Good Friday
A recipe for thought:
Take a pair of scales
as large as the boundless human mind,
and into one scale
pour all the goodness in the world that you can see
carefully
and into the other,
all the evil in the world that you can see;
into the first scale now add
all the joy that you have known
(the joy of others you can never measure)
and into the other, all the misery,
(the misery of others you can never measure) :
into the first, add all the laughter you can remember,
and into the second, all the tears;
and now, from the cupboards of your heart,
add what you will
to either scale:
the hopes and fears
of all the years.
now give one day each year
to the watching of these scales
and see if slowly, gently, as we watch
with all our love
the scales
move
poem by Michael Shepherd
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Related quotes
Who can weigh love?
Light. Lightness. Light-heartedness.
Who can measure their measureless weight?
On the kitchen scales, we balance
weight against weight; but how different
the substances - on the one scale,
iron weights with their iron discipline
maintain like monks and nuns their constancy;
on the other scale, perhaps fine flour,
poured as bakers recommend, from a height
to catch the air between the grains; a foretaste
of that greater levity that yeast will bring;
Lorenzo de’ Medici, praising publicly his tutor,
Marsilio Ficino, said of him, that one thing in him which he loved
was that in his speech, gravity was mixed with levity,
and levity, with gravity;
what then, of our substance? In the lightness
of our being, then how bright the light! And in
the dark and heavy days, what lightness of the light may lurk
in melancholia – a yeast of wisdom yet to act?
And then – there’s love…its golden weightiness
so full of light; and hammered out and spread,
the brighter then…oh, who can measure out
the lightness, brightness, of our joy? What golden scales
of justice, mercy, grace,
may weigh the shining of a shining face?
poem by Michael Shepherd
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Im Only Happy When It Rains
Im only happy when it rains
Im only happy when its complicated
And though I know you cant appreciate it
Im only happy when it rains
You know I love it when the news is bad
And why it feels so good to feel so sad
Im only happy when it rains
Pour your misery down, pour your misery down on me
Pour your misery down, pour your misery down on me
Im only happy when it rains
I feel good when things are going wrong
I only listen to the sad, sad songs
Im only happy when it rains
I only smile in the dark
My only comfort is the night gone black
I didnt accidentally tell you that
Im only happy when it rains
Youll get the message by the time Im through
When I complain about me and you
Im only happy when it rains
Pour your misery down, pour your misery down
Pour your misery down on me pour your misery down
Pour your misery down pour your misery down
Pour your misery down on me pour your misery down
Pour your misery down pour your misery down
Pour your misery down on me pour your misery down
Pour your misery down
You can keep me company
As long as you dont care
Im only happy when it rains
You wanna hear about my new obsession?
Im riding high upon a deep depression
Im only happy when it rains
Pour some misery down on me
Im only happy when it rains
Pour some misery down on me
Im only happy when it rains
Pour some misery down on me
Im only happy when it rains
Pour some misery down on me
Im only happy when it rains
Pour some misery down on me ...
song performed by by Garbage
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Fish - 0093 - Current version after Bryan Waller Procter Pre-Existence
I sit beside the spring and wish
I had a silver tail,
so up the stream my trail could swish,
sunlight upon each scale,
till by some bay my school of fish
might spot a trawler's trail,
which, followed, must tense anguish net -
woe to temptatios sail!
Who would provide a tasty dish
one morn at market sale,
fed as fritters - perish first
scales weighed upon some scale,
no dawn to spawn or to cherish?
I blubber like a whale...
the thought sends shivers, - feverish
from seashore I turn tail
such crass ambitions vanish swift -
so here I leave my tale!
(18 June 1975)
poem by Jonathan Robin
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One should see the world, and see himself as a scale with an equal balance of good and evil. When he does one good deed the scale is tipped to the good - he and the world is saved. When he does one evil deed the scale is tipped to the bad - he and the world is destroyed.
quote by Maimonides
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Scales
To spy over others and to defend yourself!
But, you were trained in what you did;
Scales, sale, seal, scale, sales, ale, ales, sea, seas, as, a, case! !
