SONG OF THE FLOWER

This message was read on Saturday 05/28/2005 at the reunion. We think it should be remembered and shared with all of us.

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To: Ervinton High School Class of 1965

At the end of May,1965, we put on our caps and gowns and walked across the stage here at Ervinton High School. Saturday morning, we met and received our diplomas. It would be the last time we would all be together. Did we think of that at the time? I, for one, did not.

We said goodbye to a few and should have taken the time to say goodbye to all. That, I have regretted more than once over the last forty years.

But, life was waiting for us and we had to be on our way.

“SOME OF US”

When we left that day- in 1965

Some of us turned left and some of us turned right.

Some of us went to college and some of us went to work.

Some of us stayed in the area and some of us moved away.

Some of us went to Vietnam and most of us stayed here.

To those who went, from those who stayed, we are proud of you and are glad you came home.

Some of us got married and some of us did not.

Some of us got divorced and tried it again.

Some of us got it right the first time. Some the second.

Some of us never tried it again.

Some of us had children and some of us did not.

Some of us have grandchildren now and some of us do not.

To those who don’t have, from those who do, we hope that happens for you.

It may just be the purest form of love on this earth.

Some of us have worked for someone else all our lives.

Some of us, either by choice or chance, now have our own companies and guide our own ships.

Both are noble. Both are right. Neither better than the other.

Some of us crawled into a bottle and some of us did not.

Some of us stayed in it and some of us crawled back out.

To those who stayed in, from those who crawled back out, life is truly better out. Just take a look at the faces of those who love you. There lies the answer.

Some of us found our nitch in life.

Some of us are still searching.

Some of us just gave up.

Some of our hair has turned white.

Some has turned loose.

What remains, some of us have colored and some of us use only mousse.

Life has hardened some of us. Age has mellowed some of us.

Hopefully, we have all found some degree of inner peace.

Some of us are no longer on this earth.

To those who have gone, from those of us still here, we are sad. If we have not already done so, we will, on some rainy Saturday afternoon, remember you and shed a tear.

Some of us made it here tonight and some of us did not.

To those who didn’t, from those who did, we missed you and hope you are well.

May 28, 2005 it has been forty years since we walked these halls here at Ervinton High School. Life has a way of consuming our time, our thoughts, our bodies, and our spirits.

Life 101 should have been taught at Ervinton High School and should have been a required course. Teenagers can be cruel and thoughtless and we were no different. We should have taken more time to get to know and respect each other. If we had, we would have stayed in contact much more and more of us would have been here tonight. I, for one, regret my actions or lack thereof.

That brings us to the question, “How about our next reunion?

Yes, we should plan on another reunion here at Ervinton High School or at some place.

We should have one no matter if only two of us show up.

Some of us will no longer be on this earth and some of us will.

Because of death, illness, or lack of interest, some of us will not make it to the next reunion.

All three reasons are sad.

For the last few minutes, hopefully, one of us has read this to you.

One of us wrote this. All of us have had these thoughts at some time in our lives.

Let’s just say that we all wrote this and make a promise that we will stay in touch.

Some of us will and some of us won’t. All of us should try.

With love to ALL from, One Of Us

THE CLASS REUNION

Every ten years, as summertime nears,

An announcement arrives in the mail,

A reunion is planned; it'll be really grand,

Make plans to attend without fail

I'll never forget the first time we met;

We tried so hard to impress.

We drove fancy cars, smoked big cigars,

And wore our most elegant dress

It was quite an affair; the whole class was there.

It was held at a fancy hotel.

We wined, and we dined, and we acted refined,

And everyone thought it was swell

The men all conversed about who had been first

To achieve great fortune and fame.

Meanwhile, their spouses described their fine houses

And how beautiful their children became

The homecoming queen, who once had been lean,

Now weighed in at one-ninety-six.

