To hear never-heard sounds, To see never-seen colors and shapes, To try to understand the imperceptible Power pervading the world; To fly and find pure ethereal substances That are not of matter But of that invisible soul pervading reality. To hear another soul and to whisper to another soul; To be a lantern in the darkness Or an umbrella in a stormy day; To feel much more than know. To be the eyes of an eagle, slope of a mountain; To be a wave understanding the influence of the moon; To be a tree and read the memory of the leaves; To be an insignificant pedestrian on the streets Of crazy cities watching, watching, and watching. To be a smile on the face of a woman And shine in her memory As a moment saved without planning.

A lantern can give you light only when you light it.

Having your evening coffee overA field guide of trails or alpine blossoms& so I need now to ask youWhich of the old journals did you firstOpen to a map of my long wanderingWhen did you first know I'd come back& how did you find yourself here& how did you know this single lanternYou are reading by was the last possibleLight to lead me home?

No my friend, darkness is not everywhere, for here and there I find faces illuminated from within; paper lanterns among the dark trees.

Hope is a helium balloon. It is a wish lantern set out into the dark sky of night.

And if you couldn't be loved, the next best thing was to be let alone.

Moon is the light from a lantern in heaven.

Perhpas if I call out to Rat he might hear,' said the Mole to himself, but without much hope.Rat! Ratty! O Rat, please hear me!' he called out as loudly as he could, holding up his lantern as he did so, waving it about/ But the wind rushed and roared around him even more, and snatched his weak words away the moment they were they were uttered, and scattered them wildly and uselessly as if they were flakes of snow,Even worse, the light of the lantern began to gutter, and then, quiet suddenly, an extra strong gust of wind blew it out.Well then,' said the daunted but resolute Mole, putting the spent lantern on the ground, 'there's nothing else for it! Frozen rivers are dangerous thinngs, no doubt, but I must try to cross, despite the dangers.'--The Willows in the Winter.

Light is more important than the lantern,The poem more important than the notebook.