The rose

Busy bees chased the blossom chaste:
though they crawled on her clothes,
her petals unfolded and those held close.
Still ever faithful to the sun is the everpure rose.
Whether her hue is violet or rose,
whether she grows in freedom or rows,
ever to God in waves arose the love perfume
from the heart of the rose.

--Saiom Shriver 

Summer

Then followed that beautiful season... Summer....
Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light; and the landscape
Lay as if new created in all the freshness of childhood.

--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Calm

"But calm, white calm, was born into a swan."

--Elizabeth Coatsworth

A friend

A friend is another self,
as though a part of me I put aside,
almost forgotten,
was suddenly recalled.
And, the missing piece replaced,
I am whole once more.

Winona, Minnesota, 1862

No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.

--Heraclitus

Off to the Upper Mississippi

"Along the Upper Mississippi every hour brings something new. There are crowds of odd islands, bluffs, prairies, hills, woods and villages--everything one could desire to amuse the children. Few people ever think of going there, however."

--Mark Twain

Light

"Let us not ask of the Lord deceitful riches, nor the good things of this world, nor transitory honors; but let us ask for light."

--Saint Gregory Nazianzen