Monday, February 28, 2011

Love Kindness Happiness Peace

Angel Wings by Soul Colour
(soulcolour.com)

Love Kindness Happiness Peace

There are days
when (i am) less
than all the possibilities
offered to me.
It is those times
that the kindness
and love given,
returns.
In the silence
it lifts me
on translucent wings,
to a freedom
and a joy
to give again.


Charlie Riverman Bergeron 2/8/11

Friday, February 25, 2011

Let Go - Kenny G and Jean M. DiGiovanna



 
Imagine your life is like a river. A river never stops flowing, just as your life continues to ebb and flow. Yet, so often, we interrupt the flow of life without even realizing it. 


Letting go is about accepting the here and now and trusting the natural flow of life...for it doesn’t always look the way we thought it would :-)  ~ by Jean M. DiGiovanna


Letting Go

It’s not easy to let go of thoughts you’ve consumed for a long time.
It’s not easy to fully accept life just the way that it is.
It’s not easy to trust that all is well.

But, without giving it a try, you will never know what is possible for you.
Let go of unhealthy thoughts.
Fully accept yourself for all that you are and all that you are not.
Fully accept life for all that it is and is not.
Trust that you will be supported and all will go perfectly.

Letting go can be scary, but staying in the same place is costly, for life is meant to be lived with vigor, enthusiasm and joy for what is, what can be and what will be.

~ by Jean M. DiGiovanna

Monday, February 21, 2011

Lifted

We climbed for an hour in near total darkness to get above the Old Man of Storr for sunrise. Nothing prepared us for the drama we witnessed. ~ Gary Howells

Lifted

Sitting on the edge of darkness
the light seems very dim,
my heart is just a memory;
a faint aroma on a night of wind

Fear not I say, for this will pass;
the ancient cry of loneliness
is all that will beckon us,
when time has come at last

Weak and low I know not fear
for Love has kept me here;
sweetly, kindly, gently,
lifting me ever higher now, 
brighter I become.                                     
 Charlie Riverman Bergeron 1/15/11

Friday, February 18, 2011

Flowering

Such openness ~ we can learn a lot from flowers - Cathy Ginter


FLOWERING
 

In the core of my being, I am you
and we are wrapped in many petals
of diverse form and color.
Yet still, within we are divine....

Come inside now and help me
spread my Love, so that all
may enjoy my life giving essence.
~ Riverman
Come Inside now and help me
spread my love so that all
may enjoy my life giving essence.


Charlie Riverman Bergeron
4/12/10


Sunday, February 6, 2011

Random Inspirations 2

Photo by Robert Edward Stoney


An angel appears in the frozen wilderness
saying, "My child you are beautiful"

Charlie Riverman Bergeron 1/31/11




Who but the angels in our midst
can lift us with their wings
and who can deny them their presence
May your angels always dance and sing
and bring you heavenly joy
                       

Charlie Riverman Bergeron 12/21/10




Photo by Maryse Neuvens


Lush greens and silent sentinels
a memory to be renewed come Spring
We sit now silent... bare,
cold, near frozen... waiting
to return

Charlie Riverman Bergeron 11/20/10




Photo by Robert Edward Stoney


Whose fingerprint rests
under the shadow of man
only that of the Creator

Charlie Riverman Bergeron 1/2/2011



One more that was just written tonight while listening to this wonderful song 


The Xpression Of Love
the smile on your face
your  tender voice
the soft touch of your hand
these are the gifts
worth more than gold
priceless gems
treasures of a moment
that write on the heart
eternal messages of Love
Charlie Riverman Bergeron 2/6/11

Saturday, February 5, 2011

The Treasure In Old Briefcases


Inside of an old briefcase where my childhood family pictures are stored there lay a small blue tin.



Below the "Black Cat Virginia Cigarettes", labeling there are the enticing words ...
Mild Quality Superfine


It has been a long time since I smoked cigarettes but in my younger days this would have led me to lift the lid and slowly inhale the sweet aroma of fine tobacco. Then lift one to my lips and light it ever so deftly with the flick of a match and savor the find of such a treasure. One by one they would have been smoked until the thrill was forgotten and the tin tossed away, never to be seen again.

Well, that was then and this is now. The tin is now slightly rusted and some 50 years old; a similar one sold recently on eBay for $20.00, which is almost the current market price for a pack of cigarettes. How times have changed, indeed.

My excitement came upon opening and finding inside there were postcards and a poem, now how cool is that! Someone, perhaps my mother, the cigarette smoker in the family, found a useful purpose for this icon of that which eventually took her life.

