FLIGHT PLAN |
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Photograph by Bob Gentry 8/5/99
A Thought for Today
Without a list of what life owes you, what comes is greeted
with appreciation and with thanks.
The regular daily Flight Plan will be
suspended for a few weeks while I'm away helping Webmaster Ken Blackie work out the design
and content of our upcoming STANYAN HOUSE web site. I hope you'll continue landing here
ever day though because Jay Hagan and Melinda Smith have chosen two poems from a different
one of my books for every day that I'm gone.
So, something new will be here every morning. The Thought for Today and the Notable
Birthdays will continue. See you soon.
Love, Rod
Good Morning Rod &
Ken,
Day 30... the last day of the month. Melinda and I want to thank you for allowing us the
privilege of working with you on this project this month. We have enjoyed the chance to
familiarize ourselves more fully with your life's work and the chance to share it with
everyone at A Safe Place to Land. Doing the Flight Plan's this month was the dream of a
lifetime. Jay
Dear Jay & Melinda,
Ken and I can't thank you enough for putting
together the Flight Plan for a month, while we were off working on The Stanyan House site.
But you can bet I will find a way. Thanks again & love, Rod
Poems from "We Touch the Sky" and
"With Love."
Continuation - from "We Touch the
Sky."
With one more hour
another day perhaps
a time of concentration
we could rise up
surpass, surprise ourselves
and all of our ambitions
maybe even trust
an unclenched fist
through an empty cloud
or pass a golden galaxy
and with some patience
and no little practice
even touch the lower sky.
- Chosen by J.H.
The Prize - from "With Love"
After each new meeting with you
I carry home
so much love
that I must have set
a brand new mark in selfishness.
I've won all the races,
all the prizes never offered.
If I tell you this
and make it work for me
I might be beautiful enough
to even have your love.
- Chosen by J.H.
Phase Three - from "We Touch the
Sky"
I think I'm managing
the turn quite well
I'm almost sure of it
I even find myself
greedy for the coming day.
I'm stronger now
because of time and
thunder.
Without the push
of thunder
and the grace of time
I would still be looking,
but always with a sense of hope
and wonder.
I can handle hope
as well as heartache
life as well as living-
(how unalike they are
as different in their way
as death and dying).
I can keep a smile on
long past its due
and think beyond
the time of thinking
once the process has been
set in motion.
The elements
did that for me.
The sea, the earth, the sky
(created by God in that order)
are not unlike a well-served meal
and
in that order.
At first the fish our soup,
followed by red meat
that only lately stalked the ground.
To finish off the dinner
in a proper way, fowl,
the partridge or the quail
knocked lifeless from the sky.
A lesson in all things.
Morning, afternoon and night,
youth, the middle years and age.
Even the blessed trinity
was manufactured in a three.
God worked in order,
leaving us to sort out
some order for ourselves.
I have the sea around me,
however wild it's there
and
it's dependable.
When I come closer to the earth
I am able out of true reality
to assess my proper worth,
without extremities or exaggerations.
Though it takes
the hardest effort
to reach the heavens,
when finally
we touch the sky
contentment like a cloud
will suddenly surround us.
Trust me.
- Chosen by
M.S.
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