Your pain is a school unto itself–– and your joy a lovely temple.

When a reader enters the pages of a book of poetry, he or she enters a world where dreams transform the past into knowledge made applicable to the present, and where visions shape the present into extraordinary possibilities for the future.

By consciously meditating upon spiritual truths and cultivating personal integrity, one need never fear negative circumstances.

His [Ben Okri's] work poses very serious questions for the twenty-first century. Among them: To what extent will we allow the indefinable dynamics of something called "destiny" to maintain grief and horror in the world? How hard are human beings willing to fight to achieve and sustain justice, equanimity, or joy? And should progress be called such when it devours what is best within the human spirit?

And therein shines one major definition of what it meant to be Clinton D. Powell: someone who looked for, trusted in, and helped empower (if you will) the best in others. It takes a lot of beautiful love, uncommon sincerity, and spitfire courage to do that.

Even when muddy your wings sparkle bright wonders that heal broken worlds.

Death wins nothing here, gnawing wings that amputate–– then spread, lift up, fly.