January 4, 2023

 

DOORS

 

Maybe it’s a good idea to pause

for just a split second when we

come to a door. It's probably not

heaven's door - but who knows -

who really knows who and what

is on the other side of any door?

Stop - pause - wonder - before ringing

the bell or knocking on that door.

Maybe a  prayer would be good –

or a hope – or maybe a question –

or a “You never know” – wondering

whether this person we’re about to meet

could use recognition – could feel we’re really

here for them and not us. Them! Them! Them!

And sometimes - sorry - sorry - sorry - we

can knock and knock and knock and

nobody is on the other side of that door.

Reflections © Andy Costello 

 January 4, 2023

Quote for Today

"It is a sobering thought that when Mozart was my age, he had been dead for two years."

Tom Lehrer [1928 -  ]

That Was the Year That Was [1963]

Mozart died at 35

 January 3, 2023

NOT ALWAYS EXACT

 

It would be nice, but things are not always

exact – like a knife, a fork, or a spoon –

like numbers 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 ,9  or

a hammer, a screwdriver or an axe.

Sometimes we have to deal with a comment

another makes about our motives.

Sometimes someone thinks they know

what we did and why we did it – but they

might as well have been in Madagascar

and we were in Minnesota in an Uber

on a side street and it was snowing.

No clue. They have no clue even though

sometimes we are a sledge hammer and

sometimes we are steel shovel – but

not today. Not today. Today we are  mystery.

  

Reflections © Andy Costello 

 January 3, 2023

Quote for the Day

"Omit needless words.

"Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.  This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tells."

William Strunk, Jr. [1869-1946]

The Elements of Style [1918],

ch. 2, sec. 13

January 2,  2023

STOPPING

 

Sometimes it’s the STOP sign that causes

me to STOP – but I’ve found out it’s mainly

the night – when it’s time to pause – chew

on the afterwards – with another – or when

all alone – when I need sleep – when  I stop

to sort out the day – not all of it – but maybe

to see one light – maybe even an insight - but

especially the shadows – and oh, I didn’t mention

the traffic, mostly the traffic, there are others

on the road, sometimes there is an accident -

and sometimes it’s the weather – but mainly

it’s the night – the stuff waiting there in the dark.

 

Reflections © Andy Costello 

 January 2,  2023

Quote for Today

"They were upon their great theme: 'When I get to be a man!'  Being human, though boys, they considered their present states too commonplace to be dwelt upon. So, when the old men gather. they say, 'When I was a boy!' It really is the land of nowadays that we never discover."

Booth Tarkington [1869-1946]

Penrod [1914] chapter 26

 January 1, 2023

THE  NEW

New, as in a blank piece of paper,

a pen, an idea. a hope, looking out

the window, getting up out of a chair,

opening a door, walking into the light,

doing a new direction, a new way

of seeing, listening, pausing, laughing,

smiling, "Why not? Why not? Why not?"

January 1st is a day - 24 hours - filled

with the new, like this new year.

"Let's try to find the new in it,

and more?" "Why not? Why not? Why not?"

  Reflection © Andy Costello