Tag: Poetry

Weekend Wisdom

Thankfulness – Adelaide Anne Proctor

Michele Kearns

Happy Thanksgiving my dear readers! May you find a reason to give thanks even if you are grieving or working through another nasty life event.

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Here is a poem I found from A Sacrifice of Praise, Second Edition, An Anthology of Christian Poetry in English from Caedmon to the Mid-Twentieth Century; Edited by James H. Trott.

May you have a joy-filled Thanksgiving with family and friends.

Thankfulness

My God, I thank thee who hast made

The earth so bright;

So full of splendour and of joy,

Beauty and light;

So many glorious things are here,

Noble and right!

 

I thank thee, too, that thou hast made

Joy to abound;

So many gentle thoughts and deeds

Circling us round,

That on earth darkest spot of earth

Some love is found.

 

I thank thee more that all our joy

Is touched with pain;

That shadows fall on brightest hours;

That thorns remain;

So that earth’s bliss may be our guide,

And not our chain.

 

For though who knowest, Lord, how soo

Our weak heart clings,

Hast given us joys, tender and true,

Yet all with wings,

So that we see, gleaming on high,

Diviner things!

 

I thank thee, Lord, that though hast kept

The best in store;

We have enough, yet not too much

To long for more:

A yearning for a deeper peace,

Not known before.

 

I thank thee, Lord, that here our souls,

Though amply blest

Can never find, although they seek,

A perfect rest –

Nor ever shall, until they lean

On Jesus’ breast.

 

Adelaide Anne Proctor

(1825 – 1864)

 

Bio: Michele Kearns is the founder and HUG© (Hope Unites Globally) Award-Winner of JoyReturns. She shares her widowhood adventures hoping to encourage widows to move through grief and rebuild their lives. A graduate of Kent State University with a Bachelor’s degree in communications, she’s used those skills while working as a call center team leader, facilitating a grief support group and helping small businesses with various writing and administrative assignments. Michele is a bookworm, lover of golden retrievers and an amateur photographer.

 

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Michele Writes A Haiku – Writing 201

Michele Kearns

A Haiku has 17 syllables with 5 in the first line, 7 in the second and 5 in the third, so there is limited space to say “something beautiful and moving”  (click the link to read more about the assignment.)

The subject of today’s Haiku challenge – water.

So for your reading pleasure here is something moving – not sure it is beautiful, but it sure is moving.     😉

 

Water (A Haiku by Michele Kearns)

Water down it goes

Swirling round round down the drain

Empty soap scum tub

 

Hopefully, if nothing else this gave you, your laugh for the day.

Reminder: All poetry (both good and bad) is copyrighted by JoyReturns and may not be reprinted (why would you want to?) without Michele’s written permission.

grief

A New Adventure: Writing Poetry (snicker, snicker)

Michele Kearns

Learning has been my number one goal ever since getting smacked upside the head with grief, and then a year later career transition. What can I learn from this experience that will help me grow and become better personally and/or professionally?

That is also what I want women and the rest of society to see is the potential for growth a woman has when she becomes a widow.

Last year’s growth opportunity was learning about outdoor products – log splitters, lawn mowers and snow blowers – Oh my!

This year’s growth opportunity is – poetry. (I pray this is the first of several good growth opportunities this year.)

WordPress is starting a new Writing 201 class today in which some of my fellow bloggers and I will attempt to write poetry.

Here is my first attempt:

Roses are red

Violets are blue

Snow is widespread

and so is the flu. 

I know, that was pretty painful.

If you are expecting to discover that I possess the talents of William Shakespeare, Robert Frost, or Elizabeth Barrett Browning, you are most likely going to be disappointed. Only God knows what untapped talents lie buried deep within me.

After all, I’ve learned banking, blogging, collections, grief recovery, retail sales, and outdoor products well enough to be considered the go-to person for questions about either systems, policies, procedures and/or portfolio’s (sub-prime mortgages, auto loans & leases, lines of credit, home equity loans, and mortgages).

So I hope you will stop by during the next two weeks to see what I am learning from my latest joyful adventure.

Have a blessed week,

Michele