poem

Hurry, Haste

Posted by

3

What is your hurry?

I ask myself that question several times per day. What is your hurry?

My encouragement to myself is “what is your hurry?” At this stage of my life the answer is I do not know. (IDK)

I do know that when I close my eyes in the sunny shade of these woods and empty my mind as best I can, and then I open my eyes again the evergreens are a brilliant color with a deeper blue. Why is that? IDK. I have hurried through life without looking.

Why did I pick this trail for today’s activity? A day ago I wrote that I am not a child anymore and I am not youthful but I still see a world of wonder with youthful eyes. I remember long ago when Cheryl and I came here we hiked this trail more quickly than I do today. I am not in a hurry. Maybe that memory brought me up the cliff face. IDK. Today I stopped often to rest but also to look, think, remember and read and listen while I read.

I selected several books to bring with me on this retreat and personal retrospective. I selected first “So long and Thanks for the Fish” by Douglas Adams. I have read a couple of the others from the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy trilogy. There are five books altogether and the theme is cynicism and simultaneous mediocrity as we splash through life. Wonko the Sane explained why he became a hermit – “The sign read: hold stick near the center of its length. Moisten pointed end in mouth. Insert in tooth space blunt end next to gum. Use gentle in-out motion. It seemed to me,  he said, that any society that had so far lost its head to put such a detailed set of instructions on a package of toothpicks, was no longer a civilization that I could live in and stay sane.” We have a lot of things like that going on. “Caution HOT!” is printed on the side of the McDonald’s coffee cup.  I always think, “I hope so.” Why are warning signs like this posted? I passed several today on railings erected along the trail. The other side of the rail was a sheer drop. “DANGER No Entrance ” is printed on the sign.  IDK. I did not hurry through the small volume. Several times walking today I found myself reading on a convenient log or outcrop of rock.


Why did I select this book to read first? IDK but it has been many years since I read the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and the absurdity of the story line is compelling. Maybe it is time to review my life and start anew. Maybe I long for the next great thing. IDK. There is no hurry.

There will be time to take time for wonder. There is no hurry.

Carpe Diem.

Poetry and Meaning

Posted by

0

This poem by Shel Silverstein is from an anthology of poems and cartoons published by him with the same name in the 1970s. I do not remember how we got it but I have several books of poetry. Poetry can tell a story, elicit emotion, evoke a memory or simply make one think.

Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

There is a place where the sidewalk ends
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind.

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends.
Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And watch where the chalk-white arrows go
To the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we’ll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we’ll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends.

http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/shel_silverstein/poems/14836

Hauntingly to me it is a metaphor for life. I do not know where the smoke blows black and the dark street winds but every life has rough spots. Childhood is full of hope and dreams and looking towards a bright future free from cares.

But growth and maturity catches us and distracts us from ourselves. It adds fear, anxiety and worries about things over which we have no control.

Looking back from the end of the sidewalk one sees with great clarity the chalk marks where direction was changed forever.

Or Shel may have been writing with something totally different in mind.

Carpe Diem.

Ennui (un-WEE)

Posted by

2

Ennui is a feeling of listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from a lack of occupation or excitement according to the Oxford entry that pops up when one pokes this word into Google. I have several dictionaries in print form. They are left over from my high school and college days. My copy of the American Heritage Dictionary (copyright 1971) defines it as a feeling of listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from a lack of interest (boredom). It is a small word that conveys a big emotion.

This word was part of the Quordle this morning. I did not get it. It is not part of my regular vocabulary. It is adopted into the English language from the French. The French have a lot of good words that are adopted into English. Altruism or the root of that word is another. Entrepreneur is another.

Words are a fascination for me. I think this word, ennui, is an excellent description of how and what I feel emotionally when I get home from visiting Cheryl at Bridgeway Pointe.

Moving forward from this point I will strive to become more engaged in life around me. Look for things to stimulate my interest. Succumb to various fascinations that I have about the world. Immerse myself in new vistas of my environment.

These last ideas are antonyms to ennui. Introspection is useful. Self-absorption is not. Perhaps I have been too self-absorbed to understand and accept emotional help from those around me.

I will meditate about that today. My son has invited me for dinner.

Carpe Diem.