Jonathan

A

Charlotte Elizabeth's Horse Ride

Before  Charlotte Elizabeth became a prolific Christian writer and the author of many anonymous tracts, she spent some time in Nova Scotia where her best friends were her horse and her dog. Though not a horsey person myself, the following poem made a deep impression on me when I read her autobiography many years ago. Not able to find it online, I decided to post it myself for my friends who love horses and for those who, like me, are inexplicably captivated by the abandon and comradery so beautifully expressed in this poem. She composed the following lines in the early part of the 19th century while riding a dappled gray Arabian named Fairy.  Marco was her dog.

I know by the ardour thou canst not restrain,
By the curve of thy neck and the toss of thy mane,
By the foam of thy snorting which spangles my brow,
The fire of the Arab is hot in thee now.
'Twere harsh to control thee, my frolicksome steed,
I give thee the rein -- so away at thy speed;
Thy rider will dare to be wilful as thee,
Laugh the future to scorn, and partake in thy glee.
Away to the mountain -- what need we to fear?
Pursuit cannot press on my Fairy's career,
Full light were the heel and well balanced the head
That ventured to follow the track of thy tread;
Where roars the loud torrent and starts the rude plank,
And thunders the rock-severed mass down the bank,
While mirror'd in crystal the far-shooting glow,
With dazzling effulgence is sparkling below.
One start, and I die; yet in peace I recline,
My bosom can rest on the fealty of thine;
Thou lov'st me, my sweet one, and would'st not be free
From a yoke that has never borne rudely on thee.
Ah, pleasant the empire of those to confess,
Whose wrath is a whisper, their rule a caress.

Behold how thy playmate is stretching beside,
As loath to be vanquish'd in love or in pride,
While upward he glances his eye-ball of jet,
Half dreading thy fleetness may distance him yet.
Ah Marco, poor Marco -- our pastime to-day
Were reft of one pleasure if he were away.

How precious these moments! fair Freedom expands
Her pinions of light o'er the desolate lands:
The waters are flashing as bright as thine eye,
Unchain'd as thy motion the breezes sweep by;
Delicious they come, o'er the flower-scented earth,
Like whispers of love from the isle of my birth;
While the white-bosom'd Cistus her perfume exhales,
And sighs out a spicy farewell to the gales.
Unfeared and unfearing we'll traverse the wood,
Where pours the rude torrent its turbulent flood:
The forest's red children will smile as we scour
By the log-fashioned hut and the pine-woven bower;
Thy feathery footsteps scarce bending the grass,
Or denting the dew-spangled moss where we pass.

What startles thee? 'Twas but the sentinel gun
Flashed a vesper salute to thy rival, the sun;
He has closed his swift progress before thee, and sweeps
With fetlock of gold, the last verge of the steeps.
The fire-fly anon from his covet shall glide,
And dark fall the shadows of eve on the tide.
Tread softly -- my spirit is joyous no more,
A northern aurora, it shone and is o'er;
The tears will fall fast as I gather the rein,
And a long look reverts to yon shadowy plain.

More Expectations

I'm still thinking about expectations, and the saying, Expectations ruin relationships. This is a true statement when applied to selfish and ridiculous expectations, but it can't apply to all expectations, for it seems to me that a friendship without expectations is no friendship it all. 

Expectations in Friendship

If I can’t expect a smile;

Can’t expect a friendly chat;

Can’t drop in and stay a while,

Then what kind of friend is that?

If I dare not speak my mind;

Dare not open up my heart,

Then my friend, however kind,

Is but friend to me in part.

I expect to trust my friend,

And expect that trust returned.

Expectations cannot end,

Where true friendship has been learned.

When you give what you expect,

Sometimes more, but never less,

Then your friendship you protect

From the snare of selfishness.

If you don’t expect at all;

Only give and never take,

Your capacity is small

Deep and mutual friends to make.

Expectations are not wrong —

Only foolish ones resist;

Those that flow from love belong;
Friends without them don't exist.

Linked to WholeHeartedHome

Expectations

Expectations ruin relationships 

 is a true saying. But it is also true that

Relationships build expectations.

   From people I don't know I expect very little, but as they prove their goodwill towards me and build a friendship, I begin to have certain expectations. If those expectations go unmet, the relationship dies. If they are met, the relationship grows, and I begin to have more and more expectations until a plateau is reached or perhaps a crisis intervenes that changes the dynamics of the friendship.

   Sometimes our expectations are built on unrealistic fantasies that no fellow human can meet. Such expectations ruin relationships. But unfulfilled expectations are not necessarily the result of expectations that are unreasonable. Often even very legitimate expectations go unmet due to the failure of those who have caused us, by one means or another, to expect better things from them.

   Concerning a close friend who began to take up more of his time than he desired to give, William Cowper wrote, "Customs very soon become laws. . . . Long usage had made that which at first was optional a point of good manners, . . . " He felt obliged to meet the expectations he had raised in his friend, and he did so (--- until he realized that she had fallen in love with him, which of course changed everything, and he cut off the relationship altogether.)

  When Daniel was in the habit of meeting God three times a day, we might suppose that God began to expect that meeting. If so, He was not disappointed, and Daniel continued to do as he had always done even in the threat of the lion's den.

   I have been thinking about these things for some time, but I have hesitated to write about them because I wanted to delineate the ramifications of it all. I wanted to explain what kind of expectations are proper and which ones are not. And I wanted to say when expectations ruin relationships and when a ruined relationship is the fault of the one who fails to meet expectations. But these things are deep and intricate, and I am able only to lay out the principle. There are two sides to every coin. To every thing there is a season. (Eccl. 3:1). A time to expect things and a time to give what is expected.  A time to  lower expectations and a time to expect great things.

~Somewhere in Utah~

~ and if you expect my pictures to have a direct connection with my subject,

you may want to lower your expectations. ~


WholeHearted-Home

Give and Take

True friendship involves give and take.

But what is giving and what is taking? 

Between friends giving is taking and taking is giving. 

I take a chunk of your time to give you a part of myself.

When you take a chunk of my time, you give me your confidence.

You take my confidence when you give me your secret, and you give me your trust when you ask me to give you something.

When you give me your ear, you are taking my heart. And when I give you a listening ear, I am taking in who you are. 

Unless you take my love, you don't truly give me yours.

If you don't take anything from me, you may give me charity or sympathy ~ but not friendship.

      
  Whole Hearted Home

I Shouldn't Be Annoyed

   I wrote this poem a few years ago (It feels like yesterday.) At the time I didn't think it was worth publishing, but when I happened upon it recently, it ministered to me. It still has the coarseness that embarrassed me when it was written, but the lack of refinement in the poem fits the theme.

I Shouldn't Be Annoyed
      I shouldn't be annoyed
      Though others seem devoid
Of decency and common sense,
And do their best to give offence.

      Despite repeated pain,
      I really can't complain.
Although I feel myself unnerved,
No better things have I deserved.

      My own poor heart is vile,
      And filled with treacherous guile,
And that deceitful, wicked heart
Has often played the tempter's part.

      With my unmanaged tongue
      Have I too often stung
The tender feelings of a friend
Whom better dealings should attend.

      I creep among the worms
      And share their guilty germs ~
My fellow creatures nothing owe
To one who shares their lot below.

Nita Brainard, December 2008