The jocks who were there had all lost their hair,

And the cheerleaders could no longer do kicks

No one had heard about the class nerd

Who'd guided a spacecraft to the moon;

Or poor little Jane, who's always been plain;

She married a shipping tycoon

The boy we'd decreed "most apt to succeed"

Was serving ten years in the pen,

While the one voted "least" now was a priest;

Just shows you can be wrong now and then

They awarded a prize to one of the guys

Who seemed to have aged the least.

Another was given to the grad who had driven

The farthest to attend the feast

They took a class picture, a curious mixture

Of beehives, crew cuts and wide ties.

Tall, short, or skinny, the style was the mini;

You never saw so many thighs

At our next get-together, no one cared whether

They impressed their classmates or not.

The mood was informal, a whole lot more normal;

By this time we'd all gone to pot.

It was held out-of-doors, at the lake shores;

We ate hamburgers, coleslaw, and beans.

Then most of us lay around in the shade,

In our comfortable T-shirts and jeans.

By the fortieth year, it was abundantly clear,

We were definitely over the hill.

Those who weren't dead had to crawl out of bed,

And be home in time for their pill.

And now I can't wait; they've set the date;

Our fiftieth is coming, I'm told.

It should be a ball, they've rented a hall

At the Shady Rest Home for the old

Repairs have been made on my hearing aid;

My pacemaker's been turned up on high.

My wheelchair is oiled, and my teeth have been boiled;

And I've bought a new wig and glass eye

I'm feeling quite hearty, and I'm ready to party

I'm gonna dance 'til dawn's early light.

It'll be lots of fun; But I just hope that there's one

Other person who can make it that night

Author Unknown

SONG OF THE FLOWER

I AM A KIND WORD uttered and repeated

By the voice of Nature;

I am a star fallen from the

Blue tent upon the green carpet.

I am the daughter of the elements

With whom Winter conceived;

To whom Spring gave birth; I was

Reared in the lap of Summer and I

Slept in the bed of Autumn.

At dawn I unite with the breeze

To announce the coming of light;

At eventide I join the birds

In bidding the light farewell.

The plains are decorated with

My beautiful colors, and the air

Is scented with my fragrance.

As I embrace slumber the eyes of

Night watch over me, and as I

Awaken I stare at the sun, which is

The only eye of the day.

I drink dew for wine, and hearken to

The voices of the birds, and dance

To the rhythmic swaying of the grass.

I am the lover’s gift;

I am the wedding wreath;

I am the memory of a moment of happiness;

I am the last gift of the living to the dead;

I am a part of joy and a part of sorrow.

But I look up high to see only the light,

And never look down to see my shadow.

This is wisdom which man must learn.

Author: Kahlil Gibran

SONG OF THE WAVE

THE STRONG SHORE is my beloved

And I am his sweetheart.

We are at last united by love, and

Then the moon draws me from him.

I go to him in haste and depart

Reluctantly, with many

Little farewells.

I steal swiftly from behind the

Blue horizon to cast the silver of

My foam upon the gold of his sand, and

We blend in melted brilliance.

I quench his thirst and submerge his

Heart; he softens my voice and subdues

My temper.

At dawn I recite the rules of love upon

His ears, and he embraces me longingly.

At eventide I sing to him the song of

Hope, and then print smooth kisses upon

His face; I am swift and fearful, but he

Is quiet, patient, and thoughtful. His

Broad bosom soothes my restlessness.

As the tide comes we caress each other,

When it withdraws,

I drop to his feet in Prayer.

In the heaviness of night, when all

Creatures seek the ghost of Slumber, I

Sit up, singing at one time and sighing

At another. I am awake always.

Alas! Sleeplessness has weakened me!

But I am a lover, and the truth of love

Is strong.

I may weary, but I shall never die.

Author: Kahlil Gibran

SONG OF FORTUNE

MAN and I are sweethearts

He craves me and I long for him,

But alas! Between us has appeared

A rival who brings us misery.

