Today's Hope

I hope you felt kindness today

A salesman accepted the item I had not used. Rewrapped he could have denied it.

I hope you heard wonder today

The clerk told me she loved my hair ~ how the white has framed your face."

I hope you gave back today

At the bus stop, I helped a stranger make a phone call

No strings attached.

I hope you felt the sun today

Between the rain clouds the sun shone with warmth and comfort. No rain fell while I walked.

I hope only goodness for you today

It may be only one bright spot

A smile, a kindness, a cup of tea

Your goodness deserves it.

“But I know, somehow, that only when it is 

dark enough can you see the stars.”

~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

Abundance

Magnificent spread

Excellent home chefs

Wide ranging conversations

Four generations

A new friend

Gift exchange

‘Nuff said

“Let us keep Christmas beautiful without a thought of greed.”

~ Ann Garnett Schultz, poet

Just a Little Sprucing Up

Naivety misses the mark ~ 

perhaps..... 

Belief in humanity's good heart, 

before nodding hello 

to the wide world, 

leads us down a garden path that

‘just needs a little sprucing up’

Yet belief remains even after 

cruel blood shed and 

hate filled lies abound.

Goodness is in the souls 

of one person at a time. 

Hands reach out as a candle's flame, 

warming this darkened world.

“The world was to me a secret which I desired to divine.”

~ Mary Shelly

Had a Good Day!

The coffee shop was full, 

alive with conversation. 

Perfect for my afternoon bus trip

to write and have a treat. 

City neighbourhoods

showed off! Neat yards,

with grinning pumpkins 

and Hallowe’en decor.

The glow of autumn lined

curving boulevards and avenues.

I have felt my heart lighten

when I walk beneath the gold. 

The day’s work is done, 

all the words are written 

or read and my home is on 

the verge of being tidy.

“Lovely days don’t come to you, you should walk to them.”

~ Rumi

Flour, Water and Yeasts of the Air

Day 3 sourdough start bubbled,

her frilled cap almost bursting. 

Yeasts of the air had woken her, 

no ding of an alert to warn of the 

overflow of nature’s goodness.

 

“Blues is to jazz what yeast 

is to bread. Without it, it’s flat”

~ Carmen McRae, American jazz singer (April 1920 - November 1994)

For Goodness Sake

When the world seems to have gone topsy turvy

When we’re not quite through with what has already dizzied our lives

it is too easy 

to want to run away,

to want to hide,

to let go of anything good

Then it is time to 

stand still slowly till

our heads clear, 

our hearts stop pounding

and we stand tall again

on the surety of our own two feet

to feel the goodness within our souls.

“When I despair, I remember that all through history 

the way of truth and love have always won. 

There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, 

they can seem invincible, but in the end, 

they always fall. Think of it - - always.”

~ Mahatma Gandhi

Meal Prep

Spaces of time hover idly,

revved by untended energy.

Creative kitchen longings are

granted opportunity to slip into place 

for shopping and chopping

blanching and freezing 

delicious packaged goodness.

Colourful and flavourful ~ accompaniments for many a meal.

“If the divine creator has taken pains to give us 

delicious and exquisite things to eat, the least we can do is 

prepare them well and serve them with ceremony.”

~ Fernand Point, French chef and restaurateur (1890-1955)

Perennial

On this quiet Monday afternoon

bright sparkles drift up into a sunlit sky.

Yet such sparkles from parties, family and friends forever settle in my heart ~

service to lovely memories of loved ones

planted like swaths of delicate flowers ~

perennial blossoms of goodness.

“We don’t always see the miracles taking place around us, within us. 

But that doesn’t mean they aren’t happening.”

~ Julie Cantrell, Perennials

To Cleanse

To believe in yourself

an inside halo'ed view

of a glossy inner core

that still knows 

the nugget of belief

in goodness and kindness

while still pawing through

generations of debris and baggage

wrappings of joy and happiness ~

a challenge against the outside world

carefully, or carelessly, constructed

patched and duct taped 

until that glossy inner core

became dusty and covered in grit.

Belief - an intuitive cleanser

even when it seems a mirage.

“As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live. “

~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Imagery

In a world of gloss and glitter

we only see

the bark on the tree

the perfect roundness of a tomato

protection for the goodness deep inside.

“It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness.”

~ Leo Tolstory, The Kreutzer Sonata

Don’t forget!  March is Epilepsy month with Purple Day for Epilepsy on March 26 each year.

Assumptions

Assumptions

in the heat of the moment

shifts focus from goodness

to a struggle for solid ground.

Assumptions

made reflectively

compare nuances of could be,

should be or uncertainties.

Assumptions

come from deep inside

history shadowing experience

built through the years.

“Assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off 

every once in a while, or the light won’t come in.”

~ Isaac Asimov

Seeds

Essential goodness finds truth.

Seeds planted in early morning soil, hoping for good weather and abundant harvest shared throughout humanity

As days grow long, truth’s perspectives flicker in the brightness of many days, bow to the setting of the sun, breathe softly in moonrise and star shine ~ resting in the darkness of a moonless night.

Essential goodness grows in the cool dark

reaches up to the moisture of cloudy skies

strengthens in the snow-covered mountains and plains

grows dormant and waits for morning.

“There is no greatness where there is not simplicity, goodness and truth.”

~ Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace

In the Mist

Rain hovering

Mist softening

Family time comforting

Faith in each other 

Belief that goodness lives on

“You don’t build a family by tearing down one another.”

 ~ Donna Lynn Hope, author