A Book

A Book, I think, is very like
A little golden door
That takes me into places
Where I've never been before

It leads me into fairyland
Or countries strange and far.
And, best of all, the golden door
Always stands ajar.

--Adelaide Love



Forgive and Forget

You can only hold a grudge so long,
And then the grudge holds you;
You must forget the ancient wrong
And look for something new.

Forgiving and forgetting
Are the things you have to do,
And honey, I am betting
I can go that route with you.

I forgive my blind stupidity
In falling so for you,
I forget your blonde cupidity
For every girl in view.

I forget the ugly things
You seem to love to do,
I forget your wild mood swings,
And--I've forgotten you!




The Miracle of Friendship

There's a miracle of friendship that dwells within the heart,

And you don't know how it happens or where it gets it's start...

But the happiness it brings you always gives a special lift,

And you realize friendship is God's most perfect gift.



Myself

I have to live with myself, and so
I want to be fit for myself to know,
I want to be able, as days go by,
Always to look myself straight in the eye;
I don't want to stand, with the setting sun,
And hate myself for things that I have done.

I don't want to keep on a closet shelf
A lot of secrets about myself,
And fool myself, as I come and go,
Into thinking that nobody else will know
The kind of man I really am;
I don't want to dress up myself in sham.

I want to go out with my head erect,
I want to deserve all men's respect;
But here in the struggle for fame and pelf
I want to be aable to like myself.
I don't want to look at myself and know
That I'm bluster and bluff and empty show.

I can never hide myself from me;
I see what others may never see;
I know what others may never know,
I never can fool myself, and so,
Whatever happens, I want to be
Self-respecting and conscience free.

--Edgar A. Guest



Then Laugh

    Build yourself a strong box, fashion each part with care; When it's strong as your hand can make it, put all your troubles in there; Hide there all thoughts of your failures, and each bitter cup that you quaff; Lock all your heartaches within it, then sit on the lid and laugh.

    Tell no one else it's contents, never it's secrets share; When you've dropped in your care and worry keep them forever there; Hide them from sight so completely that the world will never dream half; Fasten the strong box securely--then sit on the lid and laugh.

Bertha Adams Backus



When I Am An Old Woman

When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals and say we've no money for butter
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
and pick the flowers in other peoples gardens
And learn to spit
You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausage at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes
But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children
We will have friends to dinner and read the papers
But maybe I ought to practice a little now
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old and start to wear purple.

--From the poem--Warning--by Jenny Joseph



To Someone Just Like You

For years I sought the right someone
To make my dreams come true,
A beautiful and bright someone,
A someone just like you.

I hunted for him all around,
In a thousand bars or two,
And then I turned around and found
My someone just like you.

And he was you, and I was glad,
And I knew that you'd be true,
And I was such a lucky girl
With someone just like you.

And then you lied, and you good-byed,
And left me feeling blue.
I felt so bad I almost cried
For someone just like you.

And now I see your smiling face
With a dozen girls or two;
It takes a crowd to take my place
With someone just like you.

But if there is a God above
He'll send you someone new,
For you deserve to be in love
With someone just like you!



If You're Ever Going To Love Me

If you're ever going to love me love me now, while I can know
All the sweet and tender feelings which from real affection flow.
Love me now, while I am living; do not wain till I am gone
And then chisel it in marble--warm love words on ice-cold stone.
If you've dear, sweet thought about me, who not whisper them to me?
Don't you know 'twould make me happy and as glad as glad could be?
If you wait till I am sleeping, ne'er to waken here again,
There'll be walls of earth between us and I couldn't hear you then.
If you knew someone was thirsting for a drop of water sweet
Would you be so slow to brinng it? Would you step with laggard feet?
There are tender hearts all round us who are thirsting for our love;
Why withold from them what nature makes them crave all else above?
I won't need your kind caressess when the grass grows o'er my face;
I won't crave your love or kisses in my last low resting place
So, then, if you love me any, if it's but a little bit,
Let me know it now while I am living; I can own and treasure it.



Charity

There is so much good in the worst of us,
And so much bad in the best of us,
That it ill behoves any of us
To find fault with the rest of us.



Our Lips and Ears

If you your lips would keep from slips,
Five things observe with care:
Of whom you speak, to whom you speak,
And how and when and where.

If you your ears would save from jeers,
These things keep meekly hid:
Myself and I, and mine and my,
And how I do and did.



Love

    I love you, not for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you.

    I love you, not only for what you have made of yourself, but for what you are making of me.

    I love you for the part of me that you bring out; I love you for putting your hand into my heaped-up heart and passing over all the foolish, weak things that you can't help dimly seeing there, and for drawing our into the light all the beautiful belongings that no one else had looked quite far enough to find.

    I love you because you are helping me to make of the lumber of my life not a tavern but a temple; Out of the works of my every day not a reproach but a song.

    I love you because you have done more than any creed could have done to make me good, and more than any fate could have done to make me happy.

    You have done it without a torch, without a word, without a sign. You have done it by being yourself. Perhaps that is what being a friend means, after all.

    --Roy Croft