On the Pulse of Morning

Received this today from MUG....had to share it!

On the Pulse of Morning
by Maya Angelou

A Rock, A River, A Tree
Hosts to species long since departed,
Marked the mastodon.

The dinosaur, who left dry tokens
Of their sojourn here
On our planet floor,
Any broad alarm of their hastening doom
Is lost in the gloom of dust and ages.

But today, the Rock cries out to us, clearly, forcefully,
Come, you may stand upon my
Back and face your distant destiny,
But seek no haven in my shadow.

I will give you no more hiding place down here.

You, created only a little lower than
The angels, have crouched too long in
The bruising darkness,
Have lain too long
Face down in ignorance.

Your mouths spilling words
Armed for slaughter.

The Rock cries out today, you may stand on me,
But do not hide your face.

Across the wall of the world,
A River sings a beautiful song,
Come rest here by my side.

Each of you a bordered country,
Delicate and strangely made proud,
Yet thrusting perpetually under siege.

Your armed struggles for profit
Have left collars of waste upon
My shore, currents of debris upon my breast.

Yet, today I call you to my riverside,
If you will study war no more. Come,

Clad in peace and I will sing the songs
The Creator gave to me when I and the
Tree and the stone were one.

Before cynicism was a bloody sear across your
Brow and when you yet knew you still
Knew nothing.

The River sings and sings on.

There is a true yearning to respond to
The singing River and the wise Rock.

So say the Asian, the Hispanic, the Jew
The African and Native American, the Sioux,
The Catholic, the Muslim, the French, the Greek
The Irish, the Rabbi, the Priest, the Sheikh,
The Gay, the Straight, the Preacher,
The privileged, the homeless, the Teacher.
They hear. They all hear
The speaking of the Tree.

Today, the first and last of every Tree
Speaks to humankind. Come to me, here beside the River.

Plant yourself beside me, here beside the River.

Each of you, descendant of some passed
On traveller, has been paid for.

You, who gave me my first name, you
Pawnee, Apache and Seneca, you
Cherokee Nation, who rested with me, then
Forced on bloody feet, left me to the employment of
Other seekers—desperate for gain,
Starving for gold.

You, the Turk, the Swede, the German, the Scot …
You the Ashanti, the Yoruba, the Kru, bought
Sold, stolen, arriving on a nightmare
Praying for a dream.

Here, root yourselves beside me.

I am the Tree planted by the River,
Which will not be moved.

I, the Rock, I the River, I the Tree
I am yours—your Passages have been paid.

Lift up your faces, you have a piercing need
For this bright morning dawning for you.

History, despite its wrenching pain,
Cannot be unlived, and if faced
With courage, need not be lived again.

Lift up your eyes upon
The day breaking for you.

Give birth again
To the dream.

Women, children, men,
Take it into the palms of your hands.

Mold it into the shape of your most
Private need. Sculpt it into
The image of your most public self.
Lift up your hearts
Each new hour holds new chances
For new beginnings.

Do not be wedded forever
To fear, yoked eternally
To brutishness.

The horizon leans forward,
Offering you space to place new steps of change.
Here, on the pulse of this fine day
You may have the courage
To look up and out upon me, the
Rock, the River, the Tree, your country.

No less to Midas than the mendicant.

No less to you now than the mastodon then.

Here on the pulse of this new day
You may have the grace to look up and out
And into your sister's eyes, into
Your brother's face, your country
And say simply
Very simply
With hope
Good morning.

Oh, what a night!

I am exhausted & giddy with relief.

This morning, for the first time in eight years, I woke up feeling proud to be an American.
I am bursting with hope for change.
Change that will narrow the gap between the haves and the have-nots.
Change that will allow all of us to discard prejudices and move towards a more unified country.
Change that will allow us to proudly join the rest of the world in solving our global issues.

WHEW! WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! We did it!

As my kids would say, "OBAMA ROCKS"!

HI
Some more piks of the kids!!


Yes, I agree, I cant wait for this all to be over, (election)
can we look forward to the future now???


I heard a terrible joke;

what is the difference between palins mouth and her vagina?

not everything that comes out of her vagina is all bad.......

ok. That was a guy joke, but I heard it from a woman.......


kathy have you seen the side of the new condo being built
in williamsburg that faces manhatten? There is a banner the
size of 6 stories and it reads:

SARAH PALIN

LIVE HERE

YOU CAN SEE WALL STREET

Im not kidding, they actually put that up on the side of their bldg!!


miss y ou all,
Kristen

Can't wait to get off of this Election Rollercoaster

We are counting down the days to the election......this last month has seemed like three. I am still so afraid of what the republicans might pull out of their hat at the last minute. I'm sure Carl Rove has something planned....but, at the moment it is looking real good! Recent endorsements include: New York Times(http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/opinion/24fri1.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=slogin), Colin Powell, William F Buckley's Son & Scott McClellan.

Autumn is here...beautiful clear breezy days requiring bountiful bundling and an endless side-stepping of ginkos. Well into our school routine, Grace has been busting at the seams for the past few weeks...so proud to be reading and writing. Louis, the usual good students, has developed some test anxiety which displeases him greatly.

Rohan so sorry to hear about Rachel's Dad please tell her that our thoughts & prayers are with her and her family. Ro, how are you really? Do you miss NY? Are you spending a lot of time with your family? Have you made friends with other parents at school?

Lily, I can't wait to see you in NY. Kristen and I have already discussed booking you for a lunch, a dinner as well as numerous coffees. On Halloween the kids want to check out the "trick or treating" in our neighborhood and hang with firends at our place, so just drop by if your in the hood!

Kristen named her baby, Chloe Lea Santos Gomes! Chloe looks exactly like Kristen....she is very, very pretty.

Hey everyone, take a look at this.....it is pretty scary. http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/portable/video/x5odhh_pop-corn-telephone-portable-microon_news

Men and where they are.

If McCain wins the rest of the world will be closing all their borders, so you'd better get out fast.

Now here is a map that shows where all the single men are across the United States. It's interactive and adjustable - you move the slider along the top and you can work out where all the single men of a certain age are. It shows that in Minneapolis, for age group 30-44, there are 23 extra single men per 1,000 of the population. Good news! And much better than New York where there are only 3 extra men per 1,000.

1/2 pint where are you?

Count Down to Nov.4

I just had to share that even my little niece, as young as she is, has better politics then some of the adults I have run into!

My vote is in - I had to fill out an absentee ballot due to the fact that I will be in NYC on November 4th. Everyone keep your fingers crossed AND Rohan you better get your extra bedroom ready because, I swear, if McCain wins I am outta here!





P.S. Isn't she the cutest!!

Beautiful girl

Congratulations, she looks wonderful. Hope all your boys are happy too. Why don't you name her after one of your running buddies - Liliana or Catarina would be the Portuguese forms.