For Art's Sake

Time is always there, so use it!

There is no tomorrow when it comes to your art.

Temptation is all around: shopping, visiting,

chatting with friends, watching TV,

sitting in the sun - it's endless.

Never, never give it up!

Enjoy your art and don't confuse

achievement with success.

Even if you never made a penny from it,

you will still have the incomparable satisfaction

of having created a world no one else could have and

filled it with the product of your own imagination.

Savor this knowledge.

Revel in it.

This is the reality of achievement.

(anon)

To Have a Really Good Day

"One ought, every day at least,

hear a little song,

read a good poem,

see a fine picture,

and if possible,

speak a few reasonable words."

(JW Von Goethe)

Gentle Woman

Gentle woman

Quiet light

Morning Star

So strong and bright

Gentle woman

Peaceful dove

Give us wisdom

Give us Love.

(from the song)

Love After Love

The time will come

When, with elation

You will greet yourself arriving

At your own door, in your own mirror

And each will smile at the other's welcome

You will love again the stranger who was yourself,

Who knows you by heart.

And say, sit here. Eat. Give wine. Give bread.

Give back your heart to itself, to the stranger

Who has loved you all your life,

Who you ignored for another.

Take down the letters from the bookshelf,

The photographs, the desperate notes,

Peel your own image from the mirror.

Sit, feast on your life.

(Derek Walcott)