Broken Open

What teachers make

Wonderful poem h/t Seth's Blog (there is a coarse gesture in it in case you are offended by these things)

I am Gossip

Loved this poem from the Rector's Ramblings:

My name is Gossip.
I have no respect for justice.
I maim without killing. I break hearts and ruin lives.

I am cunning, malicious and gather strength with age.
The more I am quoted, the more I am believed.
I flourish at every level of society.
My victims are helpless.
They cannot protect themselves against me because I have no name and no face.
To track me down is impossible. The harder you try, the more elusive I become.
I am nobody's friend.
Once I tarnish a reputation, it is never the same.
I topple governments and wreck marriages. I ruin careers and cause sleepless nights, heartaches and indigestion. I spawn suspicion and generate grief.
I make innocent people cry in their pillows. Even my name hisses.

I am called GOSSIP.
Office gossip,
Shop gossip,
Party gossip,
Telephone gossip.

I make headlines and headaches.
REMEMBER, you repeat a story, ask yourself: is it true? Is it fair? Is it necessary?? If not, do not repeat it. KEEP QUIET.
GREAT minds discuss ideas.. Average minds discuss events.. Shallow minds discuss people.. Which are you . . . ?

Anon

For every woman

Loved this poem h/t MadPriest and RevRuth

For every woman who is tired of acting weak when she knows she is strong,
there is a man who is tired of appearing strong when he feels vulnerable;

For every woman who is tired of acting dumb,
there is a man who is burdened
with the constant expectation of ‘knowing everything’;

For every woman who is tired of being called ‘an emotional female’,
there is a man who is denied the right to weep and to be gentle;

For every woman who is called unfeminine when she competes,
there is a man for whom competition is the only way
to prove his masculinity;

For every woman who is tired of being a sex object,
there is a man who must worry about his potency;

For every woman who feels ‘tied down’ by her children,
there is a man who is denied the full pleasures of shared parenthood;

For every woman who is denied meaningful employment or equal pay,
there is a man who must bear full financial responsibility for another human being;

For every woman who was not taught the intricacies of an automobile,
there is a man who was not taught the satisfaction of cooking;

For every woman who takes a step toward her own liberation,
there is a man who finds the way to freedom has been made a little easier.

Nancy R Smith, Images: Women in Transition

Poem about Jonah

I am doing an assembly on Jonah today and found this poem and modified it a bit:

Jonah

The Lord God spoke to Jonah

And issued a command,

‘I want you to go to Nineveh –

A very wicked land.’

But Jonah did not want to go

And argued, ‘Why must it be me?’

So he joined a ship and paid his fare

And set sail out to sea.

But the wind howled

And the sea tossed

And the sailors all felt sick!

And Jonah cried, ‘It’s all my fault.

Throw me overboard. Be quick!’

And the wind calmed,

And the storm stopped,

But poor old Jonah

He popped,

Scared and pale,

Into the jaws of a whale!

The boat he left

Now would not sink,

And Jonah he had time to think

About his wicked ways,

For three whole nights and days.

Then Jonah said, ‘I’m sorry.’

God said, ‘I understand.’

And he ordered the whale to cough Jonah up

And place him alive on dry land.

Now Jonah went to Nineveh,

Told the people to stop being bad.

They did, and said they were sorry.

God forgave them and stopped feeling mad.

Jonah was fed up that they repented

And sat sulking under a tree

By the morning the tree had withered

And Jonah had sunburn on his knee

Poem for Easter

Tell me:

What came first

Easter or the egg?

Crucifixion 

or daffodils?

Three days in a tomb

or four days in Paris?

(returning Bank Holiday Monday).

When is a door

not a door?

When it is rolled away.

When is a body

not a body?

When it is a risen.

Question.

Why was it the Saviour

rode on the cross?

Answer.

To get us 

to the other side.

Behold I stand.

Behold I stand and what?

Behold I stand at the door and

knock knock.

Thanks to Jane

The Crucifixion

You were the one with the Father,
Then the Father turned his back on you,
You felt forsaken,
Hanging there between heaven’s thunder
And the dank spittle of earth.

For that moment you belonged nowhere.
You were love, cut off from love;
Truth nailed down by lies.
You must have wanted to explode, to disintegrate,
To disappear into a void.
But that was forbidden.
And that was the test.

Your blood burst through your skin
And ran down like sweat.
Your sweat ran cold
And drained into your heart.
The universe caught hold of your pain.
The sun went blind with grief.
The earth shivered in shock.
History was torn in two.

I stood at a distance,
My collar turned up,
Like a murderer witnessing
A wrongful arrest.

Thanks to Jane

Mother Theresa's Anyway poem

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centered;
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God;
It was never between you and them anyway.

Hopeless Romantic

Mmm.. I enjoy Jude Simpson's poem 'Unrequited love', but then I am hopelessly romantic, decided I can't help it as I am an Enneagram 4. I love Aerosmiths' 'I don't want to miss a thing' at the moment, but then I used to think I was hard enjoying rock music like Foreigners' 'I want to know what love is'.. anyway hope you like the poem too.