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| My mother lived in Kelseyville, CA for many years, at the base of Mt. Konocti (elev 4,305 ft) |
'A Mountain Rose'
Her brood hailed from the highlands,
Tantamount to the sky's islands.
Now so very distant from those ancient shadows,
Still in the blood, she remains a wiley and radiant mountain rose.
For me, this woman was my teacher more than any other,
So proud that she was my mother.
The Temple of the Sun was a temple in the Campus Agrippae in Rome. It was dedicated to Sol Invictus on December 25, 274,[1] by the emperor Aurelian[2] and funded by spoils from his campaign against Palmyra. It was the fourth temple dedicated to the god in Rome – the other three were in the Circus Maximus, on the Quirinal Hill and in Trastevere.[3] If still in use by the 4th-century, it would have been closed during the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire.
It is believed that the temple was already in ruins by the sixth century, as eight of its porphyry columns were apparently sent to Constantinople at some point to be used in either the construction or the rebuilding of Hagia Sophia during the emperor Justinian's reign.
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This temple was dedicated when the noonday sun was first observed to begin its return northward. The date of this dedication was later used by Christians as the date for Christmas.
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'The Bend in the Road'
We come to life's crossroads
And we view what we think is the end.
But God has a much wider vision
And He knows it's only a bend-
The road will go on and get smoother
And after we've stopped for a rest,
The path that lies hidden beyond us
Is often the path that is best
So rest and relax and grow stronger,
Let go and let God share your load
And have faith in a brighter tomorrow-
You've just come to a bend in the road
-- Helen Steiner Rice
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A stranger shared this with me a few days ago, who knew nothing of my current predicament.
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My late mother, now gone six months already, owned a book entitled 'A Treasury of the World's Best Loved Poems'. Now as I engage in the final steps of clearing out her house, a week ago, I came upon this book. With a soft leather cover, it was published in 1961 by Avenel Books. She probably had this book for a large portion of her life. As I opened it, almost magically it stopped at one page. As I looked down upon this page, I read the name of a particular poem: 'Invictus', by William Ernest Henley. Was it a message for me during this, a very trying time for me?
'Invictus'
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall finde me, unafraid,
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
-- William Ernest Henley
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