Across the universe and for all of time…
…all over the world.
Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning’s hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there. I did not die.
– Mary Elizabeth Frye
Photo: Google
There are soldiers that defend freedom and those who take it away. Thank you to all our veterans who fought for the lives of people they never knew. Thank you to the men and women who stand ready to defend our nation at a moment’s notice.
Holocaust Memorial
Jewish Ghetto, Venice, Italy
Photo by: Allison LaBine
“I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you simply, without problems or pride: I love you in this way because I do not know any other way of loving but this, in which there is no I or you, so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand, so intimate that when I fall asleep your eyes close.” – Pablo Neruda
Photo by Allison LaBine
Be happy for every moment you are alive, for every moment you are well, for every moment you are free. For in every corner of the world, there is suffering.
Today marks the start of the Namibian seal slaughter – 85,000 pups killed over the next 3 months for their fur. Maybe next year things will change. Thank you to those who tried, who always try to do what is right, especially against great odds.
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
Artwork by Ashton Howard. http://www.ashtonhoward.com
It takes a great force of love to take down walls built from a great deal of pain – and – an open receptiveness to that force.
-Allison LaBine
Photo by Allison LaBine; Florida
“This life is yours. Take the power to choose what you want to do and do it well. Take the power to love what you want in life and love it honestly. Take the power to walk in the forest and be a part of nature. Take the power to control your own life. No one else can do it for you. Take the power to make your life happy.” – Susan Polis Schutz
Photo by Allison LaBine
You make a difference every single day in the lives of those you love.
You make a difference to someone every time you smile.
You make a difference when you see the world with your heart.
You make a difference when you realize that
No matter how small, everything you do matters to someone.
-Allison LaBine
Waves beat at the concrete cage,
Hissing –
You are my prisoner,
Through each age.
A seagull swooped down and called,
You have no voice.
You are frozen to this spot white tower;
In what world did you have a choice?
Fog choked. Ice cracked.
The sun’s flames
Ceaselessly scorched.
Ships passed and
Sailors turned,
Even the moon’s silhouette burned.
Still,
The tower stood,
Separate and alone;
A thousand days
Blurring into one long night,
Silence –
Echoing in hollow bone.
Hear me,
Hear my voice,
Tell me I am not alone.
My ache was a whisper,
Before a hushed cry,
Now – a raging, burning tome.
Alone?
You are nothing but alone,
The wind screeched and moaned.
You will not speak,
Hold your tongue,
Your empty
Words, I steal.
They will stay down
Deep inside
Buried,
Quiet and unreal.
And now no more,
Your heart has slowed,
Your faint call falls on
Deaf ears.
Close your eyes,
And go to sleep,
You are not needed here.
But something heard,
Something felt,
The wake of life above.
And reached out,
Reached up,
With sweeping arms of hope.
The gull envies you for the
Heights you have climbed;
The wind and waves for your
Strength.
But your cage –
The one you have always known
Has been no one’s, but your own.
Bars built from your fear, and
Darkness reaching from your past,
Take down those walls, and
Dream –
You will be free at last.
-Allison LaBine
Photograph by Allison LaBine; Burano, Italy
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