Stranger On The Shore

Stranger On The Shore

Vladimir Volegov

Here I stand, watching the tide go out
So all alone and blue
Just dreaming dreams of you

I watched your ship as it sailed out to sea
Taking all my dreams
And taking all of me

The sighing of the waves
The wailing of the wind
The tears in my eyes burn
Pleading, "My love, return"

Why, oh, why must I go on like this?
Shall I just be a lonely stranger on the shore?

The sighing of the waves
The wailing of the wind
The tears in my eyes burn
Pleading, "My love, return"

Why, oh, why must I go on like this?
Shall I just be a lonely stranger on the shore?

-Acker Bilk

Ode To Spring

"I will give you rain in due season,
 and the land shall yield her increase
 and the trees of the field yield their fruit." 
 Leviticus 26:4 

Flowering Peach Trees

 In time of silver rain
The earth puts forth 
new life again,
Green grasses grow
And flowers lift their heads,
And over all the plain
The wonder spreads

  Of Life,
  Of Life,
  Of Life!

In time of silver rain
The butterflies lift silken wings
To catch a rainbow cry,
And trees put forth 
new leaves to sing
In joy beneath the sky
As down the roadway
Passing boys and girls
Go singing, too,

  In time of silver rain
 When spring
  And life
  Are new.

Langston Hughes

Two Trees

proclaim in spring

a word to the world

one exploding

into blossom

trumpets glory

one stretching

dead limbs

holds the empty

body of God

both speak

with due reserve

into the listening

ear of the world.

Ralph Wright

Butterfly
Waken sleeping butterfly,

Burst your chrysalis prison

Spread your beauteous wings and fly

Christ, the Lord is risen.

Joyce Kilmer

April showers

sudden deluge brings

sweet perfume

to the rain-kissed air

and a natural

softness

to my clothes

hanging out

on the line.

 Pamela Denise Brida

"In the Spring
 a young man's fancy
 lightly turns
 to thoughts of love."

 Alfred, Lord Tennyson

I love this beautiful song, 
written by Meredith Wilson
 for his 1957 musical  play, 
"The Music Man".

 
"Till There Was You"

There were bells on the hill
But I never heard them ringing,
No, I never heard them at all
Till there was you.

There were birds in the sky
But I never saw them winging
No, I never saw them at all
Till there was you.

And there was music,
And there were
 wonderful roses,
They tell me,
In sweet fragrant meadows
 of dawn, and dew.

There was love all around
But I never heard it singing
No, I never heard it at all
Till there was you!

 

"My beloved speaks
 and says to me, 
Rise up,
my love, my fair one,
 and come away.
For behold,
the winter is past;
the rain is over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth;
the time of the singing 
of birds has come,
and the voice of the turtledove
is heard in our land."
Song of Solomon 
2:10-12

Hidden like a treasure

beneath the
 rickety old chair

I anticipate

the crimson spray

of red tulips

springing 

from their mantle

of green there.

It is such a sight

to see the return

of such delight

in the springtime.

Pamela Denise Brida 

    

  April

A time for
 sunny yellow daffodils

and fanciful Easter eggs
to make into egg salad.
Soft white mounds

 of swirling custard 

in a crunchy waffle cone,

 the scent of lilacs
ready to bloom 
carried in 

warm southern breezes

gentle against my face

bring a hint

of summer's ease.

Pamela Denise Brida

Daffodils

The Heralds Of Spring

 "April Showers Bring Forth May Flowers"

-An Old English Proverb

A Grove Of Lovely Lilacs Happy Spring Everyone!

The Legend of the Cardinal

“God saw all that He had made,
 and it was very good.”
 Genesis 1:31

"According to an old legend,

the brilliant red feathers

of the beautiful

Cardinal

were once

an unremarkable dull

brown color.

When the little bird

came upon the scene

of the crucified Jesus

his tiny heart

became heavy with

deep sorrow

and compassion.

He alighted upon 

a nearby tree branch

and began to sing,

lamenting...

his tiny heart

beat with sorrow...

at the broken body

of the dead Lord..

A single drop

of the Savior's precious

blood

fell upon the

weeping bird...

His dull brown feathers

transformed 

to a beautiful

bright scarlet red,

a perfect match

for the tiny crown

of glory

rising from his head. "

-Author Unknown

The blood of Christ, Thy spotless Lamb,
O God, is all my plea;
Naught else could for my sin atone;
I have no merit of my own,
Which I can bring to Thee.

No sacrifice save His Who bore,
My load upon the tree,
No other plea which lips could frame,
No other blood, no other name,
Accepted is by Thee.

Since Christ has entered by His blood,
The holiest on high;
By that same hallowed blood stained track,
Thou welcomest the wanderer back,
And biddest me draw nigh.

