"Sometimes With the Heart"

Sometimes with the Heart
by Emily Dickinson


Sometimes with the Heart
Seldom with the Soul
Scarcer once with the Might
Few -- love at all.

Old Red Barn Of Days Past

The Old Red Barn

by Ewina Reizer

The old red barn that's been vacant for years

is a reminder of days long past.

In its day it was filled with so much  life.

But like all things it didn't last.

Now as I ride by it I wonder why it stands?

Why was it not taken down?

If it was capable of having a face,

surely it would be wearing a frown.

Gone are the sounds and the smells it had.

Gone are the people too.

The hands that worked there everyday.

These are the memories it knew.

"Why am I standing all faded and worn?

Why don't they do away with me?

I'm tired.  I'm tilted. I can't stand straight.

Is that what they like to see?

Maybe I'm a reminder as people ride by

of how things use to be.

Maybe I still have a purpose to fill?

Nostalgia, when they look at me.

Ranch in Huron-Manistee Forest

Hotz Brucke -- Frankenmuth Covered Bridge

Looking Glass River

Looking Glass River

By Robert Louis Stevenson

Smooth it glides upon its travel, 
Here a wimple, there a gleam-- 
O the clean gravel! 
O the smooth stream! 

Sailing blossoms, silver fishes, 
Pave pools as clear as air-- 
How a child wishes 
To live down there! 

We can see our colored faces 
Floating on the shaken pool 
Down in cool places, 
Dim and very cool; 

Till a wind or water wrinkle, 
Dipping marten, plumping trout, 
Spreads in a twinkle 
And blots all out. 

See the rings pursue each other; 
All below grows black as night, 
Just as if mother 
Had blown out the light! 

Patience, children, just a minute-- 
See the spreading circles die; 
The stream and all in it 
Will clear by-and-by.

My River Runs to Thee

My River Runs to Thee

by Emily Dickinson

My River runs to thee--

Blue Seal!  Wilt welcome me?

My River wait reply--

Oh Sea--look graciously--

I'll fetch thee Brooks--

From spotted nooks--

Say--Sea--Take Me!

Lake Huron - "I Will Wade Out"

I Will Wade Out

By E,E, Cummings


i will wade out
                    till my thighs are steeped in burning flowers
I will take the sun in my mouth
and leap into the ripe air
                                  Alive
                                          with closed eyes
to dash against darkness
                                in the sleeping curves of my body
Shall enter fingers of smooth mastery
with chasteness of sea-girls
                                       Will i complete the mystery
                                        of my flesh
I will rise
              After a thousand years
lipping
flowers
           And set my teeth in the silver of the moon

Feeling without Thinking - Mack Lake

 



"A poet is somebody who feels, and who expresses his feeling through words.  This may sound easy.  It isn't.  A lot of people think or believe or know they feel-but that's thinking or believing or knowing; not feeling.  And poetry is feeling-not knowing or believing or thinking."
-E.E. Cummings

Frankenmuth Lager Mill

"The Lighthouse" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The Lighthouse

By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow


  The rocky ledge runs far into the sea,
  And on its outer point, some miles away,
The Lighthouse lifts its massive masonry,
  A pillar of fire by night, of cloud by day.

Even at this distance I can see the tides,
  Upheaving, break unheard along its base,
A speechless wrath, that rises and subsides
  In the white lip and tremor of the face.

And as the evening darkens, lo! how bright,
  Through the deep purple of the twilight air,
Beams forth the sudden radiance of its light
  With strange, unearthly splendor in the glare!

Not one alone; from each projecting cape
  And perilous reef along the ocean's verge,
Starts into life a dim, gigantic shape,
  Holding its lantern o'er the restless surge.

Like the great giant Christopher it stands
  Upon the brink of the tempestuous wave,
Wading far out among the rocks and sands,
  The night-o'ertaken mariner to save.

And the great ships sail outward and return,
  Bending and bowing o'er the billowy swells,
And ever joyful, as they see it burn,
  They wave their silent welcomes and farewells.

They come forth from the darkness, and their sails
  Gleam for a moment only in the blaze,
And eager faces, as the light unveils,
  Gaze at the tower, and vanish while they gaze.

The mariner remembers when a child,
  On his first voyage, he saw it fade and sink;
And when, returning from adventures wild,
  He saw it rise again o'er ocean's brink.

Steadfast, serene, immovable, the same
  Year after year, through all the silent night
Burns on forevermore that quenchless flame,
  Shines on that inextinguishable light!

It sees the ocean to its bosom clasp
  The rocks and sea-sand with the kiss of peace;
It sees the wild winds lift it in their grasp,
  And hold it up, and shake it like a fleece.

The startled waves leap over it; the storm
  Smites it with all the scourges of the rain,
And steadily against its solid form
  Press the great shoulders of the hurricane.

The sea-bird wheeling round it, with the din
  Of wings and winds and solitary cries,
Blinded and maddened by the light within,
  Dashes himself against the glare, and dies.

A new Prometheus, chained upon the rock,
  Still grasping in his hand the fire of Jove,
It does not hear the cry, nor heed the shock,
  But hails the mariner with words of love.

"Sail on!" it says, "sail on, ye stately ships!
  And with your floating bridge the ocean span;
Be mine to guard this light from all eclipse,
  Be yours to bring man nearer unto man!"

"Do Not Stand at my Grave and Weep"

This is one of my favorite poems.  The words creates a wonderful imagery that ones life force does not die but becomes part of the natural world:  a thousand winds, sunlight, autumn rain and soft star light.


"Do Not Stand at my Grave and Weep"


Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there. I did not die.
                        
                                               

By Mary Elizabeth Frye 1932

The Snow Storm

The Snow-Storm

By Ralph Waldo Emerson           

Announced by all the trumpets of the sky,

Arrives the snow, and, driving o'er the fields,

Seems nowhere to alight: the whited air

Hides hills and woods, the river, and the heaven,

And veils the farm-house at the garden's end.

The sled and traveller stopped, the courier's feet

Delayed, all friends shut out, the housemates sit

Around the radiant fireplace, enclosed

In a tumultuous privacy of storm.

Come see the north wind's masonry.

Out of an unseen quarry evermore

Furnished with tile, the fierce artificer

Curves his white bastions with projected roof

Round every windward stake, or tree, or door.

Speeding, the myriad-handed, his wild work

So fanciful, so savage, nought cares he

For number or proportion. Mockingly,

On coop or kennel he hangs Parian wreaths;

A swan-like form invests the hidden thorn;

Fills up the farmer's lane from wall to wall,

Maugre the farmer's sighs; and, at the gate,

A tapering turret overtops the work.

And when his hours are numbered, and the world

Is all his own, retiring, as he were not,

Leaves, when the sun appears, astonished Art

To mimic in slow structures, stone by stone,

Built in an age, the mad wind's night-work,

The frolic architecture of the snow.

Milo Michigan Gallery



These are images from Milo, Michigan and of the Ausable River during the month of June.

Charity Island Lighthouse Dinner Cruise

When we visited Michigan in June, we took a sunset dinner cruise to Charity Island.  The boat was docked at Port Huron.  It was an hour boat trip to Charity Island and we toured the lighthouse and learn the history of the lighthouse and the islands.  The dinner was delicious and the sunset was gorgeous.

Port Austin Harbor and Coastal Wetlands

Harbor Beach Lighthouse

Pointe Aux Barque Lighthouse