Teaser Tuesday Banner

Grab your current read Let the book fall open to a random page Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12. You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!

Mine for this week is:

“This is the way it happens, he said, glancing up. Like in dreams, like the way you wished it would happen in life, that you’re going along and you come upon one you love and then you go together.”

This is again from The Heaven of Mercury by Brad Watson.

Probably the last from this book, unless the weather stays bad (when it’s rainy my back and hips require longer and more frequent soaks!)

If you love books and reading half as much as I do, why not join me on Shelfari?

Content Warning: Thorni is feeling deep today.    So here in front, I’m simply going to post my truest understanding of love in honor of Valentine’s Day  in the simple yet elegant words of Kahlil Gibran, and wish you all:

Love.

Love not in a hokey, jokesy way, but love in all its depth and beauty; in all it’s light and shadow.

Behind the cut, should you care to join me, I’m going to write a bit about this piece and how it has shaped me and inspired me throughout my life, from my first reading of The Prophet at age 12.

Kahlil Gibran on Love, From The Prophet

When love beckons to you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.

For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you.
Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.

Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.
He threshes you to make you naked. He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness. He kneads you until you are pliant;
And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God’s sacred feast.

All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life’s heart.

But if in your fear you would seek only love’s peace and love’s pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love’s threshing-floor,
Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.

Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.
Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;
For love is sufficient unto love.

When you love you should not say,
“God is in my heart,” but rather, “I am in the heart of God.”
And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.

Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires: To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night. To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
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.

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Teaser Tuesday Banner

So here’s the deal: MizB at Should Be Reading would have us: Teaser Tuesdays

Grab your current read Let the book fall open to a random page Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12. You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!

There is only one VERY IMPORTANT THING TO REMEMBER: *** Do NOT post anything that could spoil the plot of the book!!! *** If your sentences that fall between lines 7 and 12 on the page you turn to give too much away, choose a different page, or a different spot on the page… we don’t want to ruin any surprises for anyone!

Mine for this week is:

“His child-size hands were almost translucent, made Finus shiver a little at the thought of them handling the dead – or him, dead.  And within that cartoonish gathering of flesh blinked those deep-set and absurdly pretty eyes, like a movie idol’s, so anomalous as to shock one upon first noticing.”

This is again from The Heaven of Mercury by Brad Watson.

I’ve been pretty busy, so I’m only reading in thew bathtub right now, when I have a long soak.  It may take me awhile to get through this one.

If you love books and reading half as much as I do, why not join me on Shelfari?