She is cruel and demanding,

Her name is Substance.

She follows wherever we go

And watches like a sentinel, bringing

Restlessness to my lover.

I search for my beloved in the forest,

Under the trees, by the lakes.

I cannot find him, for Substance

Has spirited him to the clamorous

City and placed him on the throne

Of quaking, metal riches.

I call for him with the voice of

Knowledge and the song of Wisdom.

He does not answer, for Substance

Has enticed him into the dungeon

Of selfishness, where avarice dwells.

I seek him in the field of Contentment,

But I am alone, for my rival has

Imprisoned him in the cave of gluttony

And greed. and locked him there

With painful chains of gold.

I call to him at dawn, when Nature smiles,

But he does not hear, for excess has

Laden his drugged eyes with sick slumber.

I call for him at eventide, when Silence rules

And the flowers sleep. But he responds not,

For his fear over what the morrow will

Bring, shadows his thoughts.

He yearns to love me;

He asks for me in his own acts. But he

Will find me not except in God’s acts.

He seeks me in the edifices of his glory

Which he has built upon the bones of others;

He whispers to me from among

His heaps of gold and silver;

But he will find me only by coming to

The house of Simplicity which God has built

At the brink of the stream of affection.

He desires to kiss me before his coffers,

But his lips will never touch mine except

In the richness of the pure breeze.

He asks me to share with him his

Fabulous wealth, but I will not forsake God’s

Fortune; I will not cast off my cloak of beauty.

He seeks deceit for medium; I seek only

The medium of his heart.

He bruises his heart in his narrow cell;

I would enrich his heart with my love.

My beloved has learned how to shriek and

Cry for my enemy, Substance; I would

Teach him how to shed tears of affection

And mercy from the eyes of his soul

And utter sighs of contentment through

Those tears.

Man is my sweetheart;

I want to belong to him.

Author: Kahlil Gibran

SONG OF THE RAIN

I emerge from the heart of the sea and Soar with the breeze.

When I see a field in need,

I descend and embrace the flowers and

The trees in a million little ways.

I am the sigh of the sea;

The laughter of the field;

The tears of heaven.

The voice of thunder declares my arrival;

The rainbow announces my departure.

I am like earthly life which begins

With the cries from the pains of birth and ends

Under the upraised wings of death.

The heat in the air gives birth to me,

But in turn I subdue it

As woman overcomes man with

The strength she takes from him.

I am dotted silver threads dropped from heaven

By the gods. Nature then takes me, to adorn

Her fields and valleys.

The field and the cloud are lovers

And between them I am a messenger

I quench the thirst of the one;

I lighten the burden of the other.

I touch gently at the windows with my

Soft fingers, and my announcement is a

Welcome song. All can hear, but only

The sensitive can understand.

So I return again and again with love

from the deep sea of affection;

Laughter from the colourful field of the spirit

Tears from the endless heaven of memories.

Author: Kahlil Gibran

THE LIFE OF LOVE

SPRING

COME, my beloved; let us walk amidst the knolls,

For the snow is water, and Life is alive from its

Slumber and is roaming the hills and valleys.

Let us follow the footprints of Spring into the

Distant fields, and mount the hilltops to draw

Inspiration high above the cool green plains.

Dawn of Spring has unfolded her winter-kept garment

And placed it on the peach and citrus trees; and

They appear as brides in the ceremonial custom of

The Night of Kedre.

The sprigs of grapevine embrace each other like

Sweethearts, and the brooks burst out in dance

Between the rocks, repeating the song of joy;

And the flowers bud suddenly from the heart of

Nature, like foam from the rich heart of the sea.

Come, my beloved; let us drink the last of

Winter’s Tears from the cupped lilies, and soothe our spirits

With the shower of notes from the birds, and wander

In exhilaration through the intoxicating breeze.

Let us sit by that rock, where violets hide; let us

Pursue their exchange of the sweetness of kisses.

