Day: May 29, 2022

May beauty in nature, art, family, friends, faith — however one seeks comfort — be found.

HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW

Longfellow (1807-1882) and Fanny Appleton (1819-1861) had six children. Fanny, their third child, died at 15 months in 1849. I was thinking about this poem this week.

The Open Window.

The old house by the lindens
Stood silent in the shade,
And on the gravelled pathway
The light and shadow played.

I saw the nursery windows
Wide open to the air;
But the faces of the children,
They were no longer there.

The large Newfoundland house-dog
Was standing by the door;
He looked for his little playmates,
Who would return no more.

They walked not under the lindens,
They played not in the hall;
But shadow, and silence, and sadness
Were hanging over all.

The birds sang in the branches,
With sweet, familiar tone;
But the voices of the children
Will be heard in dreams alone!

And the boy that walked beside me,
He could not understand
Why closer in mine, ah ! closer,
I pressed his warm, soft hand !

The Open Window. Seaside and the Fireside published 1849

AMANDA GORMAN

New York Times brilliant op ed selection, Amanda Gorman’s guest column, Hymn for the Hurting, published Saturday edition, May 28, 2022.

calling Mary Oliver, Pablo Neruda

Pablo Neruda

salve after salvo