Monday, November 05, 2007
Three Score Years and Ten, Plus a Few More
For those who believe in zodiac signs it is the time of the scorpion. I never pay attention to the signs and what they mean but when November comes around it makes me think of where I am and of years gone by. For me it is autumn in more sense than one. The late Norman Maclean wrote:
"As I get considerably beyond the biblical alllotment of three score years and ten, I feel with increasing intensity that I can express my gratitude for still being around on the oxygen side of the earth's crust only by not standing pat on what I have hitherto known and loved. While the oxygen lasts, there are still new things to love, especially if compassion is a form of love."--Norman Maclean (Notes written as a possible foreword to Young Men and Fire, December 4, 1985)
Compassion......and a sense of humility. Hope they remain strong as long as my heart keeps beating.
A star looks down at me And says: "Here I and you
Stand,each in our degree:
What do you mean to do--
What do you mean to do--
Mean to do?"
I say: "For all I know
Wait,and let Time go by
Till my change come."--"Just so,"
The star says: "So mean I-- So mean I."Wait,and let Time go by
Till my change come."--"Just so,"
---Thomas Hardy "Waiting Both"
