….man’s highest good is attained, if he has fulfilled the good for which nature designed him at birth. And what is it which this reason demands of him? The easiest thing in the world, to live in accordance with his own nature. But this is turned into a hard task by the general madness of mankind; we push one another into vice. And how can a man be recalled to salvation, when he has none to restrain him, and all mankind to urge him on……From Seneca’s “Moral Epistles,” translated by Richard M. Gummere

did we ever really think that hiding from life could really fool the heart? could allow us to settle into complacency without the seedy little feeling of soul betrayal? soul hunger is nourished with beauty and open sky……

Love the earth and sun and animals,
Despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks,
Stand up for the stupid and crazy,
Devote your income and labor to others…
Re-examine all you have been told
at school or church or in any book;
Dismiss whatever insults your own soul;
And your very flesh shall be a great poem.
……..Walt Whitman

toward tomorrow

I am swimming
In the silent ocean of here

Gliding on her reflective surface
My pale legs dangling in her wise, fathomless depths

I could drink this whole sea dry
Drunken with longing fulfilled
I could sing a deafening song
To wake the dreamy sirens from their deep blue slumber

Overflowing with devotion,
I acquiesce…
Into her watery arms

Deep and wide I dive
Into the darkness below

I have no fear of drowning

……Heather Rhodes