Rebecca's Reading Room

Welcome to Rebecca’s Reading Room.

Stories & Poetry Given Voice.

Reading rooms are a place for exploration and connection. Books transport us to new worlds and brings us back safe home.

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Rebecca

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About Me

Welcome to My Reading Room blog & podcast!

My goal is to encourage a deep and profound awareness of our personal journeys. There is always a story to be read, an adventure to be imagined, and an idea to be understood.

Words give meaning to the present while expressing the universal hopes and aspirations of humanity, past and future.  Gertrude Stein once said, “A masterpiece…may be unwelcome but it is never dull.”   For me, books that challenge my “status quo” and test my firmly held beliefs may be uncomfortable, but they are anything but boring. 

The bond between writer and reader gives relevance to the exchange.  My goal is to understand the message in the spirit in which it was given and to embrace the diversity of accepted wisdom. In the end, it is about connecting with others, whether they live in our century or 2500 years ago.

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Rebecca

A quiet space for words, reflection, and wonder

Welcome to Rebecca’s Reading Room, a quiet library of words and reflections. This is a place to pause, to linger with books and poetry, and to let stories become companions. Some books walk beside us for a season, others stay for a lifetime — all of them leave their mark.

Here you’ll find gentle meditations on poetry, thoughtful book reviews, and explorations that wander from Emily Carr’s artistry to Goethe’s Faust, from the hidden corners of literature to the voices of poets who still speak across time. Every post is an invitation to slow down, to listen, and to rediscover the joy of reading as a lifelong journey.

You are always welcome in the Reading Room.

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The Drowsy World Dreams On by Walter Everette Hawkins – Rebecca's Reading Room

S6 E14: The Drowsy World Dreams On by Walter Everette HawkinsWelcome to Rebecca’s Reading Room.Today’s reflection began during a quiet walk through the campus of Simon Fraser University. I paused at the Trottier Observatory, surrounded by maps of the stars and the turning seasons, while students passed by on their way to class.In that moment, I was carried back to my own university days and reminded of how quickly time moves, and how easily life’s tender moments can pass unnoticed.From that experience came the memory of a beautiful poem by Walter Everette Hawkins, The Drowsy World Dreams On—a gentle meditation on beauty, passing time, and the importance of remaining awake to the gifts of the present moment.Thank you for joining me in the Reading Room.Rebecca📚Rebecca’s Reading RoomThe Drowsy World Dreams On by Walter Everette HawkinsA flower bloomed out on a woodland hill,A song rose up from the woodland rill;But the floweret bloomed but to wither away,And no man heard what the stream had to say, For the drowsy world dreamed on.Thro the frills of a curtain a moonbeam crept,Till it fell on the crib where a nursling slept;And a whisper and smile lit a wee dimpled face,But none save the angels their beauty could trace, For the drowsy world dreamed on.A wee bird piped out mid the corn,A rose bloomed out beneath the thorn;But the scent of the rose and the birdling’s layOn the winds of the morning were wafted away While the drowsy world dreamed on.And the drowsy old world’s growing gloomy and gray,While the joys that are sweetest are passing away;And the charms that inspire like the picture of dawnAre but playthings of Time—they gleam and are gone, While the drowsy world dreams on. Photography and Recitation by Rebecca BuddMusic by Epidemic Sound“One Voice” Johannes Bornlöfhttps://www.epidemicsound.com/music/tracks/c81da105-dd17-4aba-b43d-ca2a6df2f434/Location: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby CampusNote: The last phrase “The Drowsy World Dreamed On” should be read “The Drowsy World Dreams On.”
  1. The Drowsy World Dreams On by Walter Everette Hawkins
  2. Looking Up A Garden Meditation
  3. Walking Toward What Must Be | A Reflection on Rodin’s Burghers of Calais
  4. Up in the Air: A Poem, a Mother, a Memory
  5. The Power of Reading Spaces