Worth anything

"I hope that this is really not bad after all, that it's not just terrible and not any good, " I said to my daughter after reading what I'd written. "The words just flow so freely; they come to my mind and there they are ," I continued. "Surely nothing that is this easy can be worth anything."

Only now

I have walked the paths laid out for me;
I have worn the letters pinned to me;
I have smiled and nodded pleasantly;
I have borne the cruelties dutifully;
I have tried to live most honorably;
And now I see how beautifully it all has worked
To lead me to myself,
Beyond myself
To where I must be--
To the One who fashioned me.
To live life freely and truly is to
Live as humbly as a child.
Only now do I begin to see.

Star Thoughts

"I shall see a star tonight
From a distant mountain height;
From a city you will see
The same star that shines on me.

'Tis not of the firmament
On a solar journey bent;
Fixed it is through time and weather;--
'Tis a thought we hold together."

--Frances Shaw

Who loves the rain

"Who loves the rain
And loves his home
And looks on life with quiet eyes,
Him will I follow through the storm;
And at his hearth-fire keep me warm;
Nor hell nor heaven shall that soul surprise
Who loves the rain
And loves his home
And looks on life with quiet eyes."

--Frances Shaw