{"id":511,"date":"2014-04-23T12:15:13","date_gmt":"2014-04-23T12:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=511"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:50:26","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:50:26","slug":"april-23-a-spring-workday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2014\/04\/23\/april-23-a-spring-workday\/","title":{"rendered":"April 23, A spring workday"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Wednesday, April 23 &#8211; The Back Bay in April<\/p>\n<p>During the 1980s and early 90s I was a visiting faculty member at MIT\u2019s Science, Technology and Society Program 5 times. I lived in a down-at-the-heels Jesuit set of row houses on Newberry St in the back bay. Most of those years preceded the march of well-to-do young people to our end of the Back Bay but there were destination places around. One was Charlies, a fine Irish Pub at the end of our block. Winter in Boston can be as tough as winter has been here. So, when the ice on the Charles River breaks open and daffodils appear, you feel like dancing, like noticing simple things with eyes prepared for delight. \u201cTrudging\u201d isn\u2019t the word for walking in the height of spring.<\/p>\n<p>A simple thing happened at the end of the work day on April 20, 1983. On April 23, 2014, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.weather.com\">Weather.com<\/a> predicts gusty winds, lots of sun and crisp air, a little on the chilly side . . . . like an April moment thirty one years ago, on a perfect Spring day..<\/p>\n<p>Enjoy today. Maybe we should remind our students to be glad \u2014 in the press of exams \u2014 that they didn\u2019t choose a party school for their college.<\/p>\n<p>john sj<\/p>\n<p>Meeting at Rush Hour<\/p>\n<p>A gust of wind<br \/>\nsent the metal street sign for Charlie&#8217;s Tavern<br \/>\nskittering fifteen feet up Newbury Street,<br \/>\nan unlikely sailboat<br \/>\nescaped, perhaps, from the Charles.<\/p>\n<p>The clatter and improbability<br \/>\nset us both free.<\/p>\n<p>She looked twenty two,<br \/>\nblond and lovely,<br \/>\ngoing the other way<br \/>\nand no doubt equally homeward bound.<\/p>\n<p>In our sudden bemusement<br \/>\nat the sign&#8217;s startled venture<br \/>\nour eyes touched.<\/p>\n<p>Then, the wonder.<br \/>\nWe grinned.<\/p>\n<p>Delight at our moment&#8217;s kinship<br \/>\nfreed us from fear<br \/>\nfrom strategy and burden.<br \/>\nShe flashed fire at me<br \/>\nand I, no doubt, at her.<\/p>\n<p>A moment&#8217;s celebration quickly passed&#8211;<br \/>\nrare and winsom beauty,<br \/>\nbreathed through two human forms<br \/>\nfilling us with awe.<\/p>\n<p>We went our ways with no word spoken,<br \/>\nboth journeys blessed.<\/p>\n<p>April 20, 1983<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>UDM campus, April 27, 2006<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2014\/04\/Tulips.jpeg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-512\" alt=\"Tulips\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2014\/04\/Tulips.jpeg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2014\/04\/Tulips.jpeg 640w, https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2014\/04\/Tulips-300x225.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wednesday, April 23 &#8211; The Back Bay in April During the 1980s and early 90s I was a visiting faculty member at MIT\u2019s Science, Technology and Society Program 5 times. I lived in a down-at-the-heels Jesuit set of row houses &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2014\/04\/23\/april-23-a-spring-workday\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=511"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":515,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511\/revisions\/515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}