SUMMER

Let us go into the fields, my beloved, for the

Time of harvest approaches, and the sun’s eyes

Are ripening the grain.

Let us tend the fruit of the earth, as the

Spirit nourishes the grains of Joy from the

Seeds of Love, sowed deep in our hearts.

Let us fill our bins with the products of

Nature, as life fills so abundantly the

Domain of our hearts with her endless bounty.

Let us make the flowers our bed, and the

Sky our blanket, and rest our heads together

Upon pillows of soft hay.

Let us relax after the day’s toil, and listen

To the provoking murmur of the brook.

Author: Kahlil Gibran

AUTUMN

Let us go and gather the grapes of the vineyard

For the winepress, and keep the wine in old

Vases, as the spirit keeps Knowledge of the

Ages in eternal vessels.

Let us return to our dwelling, for the wind has

Caused the yellow leaves to fall and shroud the

Withering flowers that whisper elegy to Summer.

Come home, my eternal sweetheart, for the birds

Have made pilgrimage to warmth and left the city.

Prairies suffering pangs of solitude. The jasmine

And myrtle have no more tears.

Let us retreat, for the tired brook has

Ceased its song; and the bubblesome springs

Are drained of their copious weeping; and

The cautious old hills have stored away

Their colourful garments.

Come, my beloved; Nature is justly weary

And is bidding her enthusiasm farewell

With quiet and contented melody.

Author: Kahlil Gibran

WINTER

Come close to me, oh companion of my full life

Come close to me and let not Winter’s touch

Enter between us. Sit by me before the hearth

For fire is the only fruit of Winter.

Speak to me of the glory of your heart, for

That is greater than the shrieking elements

Beyond our door.

Bind the door and seal the transoms, for the

Angry countenance of the heaven depresses my

Spirit, and the face of our snow-laden fields

Makes my soul cry.

Feed the lamp with oil and let it not dim, and

Place it by you, so I can read with tears what

Your life with me has written upon your face.

Bring Autumn’s wine. Let us drink and sing the

Song of remembrance to Spring’s carefree sowing,

And Summer’s watchful tending, and Autumn’s

Reward in harvest.

Come close to me, oh beloved of my soul; the

Fire is cooling and fleeing under the ashes.

Embrace me, for I fear loneliness; the lamp is

Dim, and the wine which we pressed is closing

Our eyes. Let us look upon each other before

They are shut.

Find me with your arms and embrace me; let

Slumber then embrace our souls as one.

Kiss me, my beloved, for Winter has stolen

All but our moving lips.

You are close by me, My Forever.

How deep and wide will be the ocean of Slumber,

And how recent was the dawn!

    Nothing Can Hold Back A Dream

    It is born in the heart but lives in the mind
   If pushed to the side it comes back in time
   when you think it's forgotten, forever it seems
         Nothing can hold back a dream

   Through youth you travel with never a plan
   destiny carried you far from your homeland
   you missed your meadows, the field, the stream
          Nothing can hold back a dream

   Never a thought that your life would end
   you were young, you were running against the wind
no thought to life and what it may mean
          Nothing could hold back a dream

   But there in your heart, deep in that place
   where dreams hide away while you run life's race
   was memory of country, of woods and stream
           Nothing can hold back a dream

   Now it calls to you, the great outdoors
   that dream in your heart you cannot ignore
   somehow you will find the way, the means
       Nothing can hold back a dream

                                             Copyright © JGStout/2006

Show me the way

There hung a picture in the hall

The house was warm although quite small

I stopped to look almost every day

At the beautiful angel showing the way

To a small child much like me

It gave me hope that she might be

There to guide and be my friend

From morning light to days long end

When I grew up and moved away

In the house the picture was there to stay

Then when I grew into a man

She was always there to hold my hand

God makes angels, great and small

Some just a picture on the wall

But in life’s journey he shows the way

To lead us safely home one day

In The Wilderness

There are days when we all feel lost

days when we all feel alone

times when our sky is dark

when we are on a mountain of stone

These are the times that test our faith

and we bow our heads to pray

it is our faith that will carry us through

to see the beauty of another day

There are days we spend in the wilderness

those times when our hearts are alone

have faith that he will come for us

and show us the way back home

Dear Angela,

I hope this letter finds you well, that your thoughts are filled with anticipation for the journey we will take this weekend and happiness lives in every thought you think today.

