Henry Wadsworth Longfellow – 1807-1882

It is the Harvest Moon! On gilded vanes
  And roofs of villages, on woodland crests
  And their aerial neighborhoods of nests
  Deserted, on the curtained window-panes
Of rooms where children sleep, on country lanes
  And harvest-fields, its mystic splendor rests!
  Gone are the birds that were our summer guests,
  With the last sheaves return the laboring wains!
All things are symbols: the external shows
  Of Nature have their image in the mind,
  As flowers and fruits and falling of the leaves;
The song-birds leave us at the summer's close,
  Only the empty nests are left behind,
  And pipings of the quail among the sheaves.

Thanksgiving Blessing

May you always hold kindness in your soul, compassion in your heart, gentleness in your actions, truth in your words and wisdom in your thoughts, so that you may be effective and as a shining light wherever you tread.  May the effect of your touch be comforting and a healing to those who have a need.  May you hold goodness of all life in your being, then your journey through life will be worthwhile.

No matter where you are in the world

I give thanks for you

Because if it weren’t for you

I would not be here now

And there is no place I would rather be

Because my heart fills to overflow

For that which we are creating

Together as a family

Love’s surprising power

And the courage of the human heart

Creating magic and the miraculous

It is already so

God is Victory.