Hyacinths

If of thy mortal goods thou art bereft,
And from thy slender store two loaves alone to thee are left
Sell one and with the dole
Buy Hyacinths to feed thy soul.

  The Gulistan of Moslih Eddin Saadi

From Rabbi Ben Ezra

Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be,
The least of life, for which the first was made:
Our times are in His hand
Who saith "A whole I planned,
Youth shows but half; trust God: see all, nor be afraid!"
     Robert Browning

The Rainy Day
The day is cold, and dark and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
The vine still clings to the mouldering wall,
But at every gust the dead leaves fall,
And the day is dark and dreary.

My life is cold and dark and dreary;
It rains and the wind is never weary;
My thoughts still cling to the mouldering Past,
But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast,
And the days are dark and dreary.

Be still, sad heart! and cease repining;
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;
Thy fate is the common fate of all.
Into each life some rain must fall,
Some days must be dark and dreary.

          Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

"Hope" is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops - at all

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm

I've heard it in the chillest land
And on the strangest Sea
Yet, never, in Extremity,
It asked a crumb - of Me.

          Emily Dickinson