If you are warm and loved this winter
If you can watch the gray sky
From your French windows
Or see the snow falling softly
If you can shut that cold out
Yet watch and enjoy it
With that fireplace glowing
And spreading radiant joy
If you have a loved one to hug you
With music of your choice
Yours is the day and this world
Full of Christmas cheer!
© Balroop Singh
Wishing all my readers Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a wonderful 2018.
I am delighted to share my blogger friend Cathleen’s wonderful review of my poetry book ‘ Emerging From Shadows.’ I would like to express gratitude for her in-depth analysis of emotions that dominate the poems in this book and the quote she has picked up truly defines the theme that runs through the book.
Emerging from Shadows is no callow compilation of a lovestruck young adult’s first sonnets. Rather, it’s the reflections of an emotionally mature writer who has faced life’s stings with a determination to grow from them in an honest and healthy way.
This is a verse from my favorite poem in the collection, Sound that Resounds.
“I can no longer remain insignificant
Your harrowing hauteur is oppressive
Forgive me for finding my own avenues
My gratitude goes to my spirit.”
It’s an excellent read for anyone recovering from emotional trauma, especially those who would rather eschew bitterness, and instead be at peace with how they respond to life’s trials.
If you are a regular reader of Emotional Shadows, you must have noticed that quotations form an important part of any post I share.
Sally G. Cronin, my author cum blogger friend has nominated me for three day quote challenge, which transported me back to one of the memorable moments of my life. Fond of collecting quotations, I had a notebook in which I would write one quote everyday. One day when our class teacher asked us to talk about our hobbies, I couldn’t say much and produced that notebook to save myself from that embarrassing situation. Her reaction surprised me. She took my notebook and promised to return it but she didn’t.
Next day I was summoned by the Principal. With great trepidation, I walked towards her room, wondering what had I done now, knowing well I was in for another punishment! I saw my notebook of quotations in her hand and was taken aback by her kind words of appreciation. The pride and encouragement that she infused in me doubled my love for quotations and writing them down most neatly.
A good quote is more than a book. It can leave a lasting impression on us… it can awaken aspirations, ignite the inspiration that lies dormant, it can connect us with great minds and their experiences, it can mold our perceptions and personalities.
Quotations have ennobled and enriched me.
It is hard to pick a quote as each one carries some profound truth about life yet we have our favorites.
My first pick has to be from my all time favorite poem ‘If’ by Rudyard Kipling:
The above lines have adorned my table for many years and have inspired me:
I have been a little rebel in breaking free from the rules. So the ‘three day quote challenge’ has been construed by me as ‘three quote challenge’ (just an interplay of words from left to right!) and I would like to share them together.
The above quote and many such have helped me reconcile to the whole idea of forgiving those who could have derived sadistic pleasure in enforcing their authority to establish their supremacy. I still read quotes about forgiveness to reassure myself that forgiveness purges us of any ill will that we may be carrying in our heart for those who were insensitive towards our emotional wellbeing.
The above quote was a little puzzling for me but it has helped me in many ways:
Many thanks to Sally for nominating me for this challenge. It is customary to nominate some more friends for the challenge but I throw it open to all my readers who love quotations to write a post about their favorite quotes.
Thank you for reading this. Please share your valuable reflections, they are much appreciated.
If you have liked this post, please share it at your favorite social networks.
Balroop Singh.
Don’t take me for granted
I am strength personified
Learn to respect me
I think for myself.
Would you call this an adventure?
I did, but one of our friends who was with us, disagreed.
Imagine driving round and round in circles and the navigator of your IPhone saying ‘reached’!
It seemed funny and we did have a hearty laugh but our frustration seemed to mount with each attempt.
I refused to give up and was sure that there was a way to reach the destination.
Were we missing something…turning on the wrong road?
Let me relate the story from the beginning. Our trip to Crater Lake (Oregon) was planned in a hurry but we wanted to make the best of every place of interest on the way rather than driving non-stop and reaching with cramps in our legs and back.
My research yielded two places, out of which we chose Dunsmuir, a city on the upper Sacramento River in California, known as the “Home of the best water on Earth.”
Further research revealed Hedge Creek Falls and Mossbrae Falls (most popular) as the top sights in the city.
We reached by four in the evening and after checking in the place we had booked for the night, we thought it was a good idea to visit Mossbrae Falls. That was the beginning of this adventure.
Web results revealed that it was a 45-minute hike and a 5-minute drive. We chose to drive to the Falls but our phone navigator took us round and round, bringing us back to the place we would start. My friend felt that there was something wrong with my phone and told us to start again, with instructions from her phone! We turned right, as instructed by her navigator, then left and then right and right again according to the names of the roads and reached the same place!
We decided to ask a local who laughed and told us he could tell us ‘how not to get there!’ He warned us that it is illegal to go there because the only path that could lead us to Mossbrae Falls was walking by the rail track.
‘Why is it listed as top attraction!’ I dismissed the thought as quickly as it had flashed.
He advised us to drop the idea of visiting these Falls.
Disappointed but determined, we came to our lodge and read the reviews on Tripadvisor. One of the reviews exactly mentioned how to get there. It also cautioned about the hazards involved and why people took the risk of visiting these falls. I declared that we would surely try the next morning.
One of our friends, a law abiding freak, was very reluctant to go as the only way to approach the Falls is a walk by the rail track and he considered this a calculated risk. Nothing could deter me.
Why haven’t the authorities developed another track? This thought still reverbrates around me.
We parked our car at the Botanical Garden parking and walked back towards Shasta Retreat. We kept walking downhill till we reached a bridge. As instructed by the reviewer, we turned right from the bridge and were at the rail track. It was a single track railway.
A long walk on uneven surfaces and on stoney sides, quite narrow at places, with warnings to each other to be careful, go slow and watch out for a train, we kept going till we reached another bridge. We could hear the Mossbrae Falls near by!
They were not very high but looked awesome. Despite the sound produced by falling water, a serenity pervaded all around. Somebody was lying in a hammock, soaking in the damp, breezy, soft spray of water. The river was shallow and we could see the pebbles below the water.
I had read that the pictures do not do any justice as the Falls are much more beautiful than they seem in the pictures. I couldn’t agree more.
We were lucky as no train passed by. We met all kinds of people on the way, even those who were carrying little children on their shoulders and one not very old man, walking with two sticks, in the center of the track.
We returned with some delightful memories.
Thank you for reading this. Please share your valuable reflections, they are much appreciated.
If you have liked this post, please share it at your favorite social networks.
Balroop Singh.