Oh, wondrous cross! Oh precious blood!
Oh death by which I live!
The sinless One, for me made sin,
Doth now His wondrous heart within,
Eternal refuge give.

By that blest cross, that cleansing blood,
I know His power to save;
The merits of His work confess,
I stand in Him completely blest,
A conqueror o’er the grave.

Words By 

W. S. W. Pond

1901.

Music By

Frederick C. Maker

1887

Unlike most songbirds in America,
 both the male and female
 cardinal can sing.
 However, the
male does most of the singing!

"If a cardinal flies into your life, expect a
change for the better in 12 days."
-Cardinal Folklore

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.

Each little flower that opens,
Each little bird that sings,
He made their glowing colors,
He made their tiny wings.

He gave us eyes to see them,
And lips that we might tell
How great is God Almighty,
Who has made all things well.
 -Cecil F. Alexander

Broken & Wounded

"The "star of the sea"
 as it is sometimes called, 
had always held a fascination for me,
 I remember an old seaman's tale
 that said starfish were the remains
 of stars that fell from the sky. 
I peered into the pail.
 Broken and wounded,
 the creature did indeed
 bring to mind a fallen star."

 Excerpt from "A Broken Star" 
 By Sue Monk Kidd

Broken and wounded...

That's about right.

That's how I have been

feeling lately.

Broken and wounded...

betrayed,

by someone

who once promised to 

love me forever.

Broken and wounded...

my heart shattered,

by the sudden

and unexpected death 

of someone dear to me,

who considered me

 his friend...

Now we are separated

by the dark chasm

between life and death

and all I can feel

is broken 

and wounded inside

just like the little starfish...

  feeling lost...

in a decaying world

that seems to be

rushing faster and faster

headlong 

towards some cataclysmic 

end...

But...

was the world

ever in control of itself?

And...

am I really alone in

my suffering?

Is there not Someone

Who knows me

better than anyone else

including myself?

Someone Who

knows

what it feels like

to be broken

and wounded inside?

To feel forsaken...

and betrayed,

and lonely...

Someone Who

 is close

 to those with

hurting souls...

Who wept,

at the death of 

a beloved friend...

Someone Who,

 I am often reminded,

 loves me so very much

that He suffered the most 

excruciating brokenness

  and wounding of 

 His own

body and soul

on my behalf ...

 He suffered...

becoming a curse

on a tree

Shedding drops of

precious blood,

His precious love,

for me...

so that I may have life,

more abundantly ...

and share  

the glory of

Eternity

with Him

"Broken and Wounded"

By Pamela Denise Brida

What is the message of this post?

"When you are broken, wounded, 
scarred, and tired...
when you have lost just a little,
 or so much
 there is hardly anything left,
 take heart. 
 That is when God 
does His most beautiful work."

"A  Broken Star"
  -Sue Monk Kidd 

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. 
 You believe in and adhere to
 and trust in and rely on God,
 believe in and adhere to 
and trust in and rely
 also on Me."

John 14:1

Of Eggs & Equinoxes 2014

 Spring arrived

 this afternoon at 12:57 pm EST.

 

"The Little Egg That Stood"
Courtesy Daniel Kelly Productions

A ritual old,

amazing to behold...

pristine white,

against deep verdigris green,

this oval wonder

was mean't to be seen!

-Pamela Brida

The Vernal Equinox

Ah, spring!

 This season brings

 increasing daylight,

 warming temperatures,

 and the rebirth

 of flora and fauna.

The word equinox

 is derived from

 the Latin words meaning

 “equal night.”

 Days and nights 

are approximately

 equal everywhere

 and the Sun rises

 and sets due east and west.

At the equinoxes,

 the tilt of Earth

 relative to the Sun

 is zero,

 which means

 that Earth’s axis

 neither points toward

 nor away

 from the Sun.

 However,

 the tilt of Earth 

relative to its

 plane of orbit,

 called the ecliptic plane,

 is always about 23.5 degrees.

 Information Source:

 The Old Farmer's Almanac 

2014

The Beauty Of The Full Moon Night

The other night I walked outside 

and into the beauty 

of the full moon night.

 I felt as if I had walked

 into an Andrew Wyeth painting

 of the winter countryside...

  Snowy Landscape 

Andrew Wyeth

Walking in the brilliant moonlight...

My boots
making a single pair of tracks
across the frozen white landscape
the sharp interplay
of light and the stark
shadows
of the bare trees
silhouetted
across the
 illuminated ground.
I stand there
in silence
so deep
my ears are ringing.

- Pamela Denise Brida

"I prefer winter and fall

when you feel the bone structure

in the landscape- the lonliness of it-

the dead feeling of winter.

Something waits beneath it-

the whole story doesn't show."

-Andrew Wyeth 

Brandywine River Museum of Art
 Chadds Ford, PA