Sunday, April 22, 2007

Dirge Without Music

During this morning's service, the minister used Edna St. Vincent Millay's poem Dirge Without Music for her meditation, to honor the memory of all who died of violence this week. It seems fitting, as well, to remember all those who have blessed our lives and are no longer with us.

Dirge Without Music
I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground.
So it is, and so it will be, for so it has been, time out of mind:
Into the darkness they go, the wise and the lovely. Crowned
With lilies and with laurel they go; but I am not resigned.

Lovers and thinkers, into the earth with you.
Be one with the dull, the indiscriminate dust.
A fragment of what you felt, of what you knew,
A formula, a phrase remains, --- but the best is lost.

The answers quick & keen, the honest look, the laughter, the love,
They are gone. They have gone to feed the roses. Elegant and curled
Is the blossom. Fragrant is the blossom. I know. But I do not approve.
More precious was the light in your eyes than all the roses in the world.

Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave
Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind;
Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave.
I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

DFW Vista

The view from the Grapevine Golf Course, looking south towards DFW.

Unlike New Hampshire, spring has clearly arrived here. I am struck most by the vibrant green of the leaves on the trees. And the cotton-ball clouds are always a welcome sight.

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Big D

The pilot just announced that we are starting our descent to DFW. For almost 20 years, this would have been a return flight, bringing me home. This trip, it’s away from home in New Hampshire, as I return to the Dallas area to attend a conference.

Living nearly two decades in Texas leaves many memories, but I’m not particularly nostalgic returning tonight. Perhaps the smell of the air and the sight of the expansive land and sky will stir some dormant emotions. Living amidst the tall trees of New Hampshire, I can say that I miss the “big” skies – which are not unique to Montana – particularly seeing the sun rise from and set into the prairie. But that’s pretty much the extent of Texas that inspired me. It certainly wasn’t the blast furnace summers.

Texas and Dallas held me for other reasons: relationships and career. Sarah and I moved here. Lori and I met here. Andrea and Grant were born here. And I found my religious faith here.