Thursday, May 1, 2008

Thoughtful Thursday

Once upon a time, the Baroness had a life that she considered to be extremely stressful. Her viscera roiled from dawn to dusk.

To cope, she bought book after book (she has always been a reader, after all). Some were self-help books, but most were of the Day Book variety. Where each day of the year had its own soothing thought. Some were meditative. Some were inspirational. Some were platitudinal, and on some days, that was ok too.

The attraction to these kinds of books were that they were manageable. One could fit one in during a few spare moments of a lunch hour, or at home when the potatoes were on the boil.

Today's Thoughtful Thursday comes courtesy of a Day Book which I keep returning to over and over again. The Day Book is the lovely Sarah Ban Breathnach's Simple Abundance, and the poem she refers to today is from Thomas Gray (1716-1771) - "Elegy Written in a Country Church-Yard".

I won't divulge the whole piece (it's quite lovely, but also quite long) - feel free to go here to read it in its entirety. One of the stanzas that stuck out for me on this day is this:

Full many a gem of purest ray serene
The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear:
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.

You, dear readers, are such a diverse and talented lot.

Please, please, continue to use your voice to become that fragrant bloom found in the desert and that luminescent gem discovered under the sea.




5 comments:

Not Afraid to Use It said...

Very nice way to express your sentiments today. That why I love ya!

Blog Antagonist said...

What gorgeous words. I think the same of the people who populate the blogosphere. Some truly amazing people to be found out there, yourself among them.

Mental P Mama said...

Love that poem, and I love this post! Thanks for that...

Anonymous said...

Countess NATUI: Thanks to the new anti-anxiety meds I'm on, this was a very calm (and prudent) way to express my feelings on this day. Love ya back - you're such a big sweetie pie.

Countess BA: Aww, shucks - thanks for that! And SO back atcha!! And that Mr. T. Gray? SO had it going on. The uber- blogger of his time.

Countess MPM: You, my dear, are very welcome. I'm always more than delighted to help out a dead poet.

Lori said...

Happy Thursday Baroness -
I just popped by to let you know I tagged you. And I think you'll like the explaination of why you were chosen. At the very least, it'll give you a chuckle.
Hugs!
Lori

 
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