whatmadeyouhappytoday

“Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”
―Calvin Coolidge

A Suspended Blue Ocean

 

 

The sky

 

Is a suspended blue ocean.

 

The stars are the fish

 

That swim.

 

 

The planets are the white whales

 

I sometimes hitch a ride on,

 

 

And the sun and all light

 

Have forever fused themselves

 

 

Into my heart and upon

 

My skin.

 

 

There is only one rule

 

On this Wild Playground,

 

 

For every sign Hafiz has ever seen

 

Reads the same.

 

 

They all say,

 

 

"Have fun, my dear; my dear, have fun,

 

In the Beloved's Divine

 

Game,

 

 

O, in the Beloved's

 

Wonderful

 

Game."

 

 -hafiz

 

 
“The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. Think only on those things that are in line with your principles and can bear the light of day. The content of your character is your choice. Day by day, what you do is who you become. Your integrity is your destiny — it is the light that guides your way.”
―Heraclitus

Most ancient civilizations matter-of-factly acknowledged that, in the right circumstances, a gamy, earthy body odour can be a powerful aphrodisiac. Napoleon and Josephine were fastidious for their time in that they both took a long, hot, daily bath. But Napoleon wrote Josephine from a campaign, “I will return to Paris tomorrow evening. Don’t wash.” -FROM THE DIRT ON CLEAN      

“Be grateful even for hardship, setbacks, and bad people. Dealing with such obstacles is an essential part of training in the Art of Peace.” ―Morihei Ueshiba

Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.
 
Theodore Roosevelt
 

LETTER ON THE ROAD

 

Farewell, but you will be

with me, you will go within

a drop of blood circulating in my veins

or outside, a kiss that burns my face

or a belt of fire at my waist.

My sweet, accept

the great love that came out of my life

and that in you found no territory

like the explorer lost

in the isles of bread and honey.

I found you after

the storm,

the rain washed the air

and in the water

yonr sweet feet gleamed like fishes.

Adored one, I am off'to my fighting.

I shall scratch the earth to make you a cave

and there your Captain

will wait for you with flowers in the bed.

Think no more, my sweet,

about the anguish

that went on between us

like a bolt of phosphorous

leaving us perhaps its burning.

Peace arrived too because I return

to my land to f1ght,

and as I have a whole heart

with the share of blood that you gave me

forever,

 

and as

I have

my hands filled with your naked being,

look at me,

look at me,

look at me across the sea, for I go radiant,

Jook at me across the night through which I sail;

and sea and night are those eyes of yours.

I have not left you when I go away.

Now I am going to ten you:

my land will be yours,

I am going to conquer it,

not just to give it to you,

but for everyone,

for all my people.

The thiefwill come out of his tower some day.

And the invader will be expelled.

All the fruits of life

will grow in my hands

accustomed once to powder.

And I shall know how to touch the new flowers gently

because you taught me tenderness.

My sweet, adored one,

you will come with me to fight face to face

because your kisses live in my heart

like red banners,

and if I fall, not only

will earth cover me

but also this great love that you brought me

and that lived circulating in my blood.

You will come with file,

at that hour I wait for you,

at that hour and at every hour,

at every hour I wait for you.

And when the sadness that I hate comes

to knock at your door,

 

tell her that I am waiting for you

and when loneliness wants you to change

the ring in which my name is written,

tell loneliness to talk with me,

that I had to go away

because I am a soldier,

and that there where I am,

under rain or under

fire,

my love, I wait for you.

I wait for you in the harshest desert

and next to the flowering lemon tree,

in every place where there is life,

where spring is being born,

my love, I wait for you.

When they tell you: "That man

does not love you," relnember

that my feet are alone in that night, and they seek

the sweet and tiny feet that I adore.

Love, when they telI yon

that I have forgotten YOll, and even when

it is I who say it,

when I say it to you,

do not believe me,

who could and how could anyone

cut you from my heart

and who would receive

my blood

when I went bleeding toward you?

But still I can not

forget my people.

I am going to fight in each street,

behind each stone.

Your love also helps me:

it is a CLosed :flower

 

that constantly fills me with its aroma

and that opens suddenly

within me like a great star.

My love, it is night.

The black water, the sleeping

world surround me.

Soon dawn will come,

and meanwhile I write you

to tell you: "I love you."

To tell YOll "I love you," care for,

dean, lift up,

defend

our love, my darling.

I leave it with you as if I left

a handful of earth with seeds.

From our love lives will be born.

In our love they will drink water.

Perhaps a day will come

when a mall

and a woman, like

us,

will touch this love and it will still have the strength

to burn the hands that touch it.

Who were we? What does it matter?

They will touch this fire

and the fire, my sweet, will say your simple name

and mine, the name

that only you knew, because you alone

upon earth know

who I am, and because nobody knew me like one,

like just one hand of yours,

because nobody

knew how or when

my heart was burning:

 

only

your great dark eyes knew,

your wide mouth,

your skin, your breasts,

your belly, your insides,

and your soul that I awoke

so that it would go on

singing until the end of life.

Love, I am waiting for you.

Farewell, love, I am waiting for you.

Love, love, I am waiting for you,

And so this letter ends

with no sadness:

my feet are firm upon the earth,

my hand writes this letter on the road,

and in the midst of life I shall be

always

beside the friend, facing the enemy,

with your name on my mouth

and a kiss that never

broke away from yours.

 

-neruda

Every day you out there, you out there for me, and every other brother in here. 'Cuz I'm never gonna be out there again. - life of a king, 2013

i was 17 once.... for about a year. - myq kaplan