An Evocative Billie Holiday Song

 Here are some evocative words for you from a war-time Billie Holiday song:

'I'll be seeing you in all the old familiar places that this heart of mine embraces all day through.

In that small cafe, the park across the way, the children's carousel, the chestnut trees, the wishing well.

I'll be seeing you in every lovely summer's day, in everything that's light and gay, I'll always think of you that way.

I'll find you in the morning sun and when the night is new I'll be looking at the moon, but I'll be seeing you.'

With music by Sammy Fain and lyrics by Irving Kahal, this beautiful song became a sentimental anthem for British & American soldiers serving overseas.

But the words resonate for us all, still today, don't they?

DEATH IS NOT THE END

 You've gone beyond my sight but, oh, the memories you've left behind!

We always said death wouldn't be the end - and it isn't!

I know that now because last night you stood at my bedside and said: "Nothing has changed, my love, but for the veil now between us. That's all it is and it's intangible. So simply think it gone and you'll see that I am here - just as I ever was."

 

THERE COMES A TIME

 I've long been a fan of Ella Wheeler Wilcox and, whether you're a fan or not, I think you'll relate to these profound words of hers:

'There comes a time to every mortal being, whate'er his station or his lot in life, when his sad soul yearns for the final freeing from all this jarring and unceasing strife.

There comes a time, when, having lost its savour, the salt of wealth is worthless; when the mind grows wearied with the world's capricious favour, and sighs for something that it cannot find.

There comes a time, when, though kind friends thronging about our pathway with sweet acts of grace, we feel a vast and overwhelming longing for something that we cannot name or place. 

There comes a time, when, with earth's best love by us, to feed the heart's great hunger and desire, we find not even this can satisfy us; the soul within us cries for something higher.

What greater proof need we that we inherit a life immortal in another sphere? It is the homesick longing of the spirit that cannot find its satisfaction here.'

 

INSPIRATIONAL WORDS FROM GRIAN

 'The gardener looked towards the evening sky.

"I mean that beauty is not really in this or that flower more than it is here or there. Beauty is in the look that beholds it. If the look is alert enough, it will find the goddess of beauty wherever it looks, because she gave light to everything that exists. 

If you still wish to be more beautiful and to become an image of the goddess on earth, look towards the sky and ponder the big clouds that sail majestically across the blue. Look closely at those perfectly rounded, shiny cotton clouds, and see how their beauty pales beside the other clouds that have been perforated by the winds, and that let the sun's rays pass through."

The gardener fell silent while looking intently towards the girl, who was now watching the clouds.

"Let the light from your soul shine through the pores of your skin, and the whole world will see in you the most radiant Beauty."'

(From 'The Gardener' by Grian)

 

 

MORE WISDOM FROM KAHLIL GIBRAN

 

'It is said that before entering the sea a river trembles with fear.
She looks back at the path she has traveled, from the peaks of the mountains, the long winding road crossing forests and villages.
And in front of her, she sees an ocean so vast, that to enter there seems nothing more than to disappear forever.
But there is no other way.
The river can not go back.
Nobody can go back.
To go back is impossible in existence.
The river needs to take the risk
of entering the ocean
because only then will fear disappear,
because that’s where the river will know
it’s not about disappearing into the ocean,
but of becoming the ocean.'

(Kahlil Gibran)

 

A JUDGEMENT

 Here are some wise words for you from B. Atkinson:

'And the dandelion doesn't stop growing because it's told it's a weed. The dandelion doesn't care what others see.

It says "one day they'll be making wishes upon me".' 

DEATH IS NOT THE END

 These wise words from Sri Chinmoy give us plenty of food for thought, don't they? I find it interesting - and maybe you do too - that it's just our minds that think of death as an ending. Certainly our soul knows the truth, so let's try to go beyond our mind and be guided by that which lies deep within us.