure.

Likewise, when adversity and hardship come into our lives, God must empower us from within or we will be unable to withstand the pressures from without. True, we get solid support from loved ones and Christian friends, but it is our spiritual inner man,“strengthened with might through His Spirit”(Ephesians 3:16), that sustains us and keeps us from crumpling.

The Holy Spirit works to strengthen us and renew our minds as we read the Bible and pray. If we neglect the Scriptures, seldom talk with the Lord, and stop fellowshiping with other believers, we’ll grow weak and vulnerable. Then we will be unable to withstand the pressures of temptation or trouble.

Let’s ask the Lord to develop our inner strength so that when life’s blows and burdens press upon us we will not cave in. —Dave Egner

Help us, O Lord, when troubles come
To trust Your Word and not succumb,
And help us not to turn aside
But in Your strength and love abide. —D. De Haan

The power of Christ within you is greater than the pressure of troubles around you.

[OESY]

Maxfield Parrish, 1905

The Sugar - Plum Tree

Have you ever heard of the Sugar-Plum Tree?
'T is a marvel of great renown!
It blooms on the shore of the Lollipop sea
In the garden of Shut-Eye Town;
The fruit that it bears is so wondrously sweet
(As those who have tasted it say)
That good little children have only to eat
Of that fruit to be happy next day.

When you 've got to the tree, you would have a hard time
To capture the fruit which I sing;
The tree is so tall that no person could climb
To the boughs where the sugar-plums swing!
But up in that tree sits a chocolate cat,
And a gingerbread dog prowls below---
And this is the way you contrive to get at
Those sugar-plums tempting you so:

You say but the word to that gingerbread dog
And he barks with such terrible zest
That the chocolate cat is at once all agog,
As her swelling proportions attest.
And the chocolate cat goes cavorting around
From this leafy limb unto that,
And the sugar-plums tumble, of course, to the ground---
Hurrah for that chocolate cat!

There are marshmallows, gumdrops, and peppermint canes,
With stripings of scarlet or gold,
And you carry away of the treasure that rains
As much as your apron can hold!
So come, little child, cuddle closer to me
In your dainty white nightcap and gown,
And I 'll rock you away to that Sugar-Plum Tree
In the garden of Shut-Eye Town.

-- Eugene Field (1850-1895)

(Rededicated to Marissa and Louie/Max by The Friends of P&P.)

[Conspiracy Guy]

Good choice. The pup and the child are truly precious too.

[OESY]

Have I ever explained poemist?

Not for my eyes, although I'm coming to believe that for myself "polemicist" fits better.

Self-Portrait
Copyright © 2003
by Fred St. John

[Conspiracy Guy]

Poemist practice poemetrics. We are more mathematician than artist.

I'm a Pentax man myself.

[MeekOneGOP]

Stay cool.

Gonna try. Headin' for 95 today.

You have a lovely day ! :^D

[OESY]

Thanks for the explanation. More like musicologist and musician.

As for cameras, Fred likes Minoltas, but I prefer Canon: canon to the right ... volley'd and thunder'd, canon balls, canon fodder, loose canon ....

[Darksheare]

I flit about the internet, never land at all
Butterfly am I, as I click about my screen
The internet is a field, and here is where I dream

[PreviouslyA-Lurker]

awwww, that's sweet OESY...