snowflakes fell timely

in groups

bunches of white-down floating

then whisked upon a wind-draft

to a sound of music they hear

at the dance of the universe

swaying on mysteries

unexplained

such was the afternoon quiet

that birds spoke

while the ground lay cold

coaxing the six-point stars

to warm it

with heat behind clouds

to cover it

with blankets of soft

till the sun calls it upward

to the clouds from which it birthed

*Death is our greatest freedom.

*More than ever, we'll need to constantly keep in mind that memory, like liberty, is a fragile thing.

 -Elizabeth Loftus

*It is not the magnitude of our actions but the amount of love that is put into them that matters.

 -Mother Teresa

*The more you protest against life, the more bogged down you get in it.  That's a truism.  The problem is how to leave this earth behind, rise up, and go further.

 -Ilya Kabakov 

*Reflections of Alan Jones:

  -As neighbors we need to recover the old humanizing disciplines of imagination, worship, and human conversation, which take a certain level of civility.

  -...civility on the part of the powerful has always been a ploy to keep the powerless in their place.

  -...civility requires that I treat my fellow citizens as people of good will.

  -"Laws on sexual harassment and 'hate speech' sprout up when people do not share a code of civility" (Stephen Carter)