...freedom is what you make of it...

Finishing all your finals = fReEdOm...

Having a 3 day weekend after finishing your finals = fReEdOm...

Finding out you get 3 extra days off not including your already 3 day weekend after finals = fReEdOm...


FREEDOM is a beautiful thing. ;)

on this and that

the railroad
-jp

He’s sitting by the railroad
Swinging his feet to and fro
Watching as the clouds fly by
Who knows where he’ll go…

And yes, he’s walked a long way
No, he’s got no home
Besides the stars and sky above

Who knows where he’ll roam…

Oh how good the sunshine feels
Beating on his back
Warming heart and soul within
There’s nothing that he lacks

Is he lonely on his own
Riding railroads past the sky
Does he regret this path of life
Oh how you wonder why

He is only a mere human
Living life the only way he knows
He does not dream for things beyond
Nor dwells on long ago.

The rumble of the train car
Comes thundering within
Mindless people, they all board
And the journey will begin

His story is not uncommon
For he is no single man
He’ll ride upon this railroad
Losing sight where it began.

Its not enough just to stand on the sideline and hope life will put on the brakes to pick you up. And too many people are mesmorized as they stare at the passing train, mindless and empty souled, having no real purpose or direction. I was riding a subway train in Boston a few years back when I wrote this poem and though I know it doesn't capture the whole idea I was trying to portray, nevertheless, its an interesting thought to consider. How many times do you watch people blindly walking around, dazed and in a lost stupor. They look at you as your paths cross, but they don't see you. They're living life trying to reach the top, the highest step on the ladder of success and they're trying to climb quickly. But the higher they climb, the more blind they become. The higher they climb the more altitude seeps into their brains and causes them to forget the purpose they originally started out with. Now they're at the highest step...they're everything they wanted to be and more. Now what? There's no step to climb to, and they're still not satisfied. So what does it take for these people to realize that life is not meant to be the plastic, fake, fragile gingerbread house they've made it into? The house that will collapse the minute you take away all their material and secular dreams.

And then there's Christmas, the season of hope, peace and joy. The season to love one another and share glad tidings. The season everyone all of a sudden is feeling generous and the need to be charitable. That's wonderful...so society sets out to make the world a better place at Christmas. What about the rest of the year? Christmas Day hasn't even struck midnight before everyone has shed their "Secret Santa" suits, hanging it in the dark, dusty closet until next Christmas when its time to play "Mr.Charity" again. How sad is that. How sad that our world has become such a whirlwind of greed that we can only practice the virtue of charity when the TV and radio remind us through their jingle commercials and pop songs that its the "season for giving" once again. And its even sadder that Catholics can be just as negligent; the ones who should be setting the ultimate example because not only do they receive the grace to do so from Holy Mother Church, but because they possess the only thing worth living for: Truth. Its a sad world we live in because we have allowed ourselves to lose sight of who we are and where we came from.

justification for a college student

The stack of History notes glares at me from the red folder strategically placed beside me. The even print seems to leap from the page, eager to tell the story of the Greek tyrants and the Persian Wars mixed with Solan's Constitution and the laws of Draco. And yet as I finger through the pages, one after another after another after another, my heart sinks as I realize there is more than 20 pages to memorize and the material of Greek History certainly does not hold any captivating magic. I decide there is still time to go over the boat load of History notes before my return back to school and defiantly tune out the voice of the history Professor to tune in the soft drawl of the Latin Professor by grabbing my textbook. Carelessly paging through the notes, my desire to study Latin (which in actuality never existed in the first place) slowly disappears further still when I realize there is over 38 days to review and memorize. Though I dreamed of reaching the studious level of being able to know them so well that I would be able to recite them front and back even in my sleep, I suddenly no longer possess the motivation and drive of being that studious. So that subject is cast aside until further notice. Gazing upon the dimly lit kitchen table, I grunt heavily when I realize the subject staring me in the face is the most dreaded of all: Algebra. Ha! Not a chance. And without further adieu, that subject quickly joins the rest of the "neglected souls." Apologetics? Nah--too much reading for one night. What about Logic? or English? Eehh...maybe tomorrow night. There's always Sacred Scripture notes I should recopy, but then again, I should get the subjects I've already started over and done with before I think about starting a new one. But I've already decided that I do not possess the proper disposition to adequately study for History, Latin, Algebra, Apologetics, Logic or English tonight--I guess Sacred Scripture can be cast aside for the moment as well. So! What does that leave me with? Absolutely nothing. My conscience can now rest guiltlessly...for I am not wasting time writing this entry in my blog instead of studying.

......if only life were that easy.

selections

Evanescent

Oh little child, you forlorn being
Why do you hide there trembling in fear?
Havet hey stolen all your hope away
And left you crying carelessly here?

Weak diminutive soul, all alone
Your only consoling friend Death may be
And your desolate voice wails in the distance
"Will he ever come to play with me?"

You pick a crushed flower as the petals fall
A mark of the past, present and future no more
For winter has come and frozen our faces
And cast our eyes blind to a prophesied war.

Oh little child, you captured mind
Such sorrowful eyes weep comprehending
In the silent night your voice will be heard
"I am your soul on which your fate is depending."

-JP '05


Ocean Tide

Standing alone
In a field of blue and white
A moving force of strength
Yet fury
A timeless reminder of what forever is.

The thunder rolls
Along a shore of even rock
Crashing tides and white tipped plains
Live always
A single allowance of future coming.

Lonely seagulls
They cannont stop their cries
For they know all of nothing
Except the sea
A home of invaluable worth.

-jp '05











Roses in the Rain

Silent drops of rain appear
Like whispers all around
Falling down from heaven here
Washing clear the ground

Petals hang so heavily
Drooping from its power
Fighting to stand straight again
Trying for those who cower.

Whipped by wind and torn by scourge
Crowned in the endless storm
Remembered by its beauty
And fragrance love can form.





jp 'o5

beginning again

Being home on break gives a college student a chance to catch up on sleep, renew their ambitions and stir up another round of motivation for the coming semester. Not only that, but it's the ideal time for the mind to be easily persuaded into...starting another blog. Sometimes though, a fresh start is exactly what you need; a new cyber space to organize the scattered words floating inside that in reality have no purpose to them, except to escape the cluttered brain of a young woman. Between staying ahead of my classes and at the same time maintaining some form of sanity, I don't exactly have all the time in the world to even think about keeping another blog. But for me at least, it helps to form my many scrambled thoughts into words and let them rest on paper. It is my intention that this blog be used for more than just the schedule approach of "I did such and such and then saw so and so and heard the what and why about why and what." With a little bit of luck, I'll even be able to include some level of intelligence....hopefully.

I love to write and words seem to come easier for me when I'm writing them or typing them rather than trying to speak them. In a way, my hands know what to say before my voice does. I'm inspired by writers and authors, and it is my dream that one day, my words will be valued enough to make it to a published form, even just once. They say its not enough just to dream your dreams; you have to live them. Maybe that's true...after all, what would the sense be in bottling up and packaging away your talent when you possessed the ability to do some good with it. Either way, I've decided to give it another shot and see what happens. Feedback is of course, always appreciated.