[Image: “Looking Up the Yosemite Valley,” by Alfred Bierstadt.
For more information, see the Haggin Museum site.]
Note: Here for Poetry Friday (hosted today at the impossibly appealing Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast)? Never before been here on a Friday? Just plain confused by what’s going on in this post? You might want to read about my “whiskey river Fridays” series, at its own “About” page.
From whiskey river:
Thursday
I have had my dream — like others —
and it has come to nothing, so that
I remain now carelessly
with feet planted on the ground
and look up at the sky —
feeling my clothes about me,
the weight of my body in my shoes,
the rim of my hat, air passing in and out
at my nose — and decide to dream no more.
(William Carlos Williams [source])
…and, likewise (although whiskey river omits the first stanza):
A Blessing of Angels
May the Angels in their beauty bless you.
May they turn toward you streams of blessing.May the Angel of Awakening stir your heart
to come alive to the eternal within you,
to all the invitations that quietly surround you.May the Angel of Healing turn your wounds
into sources of refreshment.May the Angel of Imagination enable you
to stand on the true thresholds,
at ease with your ambivalence
and drawn in new directions
through the glow of your contradictions.May the Angel of Compassion open your eyes
to the unseen suffering around you.May the Angel of Wildness disturb the places
where your life is domesticated and safe,
take you to the territories of true otherness
where all that is awkward in you
can fall into its own rhythm.May the Angel of Eros introduce you
to the beauty of your senses
to celebrate your inheritance
as a temple of the holy spirit.May the Angel of Justice disturb you
to take the side of the poor and the wronged.May the Angel of Encouragement confirm you
in worth and self-respect,
that you may live with the dignity
that presides in your soul.May the Angel of Death arrive only
when your life is complete
and you have brought every given gift
to the threshold where its infinity can shine.May all the Angels be your sheltering
and joyful guardians.
(John O’Donohue [source])
