floating – Live & Learn

Lie back daughter, let your head be tipped back in the cup of my hand.

July 7, 2018 by Live & Learn 29 Comments

Lie back daughter, let your head
be tipped back in the cup of my hand.
Gently, and I will hold you. Spread
your arms wide, lie out on the stream
and look high at the gulls…
You will dive
and swim soon enough where this tidewater
ebbs to the sea…
As you float now, where I held you
and let go, remember when fear
cramps your heart what I told you:
lie gently and wide to the light-year
stars, lie back, and the sea will hold you.

~ Philip Booth, from “First Lesson” in Lifelines: Selected Poems 1950-1999

Notes: Photo by mary-annm. Poem via 3 Quarks Daily

Filed Under: Photography, Poetry, Quotes Tagged With: child, daughter, Father, floating, Inspirational, lesson, Parent, philip booth, Photography, Poetry, summer, Swimming, swimming lesson, Trust, vacation

Lightly Child, Lightly.

January 25, 2018 by Live & Learn 29 Comments

Everything wants to float.
And yet we move about like weights,
attaching ourselves to everything, in thrall to gravity…

— Rainer Maria Rilke, from “14,” Sonnets to Orpheus.

Notes:

Photograph: Lori Vrba with ‘The Caretaker’s Balloon’ (via Newthom)
Prior “Lightly child, lightly” Posts? Connect here.
Post Title & Inspiration: Aldous Huxley: “It’s dark because you are trying too hard. Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly. Yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply. Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them.”