This is not supposed to be my next entry after "Saudade" but since I am taking forever in writing
that, I decided to post this one instead.
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I bought a book from our local Book Sale sometime in May. And I finished reading it just this month. (I know, I know. Apparently, I now find it difficult to finish a book. *insert shocked emoticon here. Haha!)
Anyway, the title of the book is
Blossoms of Friendship. It is a collection of poems written by Helen Steiner Rice. She was known as the "Ambassador of Sunshine", was the founder of the Helen Steiner Rice Foundation and was a poet admired by Pope John Paul II himself. You can read more about her
here and when you do, you will understand why she was such a remarkable woman. :)
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What made me choose to scan the book from among the many books on the shelves was its cover. It has a dainty watercolour illustration on it.
As I began to flip the pages, it was a thrill to discover that this particular book was given by friends to a friend during Easter in 1993. I think that this is what prompted me to buy the book right away. :)
When you read the book, you will find that the chapters are named after flowers and that each is accompanied by a description of that flower. I love tulips so I chose to feature the introduction of that chapter here. :)
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| All illustrations used in the book were made by Maureen Ruckdeschel. |
The next set of photos are of my favorite poems so far.
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| This one is from "God Knows Best" |
And this is my
most favorite because of the last two lines:
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| "...in God all things live again." |
Finding this book really gave me joy.
One, because I like old books. I think I mentioned that in a post before. I like how they smell. Plus, in my mind, owning a book which belonged to someone else in the past makes "life" very real to me. The older the book, the better. (I don't know if you get that. Haha.)
Two, I feel serene everytime I read this book. The words and the illustrations have a calming effect on me.
Third and lastly, I love that the author wrote that God is our friend in her poems. One of the issues I am dealing with right now is related to some relationships that I have gained last year. I am dealing with the question "Is this friend true?" with many of those I have met. I think that because the author wrote about God as a friend, that question is losing its significance. I think that I am being reminded that it's not important if this or that friend is true.
What's really important is if I am true.
I am ending this entry here. I guess from my tone, I still sound a little gloomy. I think I'm still hurting but I can definitely say that I am already in my journey of healing. So... as the Koreans say, "
Fighting!"
