Enjoying the view from Limbo
Last evening, I ate dinner with a student at a department store food court. At one point in the conversation, while talking about the kind of attitudes and responses that pass for “normal” today, I suddenly had an odd thought. Looking around the large, moderately crowded but “socially-distanced” court, I mused aloud, “If someone from the government walked in here right now and...
A political age’s night is bleaker than Nature’s. When man’s sun is extinguished, he descends into the complete darkness of the blind and listless. When Nature’s source of light retreats, by contrast, the passivity of unfulfilled desire, enlivened by hints of past brightness, sustains a guiding glow which prevents the darkness from devouring all. The moon’s reflective surface itself, imitating the daylight, keeps...
It’s March 1st, and therefore as good a day as any, and better than most, to share an Emily Dickinson poem about hope, change, and time. Dear March — Come in — Dear March — Come in —How glad I am —I hoped for you before — Put down your Hat —You must have walked —How out of Breath you are —Dear March,...
On a dreary January day, incessantly wet in defiance of last night’s promising forecast, the air is thick with pollution and cold rain. The mountains are obscured by the translucent sky, and all sensible paths to outdoor enjoyment dampened. Having lost my hat on the bus coming here (too focused on remembering my umbrella), I must spend three hours, uncharacteristically, with my stupid...
This is an autumn. One comes every year, of course, but somehow each year’s looks and smells more autumnal, doesn’t it? Perhaps this is a sign of the times, in which case we might feel blessed, almost literally touched by divine grace, since to honest eyes these times are already, surely, the onset of a long, harsh winter. “What are all these pretty...
After nine long months of recovering from two foot surgeries, this walking fanatic is finally returning to his proper routine, including a short early morning walk, alone, during which I clear my mind of irrelevancies, organize my thoughts, and generally enjoy observing the world around me on its own terms, which is to say entirely without practical concerns, without the emotional mire of...
To be fair, there are always a few humans out there who redeem the race and its history — perhaps upwards of two or three hundred of them living on the planet at any given time, to speak optimistically — but then, alas, there are the rest of the lot. From the “leaders” on down (in exactly that configuration), humanity often seems a...
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