Shake not dreams from your eyes, nor close your lids on a dare–
It will never be night– not with the fragrance of myrrh and the light in your hair…

The first truths you will doubt … are those that can’t lie,
The last dreams you let go, are the ones that will die..

And you will long for the sun
– yet you must reach for the cool colored moon–
and the night is the day, and the day passes too soon.

Together we search all over the earth– from the fountains and springs- the moisture does burst,
yet never so much that it quenches our thirst…

The circle of life, folds in and out on itself like a soft flannel quilt,
To cover a trembling clenched fist, a petrified will–
from the boughs and the branches — fingers reach out, screaming, I’m part of you still–

Like an innocent child, yet smug like a sage,
guarded by illusions of infancy and the coming of age.

So small do we dream, so little and so short do we live.
How easily we tire and give up– and give in.

So hurried we run ahead and behind–
Oh how we travel without reason or rhyme,
Blown like the sand in the footprints of time…

Seekers of truth, defenders of right,
Makers of will, keepers of light…
Holding to truths that ennoble the mind.

Shake not the light nor dreams from your eyes–
The first truths you will doubt…are those that can’t lie–

Dare to lead with your heart.
Dreams you can’t let go, are the ones that can’t die…

Sometimes what sparkles– truly is gold.
A story burning– waiting , to be told,
Captured between yellowed pages,
too soon, tattered and torn–
Characters, begging, wanting, aching, longing — to be– reborn.

T.L. Lewis
January 1, 2007

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IF

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings–nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son.

Rudyard Kipling

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Do It Anyway

People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered,
LOVE THEM ANYWAY

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives,
DO GOOD ANYWAY

If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies,
SUCCEED ANYWAY

The good you do will be forgotten tomorrow,
DO GOOD ANYWAY

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable,
BE HONEST AND FRANK ANYWAY

What you spent years building may be destroyed overnight,
BUILD ANYWAY

People really need help but may attack you if you help them,
HELP PEOPLE ANYWAY

Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth,
GIVE THE WORLD THE BEST YOU’VE GOT ANYWAY.

On a sign in Mother Teresa’s office

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From a sign on the wall of Shishu Bhavan, the Children’s Home in Calcutta

“Human rights are not a privilege
conferred by government. They are
every human being’s entitlement
by virtue of his humanity. The
right to life does not depend,
and must not be contingent, on
the pleasure of anyone else, not
even a parent or sovereign. …
You must weep that your own
government, at present, seems
blind to this truth.”

Mother Teresa
[Agnes Gonxha Beiaxhiu] (1910-1997)
Humanitarian, Nobel Peace Prize 1979

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A Gift for God (1975)

“There must be a reason why some people can afford to live well.
They must have worked for it. I only feel angry when I see waste.
When I see people throwing away things we could use.”

Mother Teresa (1910-1997)