My Commonplace Book... African American People of Note: Maya Angelou

    Maya Angelou, was born Marguerite Ann Johnson April 4, 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri, and was an American poet, memoirist, actress, and an important figure in the American Civil Rights Movement. In 2001 she was named one of the 30 most powerful women in America by Ladies Home Journal. She is known mainly for her six autobiographies that start with the book: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings published in 1969. Ms. Angelou is also known for her poetry.

 

 

QUOTES 

FROM MAYA ANGELOU

 "You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it."

 

My Commonplace book... Poem: "Come Little Leaves" by George Cooper

 Well, Fall/Autumn has come to my part of the world. The mornings are colder and the days are generally cooler. I came upon this poem and, although there are generally no trees where I live at this time in my life, I remember the leaves from Tennessee and this poem makes me homesick. The poem is titled "Come Little Leaves". It is from the book "In the Nursery of My Bookhouse" - Volume 1. The book was edited by olive Beaupre Miller; published by The Bookhouse for Children 1920

My commonplace book... Poem: "Summer and Fall" by Nona Keen Duffy

Well the first day of fall happens tomorrow. Came upon this poem and wanted to remember it. Photo is from Millie Motts' Flickr and was written by Nona Keen Duffy.

"Summer and Fall" By Nona Keen Duffy. Arrangement by Millie Motts

Memorial... My Brother: John Michael Schlageter... Fifth birthday home!

 

YOU DON’T JUST LOSE SOMEONE ONCE

You lose them over and over,

sometimes in the same day.

When the loss, momentarily forgotten,

creeps up,

and attacks you from behind.

Fresh waves of grief as the realization hits home,

they are gone.

Again.

 

You don’t just lose someone once,

you lose them every time you open your eyes to a new dawn,

and as you awaken,

so does your memory,

so does the jolting bolt of lightning that rips into your heart,

they are gone.

Again.

 

Losing someone is a journey,

not a one-off.

There is no end to the loss,

there is only a learned skill on how to stay afloat,

when it washes over.

Be kind to those who are sailing this stormy sea,

they have a journey ahead of them,

and a daily shock to the system each time they realize,

they are gone,

Again.

 

You don’t just lose someone once,

you lose them every day,

for a lifetime.

 

Credit: Donna Ashworth

Memorial... My Brother: John Michael Schlageter..

 

My Commonplace Book... Poem: "Theme in Yellow" by Carl Sandburg

 It is starting to be fall. I grew up in Tennessee and I remember the many different colors of fall. Orange, red, yellows, browns, and even greens. I then saw this poem in the Good Old Days Sept/Oct. 2021 issue. It brought back so many things to mind. So, I clipped it from the issue to put into my commonplace books.

My Commonplace Book... Favorite songs from Sunday School

 I wanted to save some of my favorite songs from Sunday School and my childhood.

Deep and Wide
Trust and Obey
Give Me Oil In My Lamp
This Little Light of Mine
Only a Boy Named David

My Commonplace Book... Poem: "The Spacious Firmament on High" by Joseph Addison

I was reading a book by Grace Livingston Hill and came upon this poem. It was a beautiful poem that has been set to music as an Hymn. The poem was written by Joseph Addison.

The Spacious Firmament on high,
With all the blue Ethereal Sky,
And spangled Heav'ns, a Shining Frame,
Their great Original proclaim:
Th' unwearied Sun, from day to day,
Does his Creator's Pow'r display,
And publishes to every Land
The Work of an Almighty Hand.

Soon as the Evening Shades prevail,
The Moon takes up the wondrous Tale,
And nightly to the list'ning Earth
Repeats the Story of her Birth:
Whilst all the Stars that round her burn,
And all the Planets, in their turn,
Confirm the Tidings as they rowl,
And spread the Truth from Pole to Pole.

What though, in solemn Silence, all
Move round the dark terrestrial Ball?
What tho' nor real Voice nor Sound
Amid their radiant Orbs be found?
In Reason's Ear they all rejoice,
And utter forth a glorious Voice,
For ever singing, as they shine,
The Hand that made us is Divine.
    ~by Joseph Addison 

I also found it being sung.

My Commonplace Book... Poem: "God's Garden" by Annette Wynne

 Reading the July/August 2021 edition of Good Old Days and came upon a poem that I wanted to save. 

My Commonplace Book... The Home and the World by Rabindranath Tagore

 

"Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913 "because of his profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse, by which, with consummate skill, he has made his poetic thought, expressed in his own English words, a part of the literature of the West."

Tagore modernized Bengali art by spurning rigid classical forms and resisting linguistic strictures. His novels, stories, songs, dance-dramas, and essays spoke to topics political and personal. Gitanjali (Song Offerings), Gora (Fair-Faced), and Ghare-Baire (The Home and the World) are his best-known works, and his verse, short stories, and novels were acclaimed—or panned—for their lyricism, colloquialism, naturalism, and unnatural contemplation. His compositions were chosen by two nations as national anthems: India's Jana Gana Mana and Bangladesh's Amar Shonar Bangla." - Goodreads Author Page

"...the element of devotion in woman's love is not like a hackneyed passage quoted from a romantic poem to be piously written down in round hand in a schoolgirl's copy-book.

They are cowards who claim absolute devotion from their wives as their right; that is a humiliation for both." - Location 104 of 3086 Kindle edition 

My Commonplace Book... Poem: "When I say, "I am a Christian"

“When I say, I am a Christian,” written by Carol Wimmer, in 1988. It was first published by Hi-Call Gospel Magazine in 1992. It has been misattributed to Dr. Maya Angelou and/or Author Unknown. It has also been changed at different times.

My Commonplace Book... Memorial Day: For the Fallen by Laurence Binyon

 Do you remember to remember the fallen? Another Memorial Day come and gone and I don't think that we have learned our lessons. I believe that the "world" will use the Covid-19, Coronavirus to do away with our liberties. The liberties the fallen fought and died for!

One verse in the following poem is really all that I have to say:

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

For the Fallen by Laurence Binyon

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,

England mourns for her dead across the sea.

Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,

Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal 

Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres,

There is music in the midst of desolation

And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,

Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.

They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;

They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: 

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again; 

They sit no more at familiar tables of home;

They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;

They sleep beyond England's foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound, 

Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,

To the innermost heart of their own land they are known

As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust, 

Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;

As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness, 

To the end, to the end, they remain.

Source: The Poetry Foundation (2014)

 

 

Memorial... My Brother: John Michael Schlageter (First year in Heaven)

 It has been a year since you left. We miss you so much!

My Commonplace Book... I Hold Him Up

While attending the Law Enforcement Coordinators' Symposium in Albuquerque, NM, I read the following poem:

I Hold Him Up

By: Michelle Federowicz

My Commonplace Book... Poem: He Had No Servants

He Had No Servants

Jesus had no servants, yet they called Him Master.

He had no degree, yet they called Him Teacher.

He had no medicines, yet they called Him Healer.

He had no army, yet kings feared Him.

He won no military battles, yet He conquered the world.

He committed no crime, but they crucified Him.

He was buried in a tomb, yet *HE LIVES TODAY!

~Author Unknown~

"Follow Me."

Luke 9:23

*Emphasis mine