Poetry Corner – Positively Poetry

Hello Dear Ones!

Poetry, for me, is a way of expressing amazement of, for and at life. There was a time when I was in my teens (a few years ago :o) when my life seemed filled with angst. My poetry reflected that time and pain in my life. I am so grateful it was only a short-lived phase.

Today my life is filled with love, joy, delight, hope, inspiration, insight, passion, pleasure, simplicity, playfulness … the list of positives is endless. No, my life is not perfect. Yet it needn’t be perfect for every moment to be savoured and enjoyed to the max!

As I was deciding the theme for this post, I was perusing through my many books for inspiration. Often I take a book and allow it just to open where it lays. I read what the pages reveal in that moment. For me this is an inspirational guidance system that works every single time. (Seems to me I got this idea from one of Richard Bach‘s books – which one I’m not certain.) Today I opened one of my favourites and the poem below came easily into view. YES! This was the very one I wanted to share. You’ve read about him here before. In fact it was my very first Poetry Corner entry – a different poem written by young Mattie J. T. Stepanek. Mattie died at the age of 14 years, yet during his incredibly short and powerful life wrote several books, was on Oprah often and inspired people world wide. His Mother Jeni carries on her son’s legacy.

“When her son, Mattie, was born with a rare disorder now known as Dysautonomic Mitcochondrial Myopathy, Jeni Stepanek was advised to put her child in an institution and “let nature take its course.”  Instead, she nurtured a boy who grew to become a young man who transformed his hardships into a message of hope and peace that touched millions.”

I chose another of Mattie’s poems today as I wanted to deal specifically with perceiving and experiencing life in the most positive of ways – whatever our challenges. Who better to share his views of hope and magic and wishes and prayer than the young man who lived beyond and above his life challenges to share these very qualities with others.

Before I get to that poem for your enjoyment, I would like to add a bit of definition to the words hope and wish that Mattie uses in his poem. I’m speaking for me now, not for Mattie, when I give you a glimmer of my understanding of their meanings – at least as they reflect in my own life.

Per Wikipedia

A wish is a hope or desire for something.

Hope is a belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one’s life. Hope is the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best…it is not a physical emotion but a spiritual grace.

Desire is a sense of longing for a person or object or hoping for an outcome. When a person desires something or someone, their sense of longing is excited by the enjoyment or the thought of the item or person, and they want to take actions to obtain their goal.

Now, with that as a prelude, here’s the sweet poem promised:

About Wishing

Some people think that
Wishing is childish.
But, wishing is
For everybody.
Wishing can help the
Old feel young, and
Wishing can help the
Young grow into the
Wisdom of age.
Wishing is not
Prayer or magic,
But, somewhere in between.
Like prayer and magic,
Wishing brings optimism,
And wishing brings hope.
And like prayer and magic,
Wishing brings new ideas,
And sometimes,
The touch of new life.
And that, is essential
For our future.

Written by Mattie J.T. Stepanek
January 2000 (Mattie was only 10 years old at the time!)
Printed in his book Journey Through Heartsongs

Wishing you a positively incredible week filled with the delights of life lived to the max!

In Light and Laughter,

Marcia

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