Give Me Strength by Rabindranath Tagore

Give Me Strength 
by Rabindranath Tagore




This is my prayer to thee, my lord—-strike,
strike at the root of penury in my heart.

Give me the strength lightly to bear my joys and sorrows.

Give me the strength to make my love fruitful in service.

Give me the strength never to disown the poor or bend my knees before insolent might.

Give me the strength to raise my mind high above daily trifles.

And give me the strength to surrender my strength to thy will with love.




Spiritual poetry is special and meaningful. A link to learn more is here. http://allpoetry.com/Rabindranath_Tagore

Let the Light Enter by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

Let the Light Enter

BY FRANCES ELLEN WATKINS HARPER

    The Dying Words of Goethe

“Light! more light! the shadows deepen,

        And my life is ebbing low,

Throw the windows widely open:

        Light! more light! before I go.

“Softly let the balmy sunshine

        Play around my dying bed,

E’er the dimly lighted valley

        I with lonely feet must tread.

“Light! more light! for Death is weaving

        Shadows ‘round my waning sight,

And I fain would gaze upon him

        Through a stream of earthly light.”

Not for greater gifts of genius;

        Not for thoughts more grandly bright,

All the dying poet whispers

        Is a prayer for light, more light.

Heeds he not the gathered laurels,

        Fading slowly from his sight;

All the poet’s aspirations

        Centre in that prayer for light.

Gracious Saviour, when life’s day-dreams

        Melt and vanish from the sight,

May our dim and longing vision

        Then be blessed with light, more light.

Reminds me of the light of inspiration.  Wonderful old poem. A link to read more is here. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/frances-ellen-watkins-harper

A Psalm of Life by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

A Psalm of Life

BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW

What The Heart Of The Young Man Said To The Psalmist.

Tell me not, in mournful numbers,

   Life is but an empty dream!

For the soul is dead that slumbers,

   And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!

   And the grave is not its goal;

Dust thou art, to dust returnest,

   Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,

   Is our destined end or way;

But to act, that each to-morrow

   Find us farther than to-day.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,

   And our hearts, though stout and brave,

Still, like muffled drums, are beating

   Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world’s broad field of battle,

   In the bivouac of Life,

Be not like dumb, driven cattle!

   Be a hero in the strife!

Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant!

   Let the dead Past bury its dead!

Act,— act in the living Present!

   Heart within, and God o’erhead!

Lives of great men all remind us

   We can make our lives sublime,

And, departing, leave behind us

   Footprints on the sands of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another,

   Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,

A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,

   Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing,

   With a heart for any fate;

Still achieving, still pursuing,

   Learn to labor and to wait.

We never die until we lay down and quit. A link to learn more is here. http://www.hwlongfellow.org/poems_front.php

i thank You God for this most amazing day by ee cummings

i thank You God for this most amazing day
by e e cummings

i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday;this is the birth
day of life and love and wings:and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any-lifted from the no
of all nothing-human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)




Spiritually exuberant. A link to read more of his poetry is here. http://allpoetry.com/e_e_cummings

Whatever Else You Do by Max Ehrmann

Whatever Else You Do
by Max Ehrmann


Whatever else you do or forbear,
impose upon yourself the task of happiness;
and now and then abandon yourself
to the joy of laughter.

And however much you condemn
the evil in the world, remember that the
world is not all evil; that somewhere
children are at play, as you yourself in the
old days; that women still find joy
in the stalwart hearts of men;

And that men, treading with restless feet
their many paths, may yet find refuge
from the storms of the world in the cheerful
house of love.


I love poems that bring me up. A link to learn more about this poet is here. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desiderata

My Creed by Edgar Albert Guest

My Creed
by Edgar Albert Guest




To live as gently as I can;
To be, no matter where, a man;
To take what comes of good or ill
And cling to faith and honor still;
To do my best, and let that stand
The record of my brain and hand;
And then, should failure come to me,
Still work and hope for victory.

To have no secret place wherein
I stoop unseen to shame or sin;
To be the same when I'm alone
As when my every deed is known;
To live undaunted, unafraid
Of any step that I have made;
To be without pretense or sham
Exactly what men think I am.

To leave some simple mark behind
To keep my having lived in mind;
If enmity to aught I show,
To be an honest, generous foe,
To play my little part, nor whine
That greater honors are not mine.
This, I believe, is all I need
For my philosophy and creed.




I love inspirational poetry. I've included a link to learn more.http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/edgar-albert-guest 

My Symphony by William Ellery Channing

My Symphony

To live content with small means. 

To seek elegance rather than luxury, 

    and refinement rather than fashion. 

To be worthy not respectable, 

    and wealthy not rich. 

To study hard, think quietly, talk gently, 

    act frankly, to listen to stars, birds, babes, 

    and sages with open heart, to bear all cheerfully, 

    do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never. 

In a word, to let the spiritual, 

    unbidden and unconscious, 

    grow up through the common.

This is to be my symphony.

Written by William Ellery Channing

To me this is a quiet, meditative poem. It stems off Invictus for me. In a busy, confusing world I am to guide myself. I love the line; "to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Channing

Invictus by William Ernest Henley

Invictus

BY WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY

Out of the night that covers me,

      Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

      For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

      I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

      My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

      Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

      Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

      How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate,

      I am the captain of my soul.

I like this poem very much, it is one I go back to often. I've attached a link to read more about him. He has other poems that are very inspirational. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Ernest_Henley