TRIP TO ELTHAM PALACE POEM 41

Feeling special is important to most of us. Celebrating precious moments makes us feel special. So as we come to Harvest Time, it not only is good to be thankful for things because that makes us mindful, we also remember how special we are as people do things for us. In such lovely weather today it is easy to be grateful, as the parks are lovely and the mood is good. What do you do to be grateful and special when it's a bad day? Well, sometimes I read poetry, so that is something to be grateful for.

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“Then I don't feel as if I'd wasted my life. I'm not so good as you make me, but I have tried to do right. And now, when it's too late to begin even to do better, it's such a comfort to know that someone loves me so much, and feels as if I'd helped them.” Louisa May Alcott

The Tea

The chairs were set out,

Elegantly across the lawn,

Shaded by the shapely

Ancient Oak.

The sun cast a distinct

Shadow,

Full cut across the grass,

As the lines of the neatly

Mowed lawn themselves

Were defined,

But cutting cross at an

Angle,

Almost bisecting the lawn’s

Neat pattern.

The chairs were set,

But no people had met,

Where did they lie

In wait?

The splendour of the tea

Was for two,

It was a special treat,

And there were no guests,

But me.

I laugh for the joke is good,

And our merriment continues

Through the afternoon,

One I will not forget,

For that was really for me.

“It is not happiness that makes us grateful, it’s gratefulness that makes us happy.” Dalai Lama XIV