But, you will always reap what yoi sow in this life.
poem by Edward Kofi Louis
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Because the results are expressed in numbers, it is easy to make the mistake of thinking that the intelligence test is a measure like a foot ruler or a pair of scales. It is, of course, a quite different sort of measure. Intelligence is not an abstraction like length and weight; it is an exceedingly complicated notion - which nobody has yet succeeded in defining.
quote by Walter Lippmann
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Only Happy Whem It Rains
Im only happy when it rains
Im only happy when its complicated
And though I know you cant appreciate it Im only happy when it rains
You know I love it when the news is bad
And why it feels so good to feel so sad
Im only happy when it rains
Pour your misery down...pour your misery down on me pour your misery down...pour your misery down on me
Im only happy when it rains
I feel good when things are going wrong
I only listen to the sad sad songs
Im only happy when it rains
I only smile in the dark
My only comfort is the night gone black
I didnt accidentally tell you that
Im only happy when it rains
Youll get the message by the time Im through when I complain about me and you
Im only happy when it rains
Pour your misery down...pour your misery down on me pour your misery down...pour your misery down on me pour your misery down...pour your misery down on me pour your misery down
You can keep me company as long as you dont care
Im only happy when it rains
You wanna hear about my new obsession
Im riding high upon a deep depression
Im only happy when it rains
Pour some misery down on me
song performed by by Garbage
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Scale
I rise out of bed, what do I find?
My bathroom scales are first on my mind
My daily routine, is get out of bed
Then to the bathroom is where I'll head
I tread ever so gently onto the scale
Then say a prayer whilst a breath I inhale
Please dear lord the pounds I am needing
Are a little bit lower than yesterdays reading
Now when I think of my calorie intake
A good weight loss reading I have to forsake
Eat less and exercise, drink no wine
I'll then lose some weight and I'll be on cloud nine
So now here we have a brand new day
Today I'll be good come what may!
To Love Without Measure
when i say i love you
there is no meter to it
no scales
from one to ten
no scores till the hundred
there is no depth
nothing about height
there is nothing to measure
nothing to price
for love is as light as air
and fills every empty space
for love cannot be weighed
and beyond what is heavy
or burdensome
its depth is beyond comprehension
its value is priceless
its measure
immeasurable.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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Ode To The Artichoke
The artichoke
With a tender heart
Dressed up like a warrior,
Standing at attention, it built
A small helmet
Under its scales
It remained
Unshakeable,
By its side
The crazy vegetables
Uncurled
Their tendrills and leaf-crowns,
Throbbing bulbs,
In the sub-soil
The carrot
With its red mustaches
Was sleeping,
The grapevine
Hung out to dry its branches
Through which the wine will rise,
The cabbage
Dedicated itself
To trying on skirts,
The oregano
To perfuming the world,
And the sweet
Artichoke
There in the garden,
Dressed like a warrior,
Burnished
Like a proud
Pomegrante.
And one day
Side by side
In big wicker baskets
Walking through the market
To realize their dream
The artichoke army
In formation.
Never was it so military
Like on parade.
The men
In their white shirts
Among the vegetables
Were
The Marshals
Of the artichokes
Lines in close order
Command voices,
And the bang
Of a falling box.
But
Then
Maria
Comes
With her basket
She chooses
An artichoke,
She's not afraid of it.
She examines it, she observes it
Up against the light like it was an egg,
She buys it,
She mixes it up
In her handbag
With a pair of shoes
With a cabbage head and a
Bottle
Of vinegar
Until
She enters the kitchen
And submerges it in a pot.
