Steve’s Blog

May you recognize in your life the presence,
power, and light of your soul.

May you realize that you are never alone,
that your soul in its brightness and belonging
connects you intimately with the rhythm of the universe.

May you have respect for your individuality and difference.

May you realize that the shape of your soul is unique,
that you have a special destiny here,
that behind the facade of your life
there is something beautiful and eternal happening.

May you learn to see your self
with the same delight,
pride, and expectation
with which God sees you in every moment.
- John O’Donohue

Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed–
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There’s never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this “homeland of the free.”)

 - from Let America Be America Again by Langston Hughes 

(the entire poem is worth a read and you can find it here)

Praise by R.S. Thomas

I praise you because 


you are artist and scientist 


in one. When I am somewhat

fearful of your power, 


your ability to work miracles 


with a set-square, I hear 


you murmuring to yourself 


in a notation Beethoven 


dreamed of but never achieved. 


You run off your scales of 


rain water and sea water, play 


the chords of the morning 


and evening light, sculpture 


with shadow, join together leaf 


by leaf, when spring 


comes, the stanzas of 


an immense poem. You speak 


all languages and none,

answering our most complex 


prayers with the simplicity 


of a flower, confronting 


us, when we would domesticate you 


to our uses, with the rioting 


viruses under our lens.