Pillar

This night nine years ago I sat and watched as pneumonia took a grip of my Siobhán....and I could do nothing.

Tonight as I sat on the pier with feet dangling over the edge, the bollard beside me a symbol of my good friends...quiet, steady and reliable.... I thought not of death but more of the sadness of my children who know what they have missed out on. When I watch the night skies I am reminded me of our individual insignificance in the greater scheme but also of two great influences I lucked upon as a teenager. The first was Rudyard Kipling's If

".....If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools: ........."

and Max Ehrmann's desiderata and to quote from that

"Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy".

I do.....all the time....just saying

Local band, Kodaline All I Want