Appreciation of opposites

Appreciation of opposites

A feel of warmth in this place. In winter air a scent of harvest. No prayer is needed, When by sudden grace attended. Naturally, we fall from grace. Mere humans, we forget what light Led us, lonely, to this place. The Blessing by John Montague Here in the southwestern...
Sunday in the Gers with Sue

Sunday in the Gers with Sue

The time will come when, with elation, you will greet yourself arriving at your own door, in your own mirror, and each will smile at the other’s welcome, and say, sit here. Eat. You will love again the stranger who was your self. Give wine. Give bread. Give back your...
midsummer day’s dream

midsummer day’s dream

It’s ripe, the melon by our sink. Yellow, bee-bitten, soft, it perfumes the house too sweetly. At five I wake, the air mournful in its quiet. My wife’s eyes swim calmly under their lids, her mouth and jaw relaxed, different. What is happening in the silence of this...
tango

tango

Rules for Happiness Something to do. Someone to love. Something to hope for. Immanuel Kant What is it that we can’t make, make it stay when it arrives, or make it return once it has passed? Happiness. For us to live with things we like is easy. But to live surrounded...
Tour de Provence

Tour de Provence

I stood in the Provençal light my eyes hungry, the landscape beautiful. I couldn’t get enough of the dappled sunshine to quench my thirst. I’d seen a lot of bowed heads over cell phones instead of the fragrant roses blooming nearby. After Nazim Hikmet...