The Phoenix of Love; and Others
The Phoenix of Love
From out of the flames she arises with brilliance a light to behold,
Cast on the wings of the morning her hair and her limbs made of gold.
She’s there for the faithful to see her with her whisper of mystery above,
Sparks rising up toward Heaven a promise of undying love.
She’s not there for non-believers who think life owes them so much,
Those not willing to give before getting never feel the love of her touch.
To behold this special occasion one must be faithful and true,
Give all back to those you know love you and you will see the love phoenix, too
Creation of woman from the rib of man;
She was not made of his hand to top him
Nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him;
But out of his side to be equal with him,
Under his arm, to be protected;
And near his heart to be loved.
Later the little boy asked his father, “Why does mother seem to cry for no reason?”
“All women cry for no reason,” was all his dad could say.
The little boy grew up and became a man, still wondering why women cry..
Finally he put in a call to God. When God got on the phone, he asked, “God, why do women cry so easily?”
God said
“When I made the woman she had to be special.
I made her shoulders strong enough to carry the weight of the world, yet gentle enough to give comfort.
I gave her an inner strength to endure childbirth and the rejection that many times comes from her children.
I gave her a hardness that allows her to keep going when everyone else gives up, and take care of her family through sickness and fatigue without complaining.
I gave her the sensitivity to love her children under any and all circumstances, even when her child has hurt her very badly.
I gave her strength to carry her husband through his faults and fashioned her from his rib to protect his heart.
I gave her wisdom to know that a good husband never hurts his wife, but sometimes tests her strengths and her resolve to stand beside him unfalteringly.
And finally, I gave her a tear to shed. This is hers exclusively to use whenever it is needed.”
“You see my son,” said God, “the beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair.
The beauty of a woman must be seen in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart – the place where love resides.”
The Loving Tree
Three women walked upon a road;
And the first said airily’
“Of all the trees in all the world’
Which is the loving tree?”
The second said, “My eyes have seen
No tree that is not fair;
But the orange tree is the sweetest tree,
The loving blood is there,”
And the third said, “In the green time
I knew a loving tree
That gave a drink of the blood-red milk,
It was the Mulberry.”
The first one said, “of all the trees
No sweetest can I name:
Ask her the yonder slowly comes-
That women lean and lame.”
Grief like a hideous suckling hung
Along her hollow breast,
Pain was upon her as she walked,
And as she stooped to rest.
“Why will you question so?” she said,
Is it to mock at me?
For how should I, who walk in hell,
Know of a loving tree?
My eyes are not as woman’s eyes,
They hope not east or west:
Dull famine my bed-mate is
And loneliness my guest.
“Tis not the most delicious flower
That leaves the scent of spring,
Not is it yet the brightest bird
That loads his heart to sing.
“A tree may dance in the white weather
Or dream in a blue gown,
A tree may sing as a sweetheart
To bid the stars come down:
“Some trees are slim and lovable
And some are sleek and strong,
But the tree that has the cripple’s heart
Will know the cripple’s song.
“The sweetest death is the red death
That comes up nakedly,
And the tree that has the foiled heart
It is the loving tree.
“While ever lip shall seek for lip,
While ever light shall fall,
The tree that has the ruined heart
Is the tenderest of all.
“Oh, ye may have your men to kiss,
And children warm to hold,
But the heart that had the hottest love
Was never yet consoled.”
The women three walked on their way,
Their shamed eyes could see
How well the tree with the foiled heart
Is still the loving tree.
Shaw Neilson
Love
There is no difficulty that enough love will not conquer;
No door that enough love will not open;
No gulf that enough love will not bridge;
No wall that enough love will not throw down;
No sin that enough love will not redeem…
It makes no difference how deeply seated may be the trouble,
How hopeless the outlook,
How muddled the tangle,
How great the mistake, -
A sufficient realization of love will dissolve it all…
If only you could love enough,
You would be the happiest and most powerful being in the world…
Corinthians 13:7-8
Love knows no limit to its endurance,
No end to its trust,
No fading of its hope;
It can outlast anything.
Love still stands when
All else has fallen
Corinthians 13:4-8
Love is very patient, very kind.
Love knows no jealousy;
Love makes no parade, gives itself no airs,
Is never rude, never selfish,
Never irritated, never resentful…
Love is gladdened by goodness,
Always slow to expose,
Always eager to believe the best,
Always hopeful, always patient.
Love never disappears
Love’s Not Time’s Fool
Let me not the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove,
O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
Love’s not Times Fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
William Shakespeare
Loves Coming
Quietly as rosebuds
Talk to the thin air,
Love came so lightly
I knew not he was there.
Quietly as lovers
Creep at the middle moon,
Softly as players tremble
In the tears of a tune;
Quietly as lilies
Their faint vows declare
Came the shy pilgrim:
I knew not he was there
Quietly as tears fall
On a wild sin,
Softly as griefs call
In a violin;
Without hail of tempest,
Blue sword or flame,
Love came so lightly
I knew not that he came.
Shaw Neilson
The gulf that separates real love, quiet and almost imperceptible, from the fury of passion: there is no romantic hail or lightning to form a background for tempestuous lust; but the very mention of their absence brings out the irresistible quietness of loves coming.
That Till I loved
That I did always love
I bring thee Proof
That till I loved
I never lived – Enough –
That I shall love always-
I argue thee
That love is life –
And life hath Immortality –
This – dost thou doubt –Sweet –
Then have I
Nothing to show
But Calvary –
Upon Kind and True Love
“Tis not how witty, nor how free,
Nor yet how beautiful she be,
But how much kind and true to me.
Freedom and wit none can confine,
And beauty like the sun doth shine,
But kind and true are only mine.
Let others with attention sit,
To listen, and admire her wit:
That is a rock where I’ll not split.
Let others dote upon her eyes,
And burn their hearts for sacrifice;
Beauty’s a calm where danger lies.
But kind and true have been long tried
A harbor where we may confide
And safely there at anchor ride.
From change of winds there we are free,
And need not fear storm’s tyranny,
Nor pirate, though a prince he be.
Aurelian Townshend
Bid me Love
Bid me love and I will give
A loving heart to thee.
A heart as soft, a heart as kind,
A heart as sound and free
As in the whole world thou canst find,
That heart I’ll give to thee.
Thou art my life, my love, my heart,
The very eyes of me;
And hast command of every part,
To live and die for thee.