People are Like Cities, by Hilary T. Smith

We all have alleys and gardens and secret rooftops and places where daisies sprout

between the sidewalk cracks,

but most of the time all we let each other see is a postcard glimpse of a skyline or a

polished square.

Love lets you find those hidden places in another person,

even the ones they didn’t know were there,

even the ones they wouldn’t have thought to call beautiful themselves.

Re-Statement of Romance, by Wallace Stevens

The night knows nothing of the chants of night.

It is what it is as I am what I am:

And in perceiving this I best perceive myself

And you. Only we two may interchange

Each in the other what each has to give.

Only we two are one, not you and night,

Nor night and I, but you and I, alone,

So much alone, so deeply by ourselves,

So far beyond the casual solitudes,

That night is only the background of our selves,

Supremely true each to its separate self,

In the pale light that each upon the other throws.

On Friendship, by Kahlil Gibran

Your friend is your needs answered.

He is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving.

And he is your board and your fireside.

For you come to him with your hunger, and you seek him for peace.

…

And let your best be for your friend.
If he must know the ebb of your tide, let him know its flood also.

…

And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures.

For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.

On Love

Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.

…

To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.

…

To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;

To rest at the noon hour and meditate love’s ecstasy; to return home at eventide with gratitude;

And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.

J.R.R. Tolkien wrote this poem for his wife:

Lo! Young we are and yet have stood

like planted hearts in the great Sun

of Love so long (as two fair trees

in woodland or in open dale

stand utterly entwined and breathe

the airs and suck the very light

together) that we have become

as one, deep rooted in the soil

of Life and tangled in the sweet growth.

Everything I Really Need to Know I learned in Kindergarten, by Robert Fulghum

All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in

kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in

the sand pile at school.

These are the things I learned:

Share everything.

Play fair.

Don’t hit people.

Put things back where you found them.

Clean up your own mess.

Don’t take things that aren’t yours.

Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.

Wash your hands before you eat.

Flush.

Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.

Live a balanced life – learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing

and dance and play and work every day some.

Take a nap every afternoon.

When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.

Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go

down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all

like that.

Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam

cup – they all die. So do we.

And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned – the

biggest word of all – LOOK.

Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and

basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.

And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out in the world, it is best to

hold hands and stick together.

Us Two, by A.A. Milne

Wherever I am, there’s always Pooh,

There’s always Pooh and Me.

Whatever I do, he wants to do,

“Where are you going today?” says Pooh:

“Well, that’s very odd ‘cos I was too.

Let’s go together,” says Pooh, says he.

“Let’s go together,” says Pooh.

“What’s twice eleven?” I said to Pooh.

(“Twice what?” said Pooh to Me.)

“I think it ought to be twenty-two.”

“Just what I think myself,” said Pooh.

“It wasn’t an easy sum to do,

But that’s what it is,” said Pooh, said he.

“That’s what it is,” said Pooh.

“Let’s look for dragons,” I said to Pooh.

“Yes, let’s,” said Pooh to Me.

We crossed the river and found a few-

“Yes, those are dragons all right,” said Pooh.

“As soon as I saw their beaks I knew.

That’s what they are,” said Pooh, said he.

“That’s what they are,” said Pooh.

“Let’s frighten the dragons,” I said to Pooh.

“That’s right,” said Pooh to Me.

“I’m not afraid,” I said to Pooh,

And I held his paw and I shouted “Shoo!

Silly old dragons!”- and off they flew.

“I wasn’t afraid,” said Pooh, said he,

“I’m never afraid with you.”

So wherever I am, there’s always Pooh,

There’s always Pooh and Me.

“What would I do?” I said to Pooh,

“If it wasn’t for you,” and Pooh said: “True,

It isn’t much fun for One, but Two,

Can stick together, says Pooh, says he. “That’s how it is,” says Pooh.