Anyway, I will share with you the contents of said tin, the sum total of 22 postcards, only one of which was ever sent and one handwritten poem:


 Bahia Mar Yacht Basin, Ft Lauderdale, Florida

The New York Stock Exchange

 A diorama of the founding of the stock exchange

 Mural " Stength and Beauty" by Dean Cornwell 
General Motors Building, 1939 New York World's Fair
The Transparent Car - General Motors Building
1939 New York World' Fair

 Mt Sopris, Carbondale, Colorado

 An unusual postcard


 Two from The Village Barn, Greenwich Village NY
one advertising... Excellent Dinners for $2.95

 American Airlines 
First with Jets across the U.S.A.
The Jet-Powered Electra Flagships

 The Mourne Mountains, Co. Down N. Ireland

 St. Patrick's Grave
postmarked from Co. Down N. Ireland

 The Royal Courts of Justice - Belfast, N. Ireland
 NY World's Fair posers
on the left are my mother and father
 My ever dapper father...
"Where d'yuh get dat beer stuff? 
Beer, hell! Beer's for goils - and Dutchmen. 
Me for somep'n wit a kick to it! Gimme a drink, one of youse guys."
- Eugene O.Neil



Three beautiful pen an inks honoring
Mattapoiset, Massachusetts
by JAlves
Mattapoisett, MA
A little below Cape Cod 
where I spent summer vacations
 
Marsh scene with one of
the bridges over the Cape Cod Canal
in the background

Mid-Cape highway heading to Provincetown


" Bartholomew Gosnold's Dream," 
is often quoted as one of the poems
referring to the christening of the Cape, 
a few of its stanzas will be deemed appropriate :
"There sailed an ancient mariner.
Bart Gosnold was he hight,—
The Cape was all a wilderness
When Gosnold hove in sight.
''He saw canoes and wigwams rude,
By ruder builders made,
Squaws pounded samp about the door,
And dark pappooses played.
"The hills were bold and fair to view,
    And covered o'er with trees,
Said Gosnold, 'Bring a fishing line,
    While lulls the evening breeze.
"'I'll christen that there sandy shore
    From the first fish I take—
Tautog, or toadfish, cusk or cod,
    Horse-mackerel or hake,
"'Hard-head or haddock, sculpin, squid,
    Goose-fish, pipe-fish or cunner,—
No matter what—shall with its name
    Yon promontory honor.'
"Old Neptune heard the promise made,
    Down dove the water-god—
He drove the meaner fish away
    And hooked the mammoth cod.
"Quick Gosnold hauled. 'Cape—Cape—Cape—Cod.'
    'Cape Cod,' the crew cried louder ;
'Here, steward ! take the fish along,
    And give the boys a chowder.' "


There you have a  brief collage of sacred memories neatly placed into a small cigarette tin and stored away.

Oh yes, what about the Poem in the tin with all of this... 

the author is unknown and there are several versions circulating but this was handwritten with care in very good penmanship. On unlined paper the words lay across the page as if by typewriter in a forward leaning slant to lead you on to the next verse.

Whether my mother wrote it or someone gave it to her when she was being treated for her emphysema and cancer, I will never know, but I do know that this would be her doing, to place all this in a cigarette tin for me to find years after she'd gone; 

I present it in Edwardian Script to render it as close to the original.

There’s nothing whatever the matter with me
I’m just as healthy as I can be
I have Arthritis in both my knees
And when I talk’ I talk with a wheeze
My pulse is weak and my hair is thin
But I’m awfully well for the shape I’m in

I think my liver is out of whack
And a terrible pain is in my back
My hearing is poor and my sight is dim
Most everything else is out of trim

My Doctor says that my days are few
Every week he finds something new
And the way I stagger is sure a crime
I’m likely to drop at any time

I jump like mad at the drop of a pin
But I’m awfully well for the shape I’m in
I have arch supports for both my feet 
Or I wouldn’t be able to walk on the street

Sleeplessness I have night after night
And in the morning I’m a perfect sight
My memory’s failing, my head’s in a spin
I’m awfully well for the shape I’m in

There are treasures everywhere, sometimes where you least expect them and if you take the time they will always present you with their wonderful stories.
















Heart Moment

Sun over Lake Winnipesaukee - Charlie Bergeron


A moment
     we call the instant
                      in which everything occurs

A brief space of time
         for some
           yet an ocean for others

Eternity
within each of us


Reached only
          by stillness
                           emptiness
                   thoughtlessness
A space where
           all of creation begins
                                 and then returns



Charlie Riverman Bergeron 1/25/10

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Random Inspirations

As I travel through and collect writings that have been part of my facebook experience I am going to share them here on my blog. These moments of inspiration were created as responses to the wonderful postings of my dear friends around the world. 

I will start with these two.... 
 
 Autumn’s  Whimsy

feuilles d'automne, Octobre, 2010 - Bruges by Marianne Otv


How playful is nature
she tosses her shapes and colors
creating whimsical patterns
for only a few to see
and then moves on

Charlie Riverman Bergeron 10/31/10


And...
  Ice Halos



Ice Halos, Kittilä, Finland, photographer Sauli Koski



There in the morning sky
behold a gem
a gift of presence
a radiant being
a portal of light.


Charlie Riverman Bergeron 10/31/10