Bess, you are welcome. I try to do what I can.

****

I'll reiterate two quotations that are an important part of my life:

"Every loving act adds to the balance of love in the universe" - St. Therese of Lisieux

"We can do no great things; we can only do small things with great love" - Mother Teresa.

It helps to have little touchstones to hang on to.

****

And because it is still National Poetry Month, here is a poem in the form of song lyrics. These are from the group Hem, which I find hard to pigeonhole as to a musical "type." There are some elements of country there, but it's more the roots-type country (like Carter Family and Dolly Parton) rather than the glossy pop-country that you see so much of today. And there's some folkie element to it, too - lyrics you have to think a bit about. And there's also sort of a bluegrass flavor to some of the instrumentation.

But at any rate: I like it. It's different.

These lyrics might be partially familiar; a snippet of them were used in an advertisement:

I am holding half an acre
torn from the map of Michigan
and folded in this scrap of paper
is a land I grew in

Think of every town you've lived in
every room you lay your head
and what is it that you remember?

Do you carry every sadness with you
every hour your heart was broken
every night the fear and darkness
lay down with you

A man is walking on the highway
A woman stares out at the sea
and light is only now just breaking

So we carry every sadness with us
every hour our hearts were broken
every night the fear and darkness
lay down with us

But I am holding half an acre
torn from the map of Michigan
I am carrying this scrap of paper
that can crack the darkest sky wide open
every burden taken from me
every night my heart unfolding
my home

----Dan Messé

The first time I heard that song all the way through, I just sat down and cried. There's a lot of truth to the words about carrying sadness with you, and having it there when we lie down.

But I also love the hopeful last stanza - the idea that we, all of us, can find some kind of talisman to carry with us (physically or just in our heart), that reminds us of where we came from, or those we love, or what is deeply important to us, or of good times that we can hold in our hearts forever.

For some people, it's family pictures. For another person, it might be a mustard seed encased in Lucite to be worn on a chain around the neck. For another, a note that someone passed to them in fifth grade. Or a horseshoe nail. Or a piece of a quilt. Or a battered but beloved childhood toy that we will NOT give up, no matter how old we get...