Man Eating

By Jane Kenyon

The man at the table across from mine

is eating yogurt. His eyes, following

the progress of the spoon, cross briefly

each time it nears his face. Time,

and the world with all its principalities,

might come to an end as prophesied

by the Apostle John, but what about

this man, so completely present

to the little carton, with its cool,

sweet food, which has caused no animal

to suffer, and which he is eating

with a pearl-white plastic spoon.

- Jane Kenyon

Dust If You Must

By Rose Milligan

Dust if you must, but wouldn't it be better
To paint a picture, or write a letter,
Bake a cake, or plant a seed;
Ponder the difference between want and need?

Dust if you must, but there's not much time,
With rivers to swim, and mountains to climb;
Music to hear, and books to read;
Friends to cherish, and life to lead.

Dust if you must, but the world's out there
With the sun in your eyes, and the wind in your hair;
A flutter of snow, a shower of rain,
This day will not come around again.

Dust if you must, but bear in mind,
Old age will come and it's not kind.
And when you go (and go you must)
You, yourself, will make more dust.

Dust of Snow

BY ROBERT FROST

The way a crow 

Shook down on me 

The dust of snow 

From a hemlock tree 

Has given my heart 

A change of mood 

And saved some part 

Of a day I had rued.

The Rose Family

By Robert Frost

The rose is a rose,
And was always a rose.
But the theory now goes
That the apple’s a rose,
And the pear is, and so’s
The plum, I suppose.
The dear only knows
What will next prove a rose.
You, of course, are a rose –
But were always a rose.

Risk

By Anais Nin 

And then the day came,
when the risk
to remain tight
in a bud
was more painful
than the risk
it took
to blossom.