# Inspirational Poems



## Neptunus

I decided to post this thread in the Spirituality forum because some poems speak spiritual/life "truths," and solace can be taken from them...

Here's one of my favorites:

Desiderata
by Max Ehrmann

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence. 
As far as possible, without surrender, 
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly, and listen to others,
even to the dull and ignorant;
they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be
greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career
however humble;
it is a real possession in the 
changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you
to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit
to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore, be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.
With all its sham,
drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.

by Max Ehrmann
©1927 (renewed) Bell & Son Publishing, LLC 
Reprinted with permission.











Post your "wise" poems...


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## Pangur Ban




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## Neptunus

And, of course, the immortal words of Frost:

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost










A cairn on Mt. Washington, NH.

On high mountain trails, cairns, pyramid piles of rocks, are used to mark the way and point to where the trail leads. They are particularly valuable when the trail covers bare rock, where no path is visible.


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## Neptunus

Thanks for posting "Footprints," Lonelysheep, it is a lovely poem. However, I feel the need to post its satirical counterpart, which actually speaks a spiritual truth too!

And, yes, it also has a Pagan twist -- I am aware that there's a Christian version too!

Butt Prints in the Sand 

One night I had a wondrous dream, 
One set of footprints there was seen,
The footprints of the Goddess they were,
But mine were not along the shore.

But then some stranger prints appeared, 
and I asked Her, "What have we here?
These prints are large and round and neat,
But much too big to be from feet."

"My child," She said in somber tones, 
"For miles I carried you alone.
I challenged you to walk in faith,
But you refused and made me wait."

"You would not learn, you would not grow, 
The walk of faith, you would not know,
So I got tired, I got fed up,
And there I dropped you on your butt.

"Because in life, there comes a time 
When one must fight, and one must climb,
When one must rise and take a stand,
Or leave their butt prints in the sand."

Author Unknown











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## Pangur Ban

^LOL! Nice!


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## SilentWitness

Dreams 

While on my lonely couch I lie,
I seldom feel myself alone,
For fancy fills my dreaming eye
With scenes and pleasures of its own. 
Then I may cherish at my breast
An infant's form beloved and fair,
May smile and soothe it into rest
With all a Mother's fondest care.

How sweet to feel its helpless form
Depending thus on me alone!
And while I hold it safe and warm
What bliss to think it is my own!

And glances then may meet my eyes
That daylight never showed to me;
What raptures in my bosom rise,
Those earnest looks of love to see,

To feel my hand so kindly prest,
To know myself beloved at last,
To think my heart has found a rest,
My life of solitude is past!

But then to wake and find it flown,
The dream of happiness destroyed,
To find myself unloved, alone,
What tongue can speak the dreary void?

A heart whence warm affections flow,
Creator, thou hast given to me,
And am I only thus to know
How sweet the joys of love would be?

by Anne Bronte


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## Neptunus

Lovely poem, D11! I really like the last stanza. Thanks for sharing! 

Another poem, popularized by the movie "Invictus."

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 find 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.

by William Ernest Henley


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