Tuesday, February 12, 2008


THE SOURCE OF RAINBOWS


It comes to me in the knife-edge cold of the winter night, out here on the deck for one last look at the stars before sleep, that what we all need, what we all seek in the streets and rooms, meadows and museums of our ways, is a place to wonder. Not to be taught, but to wonder. Not to be told, but to wonder: completely from and by ourselves. Where are those places but out in the nature of things, as out in the winter beneath the stars without explanation? Where but in the sudden realization of how remote we are in the vastness we are one with, and in that wall of sudden awareness discover the bright door that opens in ourselves; then to walk through...

6 comments:

Martin J Frid said...

Stars are a good place to start... Especially in winter.

(Orion is at its peak right now tonight or yesterday night; from now on it will slowly move back towards the horizon)

Mary Lou said...

Yep. A nice dark deck and a clear sky! or a nice warm hillside and great spring clouds. or a wonderous mountain and an eye stretching view.

Robert Brady said...

Orion rolling over head... here's to the stars!

Anonymous said...

What a simple but eloquent truth! May I be so bold as to add: then to walk thru "with no telephones, no televisions, no computers to distract us!"

Anonymous said...

Wonderfully stated Robert. As always, I love your prose.

Val said...

Beautifully put.

In the Sinai desert last week, I went on a star gazing trip. Even with twenty other tourists - peering through expensive telescopes and looking up at the strange sky, and listening to entertaining narratives about the heavens - the best part was when I stole away from the crowd. The silence of the dark desert landscape, and the wonder of it all....