Quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson on Friends

Ralph Waldo Emerson- Excerpt from Essay Friendship

“What is so pleasant as these jets of affection which make a young world for me again? What so delicious as a just and firm encounter of two, in a thought, in a feeling? How beautiful, on their approach to this beating heart, the steps and forms of the gifted and the true! The moment we indulge our affections, the earth is metamorphosed; there is no winter, and no night; all tragedies, all ennuis, vanish, — all duties even; nothing fills the proceeding eternity but the forms all radiant of beloved persons. Let the soul be assured that somewhere in the universe it should rejoin its friend, and it would be content and cheerful alone for a thousand years.

I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new. Shall I not call God the Beautiful, who daily showeth himself so to me in his gifts? I chide society, I embrace solitude, and yet I am not so ungrateful as not to see the wise, the lovely, and the noble-minded, as from time to time they pass my gate. Who hears me, who understands me, becomes mine, — a possession for all time. Nor is nature so poor but she gives me this joy several times, and thus we weave social threads of our own, a new web of relations; and, as many thoughts in succession substantiate themselves, we shall by and by stand in a new world of our own creation, and no longer strangers and pilgrims in a traditionary globe. My friends have come to me unsought. The great God gave them to me. By oldest right, by the divine affinity of virtue with itself, I find them, or rather not I, but the Deity in me and in them derides and cancels the thick walls of individual character, relation, age, sex, circumstance, at which he usually connives, and now makes many one. High thanks I owe you, excellent lovers, who carry out the world for me to new and noble depths, and enlarge the meaning of all my thoughts. These are new poetry of the first Bard, — poetry without stop, — hymn, ode, and epic, poetry still flowing, Apollo and the Muses chanting still. Will these, too, separate themselves from me again, or some of them? I know not, but I fear it not; for my relation to them is so pure, that we hold by simple affinity, and the Genius of my life being thus social, the same affinity will exert its energy on whomsoever is as noble as these men and women, wherever I may be.

Love Found

Love Found

I believe this poem came from my higher self. I wrote it 2 days after I met my soul-mate, and did not edit it at all

To Mi Amore – Martha
Dr. Andrew Neil Skadberg, December 20, 2007



A few days past I awoke up happy with the life I had
Not realizing the surprise that had been cast
Carefully assessing my work, it was not sad
Grateful for the joys, sorrows, loves past
Accepting, knowing, thanking I’d been loved, shared love, enjoyed the bread
But gift intended for my receipt
May I had known, what little I’d been shown
I had no idea what Love might be
An ocean that reaches far beyond what I could see
Loves embrace, of which one morsel
Infinitely sublime
Like a ray of sunshine blessed unto one blind
Enveloped in peace, floating in the purest, tranquility with no end But how could this be?
I found myself being invited to a Love
One with no end
A place where I felt lost, yet found
Finally a place where my heart could land
No longer yearning for something just around the bend
I think, I feel, no believe, no I know!
That I have found A place, a person, a Love
Yes the essences, the state, the place, the be-ing
It must be, could it? My home?
Yes, I feel it, believe it, know it
The only one, the magic, the wonder, the glory, the promise
The Kingdom of Heaven blessed upon
To comprehend how I might be
So graced with Love as with Thee
You my dear Martha, you are the One
I’ve been searching, yearning, seeking
Pouring Love from my heart in hopes to find
The one to return it in like kind
But there seems no way that I could match
Love so pure, so fine, so kind, divine
To wake today to know
The Great one would find me, bless me, give
– Love sublime
Follow your bliss, that is our guide
Yes today, I see, feel, believe, know
It never ends, yes, we’ve just begun
This journey, this Love, this discovery
The Love in your heart Dear, it never ends
And how could I, simple Andy, be so graced
So blessed to be the one
To sip, immersed and touched, invited by the Sun
I don’t know, but gratefully I will proceed
To feel Love of eternity’s needs
It flows from You unto me
And I pray to God for just one thing
To send, reflect, give back in equal steed
You, are my life, my love, my need
A few days ago I did not know
But now I do, it’s been decreed
From this day forth, there will be no life, without You
For You Love, to me, you’re my life’s Source

Thank you dear, dear Martha for opening your heart to me,
I will be eternally grateful . . . . and so it be . . .