<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto">Thanks Ron…Exactly!<div>Susan<br id="lineBreakAtBeginningOfSignature"><div dir="ltr">Sent from my iPhone</div><div dir="ltr"><br><blockquote type="cite">On Jul 5, 2025, at 9:57 AM, Riantee Rand via Thespiritexpress <thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org> wrote:<br><br></blockquote></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii">Yes! Yes! Yes!<div>Thank you so much.</div><div>R<br id="lineBreakAtBeginningOfMessage"><div><br><blockquote type="cite"><div>On Jul 5, 2025, at 07:57, Ron Nadeau via Thespiritexpress <thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><div style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Enjoy this </span><font size="3">Weekend</font></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal;"><font size="3">~We live in a beautiful part of the world ~ a lot of Blessings being counted...</font></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal;"><font size="3">w/Love</font></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal;"><font size="3"><br></font></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal;"><font size="3"><br></font></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">~This poem came through on my morning feed:</span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><b>Pledge </b><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Today is Independence Day. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Tomorrow will also be Independence Day. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I wave the banner of the present moment.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I pledge allegiance to no flag, no nation. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I pledge allegiance to no tribe or party.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I pledge allegiance to no bombs bursting in air.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I pledge allegiance to silence and a day of prayer.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Patriotism is rebellion. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Rebellion is joy.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Cast down the mighty, the masters of war.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I pledge allegiance to the poor.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I pledge allegiance to the boy I used to be. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">The girl you were, the boy in the girl and the girl in the<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">boy before wholeness was shattered by<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">our education.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I pledge allegiance to hemp and sod.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I pledge allegiance to the unnamed God,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">to the moon and the tide, to sun and<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">wind and what I cannot know,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">to a light that contains all colors, to the rainbow.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I pledge allegiance to no belief<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">but an heirloom tomato seed,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">a living coral reef,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">the wisdom in a weed.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">when the fireworks last too long after<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">midnight and sulfur lingers in the air.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I pledge allegiance to the huddled deer,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">the stray dog in the street, <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">the shivering sparrow in a bush,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">the veteran cringing in the heat of his<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">most ancient fear.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I don't need more bombs.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I need to hear the gentle bursting of<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">peonies in my garden.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">To notice the sun set here as it rises over Gaza.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">To greet who ever I see with a breath of peace.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">They don't even need to know,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">something in my chest will melt away the<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">borders of every nation.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Now take off your shoes.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Go slow.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Don't burn the flag.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Unravel its thread.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">We hunger for a common bread.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">With all my relations gathered at birth,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I pledge allegiance to the earth,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">the infant curled in mother's sea of<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">trust.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I pledge allegiance to the dust. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">To all winged and swimming things, to creatures<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">that crawl or come out at night.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Brothers, sisters, four-legged and two,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I pledge allegiance<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">to you.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I pledge allegiance<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">to you.</span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: center; margin: 0in; line-height: normal; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- Alfred Lamotte</span></div><span style="text-align: start;"><div style="text-align: center; font-size: 16px;">______________________</div></span></div></div>_______________________________________________<br>Thespiritexpress mailing list<br>Thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org<br>https://lists.mcn.org/mailman/listinfo/thespiritexpress<br></div></blockquote></div><br></div><span>_______________________________________________</span><br><span>Thespiritexpress mailing list</span><br><span>Thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org</span><br><span>https://lists.mcn.org/mailman/listinfo/thespiritexpress</span><br></div></blockquote></div></body></html>