Eternal Love – A Short Story

One day at work, Amanda received a beautiful flower bouquet. In it, she counted 11 flowers and found a short note in them. It was written in beautiful lettering and said: “My love for you will last until the day the last flower in this bouquet dies.”

The note was from her husband who had gone on a business trip. Unsure as to what to make of the message, she went home in the evening and soaked the flowers with water. One day after another, the flowers became a little less beautiful until they all died. All but one flower. This was the day when she realized that there was one artificial flower in the bouquet that would last forever.

Credit: planetofsuccess.com & yahoo.com/images

30 Inspiring Quotes About Winter

I would like to give credit to https://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james. These are some great quotes.

1. “How many lessons of faith and beauty we should lose if there were no winter in our year!”
   –Thomas Wentworth Higginson
2. “I love the scents of winter! For me, it’s all about the feeling you get when you smell pumpkin spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, gingerbread, and spruce.”
   –Taylor Swift
3. “I pray this winter to be gentle and kind–a season of rest from the wheel of the mind. “
   –John Geddes
4. “I prefer winter and Fall when you feel the bone structure of the landscape–the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn’t show. “
   –Andrew Wyeth
5. “I write probably 80 percent of my stuff over the winter.”
   –Bob Seger
6. “If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.”
   –Anne Bradstreet
7. “If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?”
   –Percy Bysshe Shelley
8. “If winter helps you curl up and more that makes it one of the best of the seasons.”
   –Murray Pura
9. “In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.”
   –William Blake
10. “It is the life of the crystal, the architect of the flake, the fire of the frost, the soul of the sunbeam. This crisp winter air is full of it. “
    –John Burroughs
11. “Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face.”
    –Victor Hugo
12. “Let us love winter, for it is the spring of genius.”
    –Pietro Aretino
13. “Many human beings say that they enjoy the winter, but what they really enjoy is feeling proof against it.”
    –Richard Adams
14. “No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.”
    –Hal Borland
15. “Nothing is as easy to make as a promise this winter to do something next summer; this is how commencement speakers are caught.”
    –Sydney J. Harris
16. “One kind word can warm three winter months. “
    –Japanese Proverb
17. “People don’t notice whether it’s winter or summer when they’re happy.”
    –Anton Chekhov
18. “Thank goodness for the first snow, it was a reminder–no matter how old you became and how much you’d seen, things could still be new if you were willing to believe they still mattered.”
    –Candace Bushnell
19. “The hard soil and four months of snow make the inhabitants of the northern temperate zone wiser and abler than his fellow who enjoys the fixed smile of the tropics. “
    –Ralph Waldo Emerson
20. “The problem with winter sports is that–follow me closely here–they generally take place in winter.”
    –Dave Barry
21. “To shorten winter, borrow some money due in spring. “
    –W.J. Vogel
22. “Welcome, winter. Your late dawns and chilled breath make me lazy, but I love you nonetheless. “
    –Terri Guillemets
23. “Blow ye winds, like the trumpet blows, but without that noise. “
    — Jack Handey
24. “What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness. “
    –John Steinbeck
25. “When I was young, I loved summer and hated winter. When I got older I loved winter and hated summer. Now that I’m even older, and wiser, I hate both summer and winter.”
    –Jarod Kintz
26. “Winter blues are cured every time with a potato gratin paired with a roast chicken.”
    –Alexandra Guarnaschelli
27. “Winter forms our character and brings out our best.”
    –Tom Allen
28. “Winter is a season of recovery and preparation.”
    –Paul Theroux
29. “Winter is not a season, it’s a celebration.”
    –Anamika Mishra
30. “Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.”
    –Edith Sitwell

I Am Learning How to Live – A Poem by: Jamey Wysocki

When we lose someone that we love so much, oftentimes it’s hard to put all of the words together that we want to say.  We feel it, but to express it, isn’t always easy at that time.  That’s why poetry is so special because other people have experienced what someone else has experienced, or similar to what someone else has experienced, and have put into words what another individual was feeling, but could not find the words to express.  I hope you enjoy the following poem as much as I did.

I am learning how to live
In a new way
Since that day
You were taken away.

I am learning how to live
With the things left unsaid
Knowing I got to say them
With every tear that I shed.

I am learning how to live
By embracing the pain
Knowing that you live on
Through the memories that remain.

I am learning how to live
Knowing I will never again see your face
And I have peace knowing
You’re in a better place.

