Hope

Hope is like air.
A constant source of life,
Even when we aren't conscious of it.

Hope is like water.
Filling us, sustaining us,
Providing energy as we drink.

Hope is like an anchor.
Grounding us when winds blow,
Reminding us of what we know.

-Kristen Harmon

Spring Time Slow

I need for time to drip slow again.

Not painfully so

Not dragging its feet

Impatiently waiting for winter to end.

But Spring-time slow

Slow in the falling of green leaves

The nodding of sunlit trees.

Slow in purpose.

I’m tired of fast

Quickly typing, quickly walking

Too many tasks to accomplish

Too much energy at waste.

I need depth of time

Moments that energize

Sunlight on flowers

Melodies in air

Jasmine blooming

Breezes blowing

Poetry inspiring

Long talks entwining.

Time please drip slow again

Teach me how to linger

Shallow breathing is not living well

I want to breath life deep.

-Kristen Harmon

Flowers

I read a section of the poem Flowers by Longfellow in a little book shortly before my Grandpa died.   I think it is a very beautiful word picture and calls the mind to think on high things.

"In the cottage of the rudest peasant,
In ancestral homes, whose crumbling towers,
Speaking of the Past unto the Present,
Tell us of the ancient Games of Flowers;

In all places, then, and in all seasons,
Flowers expand their light and soul-like wings,
Teaching us, by most persuasive reasons,
How akin they are to human things.

And with childlike, credulous affection
We behold their tender buds expand;
Emblems of our own great resurrection,
Emblems of the bright and better land." 

-Excerpt from Flowers by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  Photo by Kristen Harmon