It is not often that I write letters on religious subjects unless they are for someone who is depressed, has lost a loved one or just needs some comfort on their bad days. So I write this letter as a prayer for Angela because it is a prayer that lives in my heart.

Lord, I pray that you would give the gift of wisdom discernment and revelation to Angela. Help her to trust you with all her heart, not dependent on her own understanding, but trust in your wisdom to understand clearly the path she should walk. Help her to discern good from evil and be sensitive to the voice of the holy spirit saying, this is the path for you to take.

I know that much of her happiness in life depends on gaining wisdom and discernment, which your word says brings long life, wealth, recognition, protection, enjoyment, contentment and happiness. May all these things come to her because of your gift.

I pray that your perfect love will surround Angela, give her peace and protect her from fear. Wherever there is danger or good reason to fear, give her wisdom, protect her and draw her close to you. Help her not to deny her fears, but take them to you in prayer and seek deliverance from them. I prey that your love will penetrate her life and crowd out all fear while you plant words of love in her heart. Let faith take root in her mind and soul as she walks on the path you have chosen for her feet to follow.

I pray that Angela will find her identity in you and that you will help her to understand her worth through your eyes and your standards. May she recognize the unique qualities you have placed in her and be able to appreciate them. Please enable her to see herself the way you see her, understanding that you have a made her a little lower than the angels, but that you have crowned her with glory and honor.

Thank you, Lord that you care about her eternal future even more than I do and that it is secure in your hands. In the name of the father and the son we pray.

If God grants just one prayer in all my days… it is that your prayers be answered.

Stay well….be happy

The Strength I see In You

Like the symbol of our native land

in grand simplicity wherever she stands

Proud like the mighty mountains high

she awaits the day when she can fly

With spread wings, untried but strong

that dares to soar both far and long

And like the master of the clouds

she needs to live, serene and proud

She stands in lovely majesty

The admiration of earth, for all to see

And destined in her day to be

Mighty as an eagle, both proud and free

Dear Angela,

May this day, find you with happiness in your heart, beauty in your thoughts and hope in every prayer you wish would come true.

Knowing that in a few days from now you will come face to face with another day in your life which will decide the direction your path will follow for many years to come, I wanted to send you a special message and this special poem I created for you.

I want you to know and have faith in your heart that you are stronger than you may think. That God has created a special person in you that can stand up to any adversity that he may send to you and you can pass every trial that you may encounter on the path he has chosen for you to walk. There is strength inside of you that is strong but untested because you have not needed it to go in the direction that He has chosen for you to go, but you must have faith that the direction is the plan He has chosen for you. If you think about the days and years that have passed you may recall that there have been signs, telling you that change must come to take you on the path of your destiny, that you have felt the urge inside of you to be in another place, that you have known that little feeling inside that tells you that all is not right in your world, that there is happiness in the world that has not found its way into your heart and that you have felt the power of God’s love tugging at your heart strings. There is no need to know fear when it is God’s will that leads you to follow the path He has chosen for you. You must not fear the things you do not know now, but have faith that God will show you the way and give you the wisdom to make the decisions you must make to be what and where He wants you to be. You must have faith that He has give to you all the strength and support you need to face any trial or tribulation that comes before you. You must trust that He has given you the inner strength which will be there when you need it to be. You must know that wherever your feet choose to walk upon this earth, you are a child of God and you have the right to be there. You must know that you are the child of a most high God which makes you equal to any person He has placed upon this earth. There are none above you, none below you, none in front of you or none in back of you that are better or more favored than the love God has given to you.