Thus ends
In peace
This career
Of the armed vegetable
Which is called an artichoke,
Then
Scale by scale,
We strip off
The delicacy
And eat
The peaceful mush
Of its green heart.
poem by Pablo Neruda
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Think on a 50-year scale, which is a much more natural time-scale for global warming. The US is right now spending about 200 million dollars annually on research into renewable energy.
quote by Bjorn Lomborg
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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When you see a fish you don't think of its scales, do you? You think of its speed, its floating, flashing body seen through the water... If I made fins and eyes and scales, I would arrest its movement, give a pattern or shape of reality. I want just the flash of its spirit.
quote by Constantin Brancusi
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Incidentally, the usual designation of the magnitude scale to my name does less than justice to the great part that Dr. Gutenberg played in extending the scale to apply to earthquakes in all parts of the world.
quote by Charles Francis Richter
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Material Wealth
In the balancing scale, you know,
The weightier pan tilts to be low.
Similarly if your mind is in the mundane level,
Filled with thoughts of material wealth to revel,
Your mind's scale descends in degree,
And it becomes distanced from God's decree.
poem by Chandra Thiagarajan
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In The Wake Of Poseidon
Platos spawn cold ivyed eyes
Snare truth in bone and globe.
Harlequins coin pointless games
Sneer jokes in parrots robe.
Two women weep, dame scarlet screen
Sheds sudden theatre rain,
Whilst dark in dream the midnight queen
Knows every human pain.
In air, fire, earth and water
World on the scales.
Air, fire, earth and water
Balance of change
World on the scales
On the scales.
Bishops kings spin judgements blade
Scratch faith on nameless graves.
Harvest hags hoard ash and sand
Rack rope and chain for slaves
Who fireside fear fermented words
Then rear to spoil the feast;
Whilst in the aisle the mad man smiles
To him it matters least.
Heroes hands drain stones for blood
To whet the scaling knife.
Magi blind with visions light
Net death in dread of life.
Their children kneel in jesus till
They learn the price of nail;
Whilst all around our mother earth
Waits balanced on the scales.
song performed by by King Crimson
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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My Own Worth
when you begin
to measure the length of my
worth
with a tape
or weigh me with
your own scales
or wrap me with your
cloth to asses the
volume of my being
when the numbers
come from your mouth
i begin to feel
the limitless bounds
of my incoming
protest
for you are just my peer
my co-equal
and here you are
measuring me by
your own
standards and i ask
the world:
who are you?
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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How Do You Measure Up?
If you measure yourself by ambition,
There will always be someone more ambitious than you.
If you measure yourself by money,
There is always someone wealthier than you.
If you measure yourself by power,
There is always someone more powerful than you.
If you measure yourself with material things,
There is always someone with more stuff than you.
If you measure yourself by where you are in life,
There is always someone farther down the path than you.
If you measure yourself by appearance,
There is always someone that appears than you.
If you measure yourself by God,
Then we are all the same.
We are all wonderfully and beautifully made.
God is love.
And love has no end.
So in God's heart,
You will always measure up!
poem by Ryan Lee Morris
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She Is There
i see some bamboo poles
lining up
on the shallow sea
she is there
watching some fishes without fins
without scales
she is there on some exclamations
this cannot be!
this cannot be!
the fish i know have fins!
the fish i know have scales all over their elongated bodies!
the fish i know can swim!
why are these fishes dying?
why are these fishes swimless in the sea where they belong?
yes my dear, the fishes and the sea, you do not belong there
the fishes are not yours and you do not belong to them
they have their own salty, slimy, scaly world,
they have gills and fins and round eyes
that do not blink
so you cannot tell them what to do, what to become.
in fact, you are neither fish nor fowl
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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A Romance
He looks at me with a madman's eyes -
It's your house and porch I know so well.
He gives me a kiss with his crimson lips -
Our ancestors had gone to war in scales of steel.
He brought me a bouquet of crimson carnations -
It's your austere face I know so well.
He asked in return for a single kiss -
Our ancestors had gone to war in scales of steel.
He touched me with his finger bearing a dark ring -
It is your dark ring I know so well.
Together we tumbled down on a Turkish divan -
Our ancestors had gone to war in scales of steel.
He looks at me with a madman's eyes -
Dwindle away, o you stars, and fade, o you moon!
He gives me a kiss with his crimson lips -
Our ancestors had gone to war in scales of steel.
poem by Daniil Ivanovich Kharms
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