Gems 5.8

I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
Here’s another light-filled ¤ Gem ¤

5.8

Photo by Pexels, Pixabay

Astrophil and Stella 39:
By Sir Philip Sidney

Come Sleep! O Sleep, the certain knot of peace,
The baiting-place of wit, the balm of woe,
The poor man’s wealth, the prisoner’s release,
Th’ indifferent judge between the high and low.
With shield of proof shield me from out the prease
Of those fierce darts despair at me doth throw:
O make in me those civil wars to cease;
I will good tribute pay, if thou do so.
Take thou of me smooth pillows, sweetest bed,
A chamber deaf to noise and blind to light,
A rosy garland and a weary head:
And if these things, as being thine by right,
Move not thy heavy grace, thou shalt in me,
Livelier than elsewhere, Stella’s image see.

Courtesty of PoetryFoundation.org

 

A summary of a classic Sidney sonnet

Astrophil and Stella is one of Elizabethan poetry’s finest and brightest gems. In 108 sonnets and a handful of songs, Sir Philip Sidney produced the first sustained sonnet sequence in English (though not, contrary to popular belief, the very first). Sonnet 39, beginning ‘Come sleep, O sleep, the certain knot of peace’, is one of the most widely anthologised poems in the sequence – and this analysis is going to attempt to explain why it remains so popular.

Source:  A Short Analysis of Sir Philip Sidney’s “Astrophil and Stella 39”

Gems 5.6

I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
Here’s another light-filled ¤ Gem ¤

5.4 (1)

Photo by Free-Photos, Pixabay

 

BRAVE
You can be amazing.
You can turn a phrase into a weapon or a drug.
You can be the outcast,
Or be the backlash of somebody’s lack of love,
Or you can start speaking up.
Nothing’s gonna hurt you the way that words do
And they settle ‘neath your skin.
Kept on the inside and no sunlight,
Sometimes a shadow wins.
But I wonder what would happen if you
Say what you wanna say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave
With what you want to say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave
I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I wanna see you be brave
I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I wanna see you be brave
Everybody’s been there, everybody’s been stared down
By the enemy,
Fallen for the fear and done some disappearing.
Bow down to the mighty.
Don’t run, stop holding your tongue.
Maybe there’s a way out of the cage where you live.
Maybe one of these days you can let the light in.
Show me how big your brave is.
Say what you wanna say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave
With what you want to say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave
Innocence, your history of silence
Won’t do you any good.
Did you think it would?
Let your words be anything but empty.
Why don’t you tell them the truth?
Say what you wanna say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave
With what you want to say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave
I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I wanna see you be brave
I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
See you be brave
I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
Songwriters: Jack Antonoff / Sara Bareilles
Brave lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

Gems 5.4

I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
Here’s another light-filled ¤ Gem ¤

5.4

Photo by Engin Akyurt, Pixabay

If you know any homeless artists who would like their poems, photos or art featured on under1000skies, on our social media accounts and through our email list, please pass on our information. Thank you!

We’re also always gratefully accepting photos, art, poems or quotes or any Gems anyone might want to share. Special thanks today and always to everyone who has shared these so generously over the years since we began.

Have a great weekend.

under1000skies
☼ A “Giftivism” Initiative ☼
We are photographers,
writers, artists & advocates
serving and connecting
homeless creatives.

Gems 4.184

I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
Here’s another light-filled ¤ Gem ¤

4.184

Photo by “Shooting Star” by Free-Photos, Pixabay.

Did you know that there’s a place on the internet where you can submit any wish your heart desires; and then, that your wish will flutter down as confetti with millions of other wishes in Times Square at midnight on New Year’s Eve?

It’s called the New Year’s Eve Wishing Wall. I found it today.   It’s too late to submit a wish to be part of this year’s celebration, alas.  However, any wish submitted after the 28th of December will become part of the celebration next year.

This is what I wrote: https://imgur.com/xuKn36X

If you can have more than one wish, wouldn’t it be lovely if you could write anonymous wishes? I can just see your wish floating down and becoming an inadvertent adornment in someone’s hair. Imagine a beloved reaching for that piece of paper and reading it out loud, perhaps something like,

“I wish that you, the person who found this piece of paper, will have a beautiful New Year filled with love and peace!”  Or,

“I wish that you would take a chance in this brand new year and do what you fear to do but also secretly long to do!  Do it!  It will be amazing!”  Or maybe,

“Go on.  Say “I love you!”  This is the perfect time and place to do it, and they need to hear it, tonight!”   

What wish would you write, if you could have only one? Close your eyes and ask your heart, right now, “What do you desire?”   What is the first thing that comes to your mind?   Then, what if you could have a wish for every day, and what if those wishes could be turned into messages to someone you’ve never met next New Year’s Eve? What are one or two things you might write then?  Please share it below!

My wish for you today is this:

When you close your eyes and see your heart’s desire, that your wish will come true.

♥. Niki Flow

under1000skies
☼ A “Giftivism” Initiative ☼
We are photographers,
writers, artists & advocates
serving and connecting
homeless creatives.

 

Gems 4.183

I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
Here’s another light-filled ¤ Gem ¤

4.183

Photo by 59Hertz, Pixabay

Special thanks to BlissForgive on Kindspring.org for sharing this quote in a story a few days ago.  “The So-Called Black Sheep.”

If you know any homeless artists who would like their poems, photos or art featured on under1000skies, on our social media accounts and through our email list, please pass on our information. Thank you!

We’re also always gratefully accepting photos, art, poems or quotes or any Gems anyone might want to share. Special thanks today and always to everyone who has shared these so generously over the years since we began.

Have a great weekend.

under1000skies
☼ A “Giftivism” Initiative ☼
We are photographers,
writers, artists & advocates
serving and connecting
homeless creatives.