Know no fear because God will stand beside you on those days when you need Him to be there for you, and know that on those days, I will be standing by the right hand of God in every thought and prayer that I can give to you. If God loves you and I love you, you have no greater needs.

Stay well…..be happy

The Prayer In The Garden

The hour of my death will come

I pray to you, your only son

That you might save me from the pain

If not, the sins of the world to bring

That I may carry to the cross

The sins of man, before all is lost

Turn from me so you will not see

The sins I bear to set them free

Please send an angel, good and kind

To give me strength and secure my mind

That I might walk upon the hill

To carry thy burden and do thy will

When I was a young man I remember a group of old men talking at a funeral for one of their comrades who had served in WWII and fought on the shores of Normandy where the Allies invaded France to take back Europe from Germany. One said that it was the greatest battle ever fought for mankind, another said it was the battle of Midway in the Pacific, still another said it was the Battle of the Bulge in Germany. Then an old man stood up and declared that they knew nothing of the human race. His next comment silenced them all when he said the greatest battle of all time was fought in the Garden of Gethsemane and the combatants were Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Satan, the originator of sin. I listened as he told this story.

Satan had almost completed a plan that he had made to destroy the Son of God by plotting through Judas, which was to take Jesus and crucify him at the hands of traitors, and corrupt officials. Jesus chose as the meeting place a beautiful garden where he prayed to his father in his hour of need. All of the beauty in that garden witnessed the moment of time when Jesus uttered the words that God trusted Him to say, “Not My will, but Yours be done”. It’s a wonder the trees didn’t weep! Then turning to Satin he said, “This is your hour, and the power of darkness.” Little did Satan know that those words sealed his demise for eternity, and Jesus was setting him up for the final battle between good and evil and the sins of man. It was here that Jesus knelt in prayed to the father. He did ask to be spared from the Crucifixion, if that was possible, but if not then he asked his father to deliver to him all the sins that mankind had ever committed and all the sins that would ever be committed, that he might carry them to the cross with him. Satin was delighted that he who was without sin would carry all the sins of the world with him. That was the most difficult and traumatic part of all for Jesus. Since God cannot look on sin, He couldn’t look at His own Son with all that sin on Him. The result? Abandonment. Separation. Estrangement. The greatest loneliness in history. Divinity turning away from Divinity. The nails, the torture, the blood, & the agony were all secondary to that moment when Jesus quoted Psalm 22. “My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?” The pain must have been indescribable. God ripped away from Himself the most precious relationship imaginable. His own Son. Jesus endured the Cross, because the battle was already won in the Garden. He didn’t wait to get on the Cross, then make a decision. He made it the night before. You see, Jesus didn’t die a martyrs death. He died a champion’s death! He died carrying a cross and our sins to Mount Calvary.

Pictures from the adventures of Jack and his fly fishing expeditions.

Fly Fishing in Montana.

This picture was taken on the Big Horn rive about 30 Miles East of Billings and about 15 files from Custer’s Last Stand at the battle of the Little Big Horn.

Fly Fishing in Alaska.

This picture was taken near Lake Clark about 50 miles from where the bears catch the fish as they try to leap the falls. The pictures you see on TV all the time. This is a Sockeye Salmon fresh from the ocean about five miles upriver from Bristol Bay. This one was taken on a #8 fly rod the last week in June.

Fly Fishing in Alaska.

This is a King Salmon. It was taken on a #8 fly rod about 15 miles upriver from Bristol Bay. This fish required about 40 minutes to land.

This time the big one did not get away. This is a secret location near Lake Clark in Alaska. This Northern Pike was 53” and would have been an Alaskan state record had I chosen to keep it. But I having no need for trophies released it back in the river to be free again.

This was with my Indian friend Tom Black-Eagle from Montana