Poetry
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Compassion for Strangers
The death of Rick Warren’s son by suicide is sad enough. But reading the news stories, we see a secondary tragedy — the vicious discussions that are generated in virtually every comment thread…
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One Mind Between Them
We spent last Saturday at a funeral for my husband’s uncle. He died just 13 days after being diagnosed with a rare brain disease that brought a life deeply invested in family and…
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Poetry Friday: Waiting
It’s a motley lot. A few still stand at attention like sentries at the ends of their driveways, but more lean askance as if they’d just received a blow to the head, and…
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Poetry Friday: Back to Basics
If children live with criticism they learn to condemn If children live with hostility they learn to fight If children live with ridicule they learn to be shy If children live with shame…
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Poetry Friday: The Man from Snowy River
But the man from Snowy River let the pony have his head, And he swung his stockwhip round and gave a cheer, And he raced him down the mountain like a torrent down…
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Poetry Friday: Animal Poems
I picked up this book of animal poems from the new books shelf at the library. Flipping through it as my two daughters buckled up in the back seat, I came upon a…
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Paper Chain
…police told youngsters to close their eyes as they were led from the building so that they wouldn’t see the blood and broken glass. (AP News) “Close your eyes.” It’s usually a benediction…
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Brightness
The other day at the mall, I saw a little, bent, elderly woman walking toward the Hallmark store. She had a look of determination, glancing neither to the right nor the left, and…
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Camaraderie and Comfort
Terrors are to come. The earth is poisoned with narrow lives. I think of you. What you will live through, or perish by, eats at my heart. What have I done? I need…
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Spring lifts her head
Robin’s song is crystal clear Cold as an icicle, Sharp as a spear. I have seen Spring lift her head, Snowdrops a-shivering, Winter dead. (“Robin’s Song,” E.L.M. King) Maybe I should have some…