Welcome to the Light A Candle in the Dark website. Light A Candle in the Dark is a poetry website created to share my poetry and the poetry of others who have a love for reading and writing poetry. It is a place where poetry is loosely defined. It's a simple joy of the written or spoken word. It is not a forum for discussing technique or the contents of the poetry posted herein.
Welcome and enjoy!
Pat (aka P. Newman-Harris)
As Fathers, you have an awesome responsibility. God has entrusted you with the care of your children. Caring goes beyond financial responsibility. Children require love and attention. They flourish when they are properly nourished emotionally. My father had 5 children, 4 girls and 1 boy. He spent a great part of his time working. In order to spend time with us, sometimes he would take us with him to his spare jobs. Even though he made us work, we enjoyed it. He taught us, through example, how important it was to establish a good work ethic. None of us have ever forgotten the times we spent going to work with my Dad. It is a memory we will always treasure.
Men, I urge you to consider the role you play in your children's lives. Make sure you are teaching them by example, to reverence and respect the legacy that we have inherited from our ancestors by leaving them a legacy that speaks faith, love, hope, determination and purpose.
Wishing you all a very happy Father's Day. I dedicate this song to you.
When you lose someone who has lived a rich rewarding life...someone who has had a life well-spent..someone who has left a legacy of hope and determination...You feel the loss, but you celebrate the life. To all who know and love her, her family and her friends we mourn with you, we celebrate the life and the legacy, and we are oh so thankful that Maya passed this way.
What Will Your Legacy Be?
When we look back on your life, what will we see?
What will your legacy be?
Will your memory live on
Long after you are gone?
Will you have lived in such a way
That someone has something good to say?
We have a dream to fulfill,
A foundation to build
Will you leave behind
A useful design?
Will your life be a tapestry
For generations to be?
Will your children respect what you have left?
Will they be able to follow in your steps,
Run with your shadow,
And learn all there is to know?
Are you living the proper lifestyle?
Are you doing something worthwhile?
Will your life be an open book
For anyone who wants to take a look?
Are you building a foundation that is secure,
One that will endure?
You don’t have to be a Queen or a King
To make you life count for something.
You don’t have to be a Rosa Parks.
To leave your own mark.
When we look back on your life what will we see?
What will your legacy be?
Is your life so set apart
That it can change someone’s heart?
Whose life will you have changed for the good?
Can someone be proud to stand where you once stood?
Can your children walk in your steps
Without regrets?
Will your words still speak
Will they inspire someone who grows weak?
Will your teachings live on
Long after you are gone?
Will your prayers see your family through the trying years?
Can they draw on your wisdom and your strength when you are no longer here?
If someone drinks from your cup
Will they be lifted up,
Challenged, and inspired
To go to a higher place?
Can they take your baton and win the race?
So again I ask,
Are you creating a history that will last?
From generation
To generation
Because as it is so shall it forever be
Your family’s legacy.
When we look back on your life, what will we see?
What will your legacy be?
We give thanks and we pay tribute to the men and women who died while serving our country and keeping us safe. You sacrificed and died to secure a better future for us and for those to come. We honor that sacrifice and we celebrate your life. It is our prayer that one day, we will realize there is no need to war and fight one another, because we are all one on the tapestry of life.
One Heart, One Mind
When I think of the years
The unnecessary tears
The agony, the shame
The anger and the pain
That comes from being hurt again and again,
I wonder if we will ever live together peacefully.
Must we always war needlessly?
It doesn’t matter who we are or where we are from
Life is the same for everyone.
If we open our hearts we will find,
We have one spirit, one heart and one mind.
When time is no more,
Our differences won’t matter anymore.
Regardless of what language we speak,
There is a commonality in what we seek.
No matter where we live our goals and our aims
Are the same
Everybody cries
When someone they love dies.
There is no difference in our tears
We share the same fears
We have different faces and different names,
But inside we are the same.
It’s time we realize
We have common ties.
When we get down to the heart of the matter,
That’s all that matters.
Not the color of our skin,
Not where we have been,
Whether we are a King or a Queen
Or where we live in the world.
One day, we must leave this world.
If we continue to hate,
This will be our shared fate,
Wars on every hand
And the deterioration of man.
We brag about how far we have come,
But if we never learn to live as one,
Our accomplishments will be as dung
They will have no significance for anyone.
We must live as a people, undefined by station or place
Inseparable by color or race.
We can’t rewrite history
But we can change what is to be
When we realize that we are not
just kindred spirits,
But a perfect fit
On the tapestry of mankind.
With one heart and one mind,
Peace will finally be ours to find.
Copyright 2010, Matters of the Heart
Patricia Newman-Harris
I dedicate this song as a Memorial on this Memorial Day
Couldn't let the day go by, first by remembering my own Mother for her strength, courage, and for all the love she tirelessly poured into our family. Then, to all the women, aunts, cousins, friends that were there to encourage and support throughout the years.... Happy Mother's Day to you all.
Sometimes, we forgot those women who aren't mothers, but who have given of their time and their love to the children in their family. We celebrate you too on this Mother's Day.
