Love Came Softly

 

Love Came Softly

Love came softly

To my doorstep today

In a little white gift box

With some sweet words to say

Inside was a smile

Inside was a kiss

Inside were caresses

And the fragrance of bliss

Love came softly

To the taste of my mouth

Hungrily pleading

As it's mystery poured out

Love came softly

Like a dream not a dream

Whispering in rapture

And a shy silent scream

Love came softly

As I inhaled the air

And it fell on my face,

On my hands, in my hair

Love came softly

Just a hint rather than

The shadow of substance,

But formed into a man

Love came softly

With it's solace and charms

And I saw it and reached out

And pulled it into my arms.

©by Voo Shining Stone

2021

Things Southerners Can't Stand from Southern Living Magazine©

 Southerners are the easiest people in the world to get along with, but there are some things that just stick in our craw. They're our shared fingernails to the chalkboard, our collective white shoes after Labor Day. They remind us that, despite surface differences between, say, Texans and Georgians, we are virtually united when it comes to rude kids and other things we "just don't go along with." (Mama's disapproving "I just don't go along with that" can strike fear and shame in her children, long after they're old enough to get the senior discount at the movie house.)

In some cases, we simply say a silent "bless your heart" and go about our business. For example, if you don't know how to make cornbread and actually put sugar in it, we'll force it down and move on. Other offenses, like odious violations of what we consider basic Southern manners, get us riled, make our blood pressure go up, and can even provoke unseemly utterances (translation: we'll cuss out loud) right there in the Piggly Wiggly.

We consulted our Facebook Brain Trust to find out what's on their list of stuff Southerners can't abide. Let us know what we missed.

"Rude children who weren't raised right and answer precious Memaw with ‘yeah' and ‘nope' instead of ‘Yes, ma'am,' and ‘No, ma'am.'"

"Bad manners—interrupting someone who's talking, failing to hold a door open for the person behind you, bragging about yourself, getting so absorbed in your iPhone grocery list at the Winn-Dixie that you run over the preacher's wife with your buggy—file all that under ‘rude and tacky.'"

"Instant tea. Instant coffee. Instant grits."

"Hollywood actors who mutilate Southern accents."

"Garbled Southern expressions—someone saying ‘you-uns,' for example, instead of ‘y'all.'"

"Hearing someone call Coke ‘pop.'" Aside: Not only do we say "Let's stop and get a Coke" when we intend to  purchase an actual Coca-Cola, but we say the same thing when we mean to buy a Sprite, Doctor Pepper, Mountain Dew. . .

"Going someplace—like Boston—where servers look at you like you're crazy when you ask for sweet iced tea."

"People who think all Southerners just stepped off the set of Dukes of Hazzard."

"Yankees who use ‘y'all' when referring to ONE person. It's plural—y'all!" Aside: Don't we love the way Chip Gaines, on behalf of the rest of us, makes "y'all" possessive on national TV? We can't remember—is it "YAWL-ziz" or "Your all-ziz"? Either way, it makes us feel as warm and fuzzy as a MoonPie and an RC Cola.

"Proper tea should be sweet. Proper cornbread should not. Sweet cornbread is called ‘cake.'"

"Whiners!"

"Mean people. Rude people. People who don't use their turn signals."

"People from outside the South who tell me, ‘Say something again—I just love to hear the way you guys talk.'"

"People from north of the Mason-Dixon who make fun of our slower speech. My fave response: ‘I may talk slow, but I'm not stupid.'"  Aside: The late Callie Mitchell, who had the most genteel old-school Southern accent ever, also had the best advice on dealing with rude people who make fun of Southerners:

"Mah deah, you cannot ah-gue with ignorance—you can only foah-give it."

Happy Birthday, Cousin E

 

Simpson Predictions...Past, Present and Future let us hope not.....but still....

 

The Same Storm In Mine

 

The Same Storm In Mine

We recognized one another

The night we met

Though we had never met before

We saw in each other's eyes

The passion we craved

The wildness that was yet to be tamed

We felt our heartbeats slow

Then race

Then synchronize together in unison

And then the madness began

The indescribable madness of true love

The true love that only comes once

We fought like lions

And made up like lambs

But oh, how we loved!

Loved like the lightning loved the skies

Loved like the thunder loved the roar

Loved like the raindrops loved the earth

Through days of war and nights of peace

Through cries of pain and love's delight

We imprinted ourselves upon pages of poetry

And then the world ended

As all worlds, they do

Created out of myth and longing

And you flew away on your invisible wings

Leaving Earth and the boundaries of time

Waving goodbye as our tears fell like raindrops

With the storm still in your veins and the same storm in mine.

©by Voo Shining Stone

Jan 3, 2021

5:15 p.m.

Gentle Storm by Elbow

oh, my my, what a song and video!