Lightly Child, Lightly

~ Live & Learn

When I first came out to the country
I knew nothing. I watched
as people planted, harvested, picked
the berries, explained
the weather, tended the ducks and horses.

When I first came out to the country
my mind emptied and I
liked it that way. My mind was like a sky
without clouds, a summer sky
with several birds flapping across a field
on the eastern horizon.

I liked the slowness of things. The empty
town, the lake stillness,
the man I met who seemed contented, who
sat and talked in the dusk
about why he had chosen this long ago.

I did better dreaming then. the colors
were clear. I found something
important in myself: capacity for renewal.
And at night, the sky so intense.
Clear incredible stars! Almost another earth…

~ Lou Lipsitz, from “Blackberry Authorities” in Seeking the Hook

Notes:

  • Photograph: (via Maybe You Need This). Poem via 3 Quarks Daily
  • Prior “Lightly child, lightly” Posts? Connect here.
  • Post Title & Inspiration: Aldous Huxley: “It’s dark because you are trying too hard. Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly. Yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply. Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them.”

 

21 thoughts on “Lightly Child, Lightly”

    2. Valerie; we HAVE it, not in our usual Paris region (heaven forbid NO….) BUT here at South Devon’s coast in quite rural England, UK….. people have time, everybody is chatting to everybody, one woman was stopping me in the street to tell me that I had the most beautiful hair she’d ever seen…. All have dogs, nearly everybody is too fat from probably enjoying life a bit too much (so we fitted right in!), you have tea, coffee and ice cream at any given moment in time, you find yourself again after having lost your inner core…. it does exist. Only drawback: There are no jobs, no revenue except tourism, so it’s a bit difficult!

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  6. Thank you. I needed this today. I woke with a feeling of dread, worrying that as I age, I will follow the path of my parents…. more and more isolated as friends die and health deteriorates. Much to heavy thoughts to start the day. Now I will go lightly and stop worrying about the future that is still unknown.

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  8. I’ve been lucky enough to have had an experience like this a couple of years ago on the island of Molokai. Far from everything, by myself, and a night sky just like the, except the trees were palms. My first ever seeing the Milky Way and knowing nothing else mattered then.

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  10. I love this post. This is exactly why I love living in a tiny 900-person town. Add to it that everyone knows you and the pressures of modern life fall away the moment I turn onto my driveway and you have the complete story.

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