I am learning how to live
Knowing you’re in God’s care
It gives me the strength to move on
And makes the pain much easier to bear.

credit: elliesway.org

Annabel Lee – A Poem by Edgar Allan Poe

It was many and many a year ago,
   In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
   By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
   Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
   In this kingdom by the sea,
But we loved with a love that was more than love—
   I and my Annabel Lee—
With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven
   Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,
   In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
   My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsmen came
   And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
   In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,
   Went envying her and me—
Yes!—that was the reason (as all men know,
   In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
   Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love
   Of those who were older than we—
   Of many far wiser than we—
And neither the angels in Heaven above
   Nor the demons down under the sea
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
   Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams
   Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes
   Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
   Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride,
   In her sepulchre there by the sea—
   In her tomb by the sounding sea.

 

Source: https://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem

Woman of Strength – A Poem by Sharon Simani

 

A strong woman works out every day to keep her body in shape

but a woman of strength kneels in prayer to keep her soul in shape.

A strong woman isn’t afraid of anything

but a woman of strength shows courage in the midst of her fear.

A strong woman won’t let anyone get the best of her

but a woman of strength gives the best in what she does.

A strong woman makes mistakes and avoids the same in future

but a woman of strength realizes life’s mistakes can also be God’s blessings and capitalizes on them.

A strong woman walks sure footedly

but a woman of strength also knows God will catch her when she falls.

A strong woman wears the look of confidence on her face

but a woman of strength wears grace.

A strong woman has faith that she is strong enough for the journey

but a woman of strength has faith that it is in the journey that she will become strong.

Credit: https://selffa.com/poems

Love Is Far More Than the Heartbreak – A Poem

This poem was written and submitted to Hello Poetry by an author out of England who goes by Unheard-of  21/F/England.  It’s a simple poem that makes so much sense because we do write about things we don’t understand in the hope of understanding them. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do.

10.09 am

I used to wonder why everyone wrote about love
in novels and poems,
like it was a disposable glove

but then I realized one day
that we write about what we don’t understand,
in the hope of understanding it

for love cannot be defined
or explained
or described.

It can only be a feeling, with the sole purpose of proving we’re alive.

Credit: hellopoetry.com

The Ring – A Poem

As he walked up to her slowly, he didn’t say a word.

His lips quivered, eyes teared, but not a sound was heard.

His eyes gently said what his mouth couldn’t say.

He loved this woman then and more on this day.

As he gazed into her face, he remembered the day they met,

For she whispered something to him, he never would forget.

She said I love the stars, mountains, moon, and snow,

And if there is truly a heaven, I know one day, I’ll go.

He took her hand in his and kissed her lovely face.

With his index finger, he lined her lips in trace.

He told her how much he loved her and wished she wouldn’t go.

Then he slipped the ring on her finger and said I love you so.

He turned and walked away and sat in an empty space,

As the coffin’s lid was closed and pallbearers stood in place.

They lifted the lovely coffin and carried it to the open door.

The woman he loved so much, in this life, he’d see no more.

 

Written by: Jasmine D. Parker ©

Photo credit: Yahoo.com/images

 

               

I Was Free – A Poem

He struck a chord with me, unlike any other. He lit a fire that burned and crackled with a smell that ignited memories of somewhere in time. He turned to me and held my hand, while tenderly twirling me around to the soft tunes of the music.

As I twirled round and round, I felt free. Free to feel the warmth of the fire,  his hands around my waist, free to be happy as I danced the night away. I was happy, I was no longer hiding inside myself, in captivity, yearning to be heard, and loved. I was in love, and in love with me was he.

 

Coleman – A Poem

For years I lived with you, relishing in all you had to offer. Laughter, anger, and sorrow, knowing one day I’d leave for a new tomorrow.

A romantic love affair with days spent at the lakes; Hords Creek, Lake Scarborough, Lake Coleman & Memory Lake, such great memories created there, now with new friends I sometimes share.

Walking along dirt roads, whistling, singing & humming; later riding up and down Commercial Avenue. I sure miss that old, red-bricked Live Oak Street. Nights sharing stories underneath street- lights with friends.  Such innocent, priceless memories I sometimes wish we could do over again.

 I met with friends to say farewell, we talked, hugged, and joked.  Those who stayed were romantically attached, those who left sometimes go back. As for me, I dream of you, I know I’m still in love with you,  I sometimes sit and cry over you. My home…COLEMAN!

 Written by: Jasmine D. Parker ©

08/24/18