Even though we have only seen each other a few times my dear cousin Terry & I share many similar passions. They include Rachmaninoff's 2nd Piano Concerto, our respect for our ancestry & our passion for poetry.
Here is a gift from Wendell Berry, just the 3rd & 4th verses of his soul-piercing poem "The Country of Marriage":
III.
Sometimes our life reminds me
of a forest in which there is a graceful clearing
and in that opening a house,
an orchard and garden,
comfortable shades, and flowers
red and yellow in the sun, a pattern
made in the light for the light to return to.
The forest is mostly dark, its ways
to be made anew day after day, the dark
richer than the light and more blessed,
provided we stay brave
enough to keep on going in.
IV.
How many times have I come to you out of my head
with joy, if ever a man was,
for to approach you I have given up the light
and all directions. I come to you
lost, wholly trusting as a man who goes
into the forest unarmed. It is as though I descend
slowly earthward out of the air. I rest in peace
in you, when I arrive at last.
May we stay "brave/ enough to keep on going in."
-Erie Chapman
