{"id":865,"date":"2014-10-29T00:00:38","date_gmt":"2014-10-29T00:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=865"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:50:05","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:50:05","slug":"oct-29-ancient-airs-and-dances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2014\/10\/29\/oct-29-ancient-airs-and-dances\/","title":{"rendered":"Oct 29 &#8211; Ancient Airs and Dances"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Wednesday &#8211; October 28 \u00a0&#8211; \u00a0Denise Levertov \u00a0&#8220;Greyhaired, I have not grown wiser,\u00a0unless to perceive absurdity\u00a0is wisdom.&#8221;\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Work week\u2019s middle; \u00a0Autumn\u2019s about 1\/3 finished (if you count from the equinox in September to the winter solstice in December); \u00a0lots of leaves still around but more of them are blowing around our feet. \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/Weather.com\">Weather.com<\/a> says there will be brisk clean winds coming out of the West\/Southwest at a good clip (12-14 mph); mostly cloudy with peeks of sun; no rain. \u00a0Yesterday afternoon\u2019s surprise; \u00a0bright sunshine as I walked back from a meeting c. 5:15. \u00a0I stopped out in front of Lansing Reilly, struck by wind gusts playing with the taller trees behind the chapel\u2019s tile roof. \u00a0 \u00a0The chapel blocked my view of their bottom 2\/3rds and made it seem as if the tall trees were great sailboats surging across the skies. \u00a0I stood still a little while, taking what the earth and trees and chapel roof had on offer. \u00a0 Someone who knows me came up behind me: \u00a0\u201clooking at those leaves I bet.\u201d \u00a0 \u201cYou bet,&#8221; I answered.<\/p>\n<p>Why does all this mid-work-week beauty remind me of Denise Levertov\u2019s poem about falling in love as an elderly woman? \u00a0 The poem is as improbably playful as the leaves riding the wind gusts. \u00a0Maybe that\u2019s why I stopped; or maybe it was that bright sun.<\/p>\n<p>These are busier than usual days; \u00a0it\u2019s good to stop and breathe a little.<\/p>\n<p>Have a good day.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>john sj<\/p>\n<p><b>today\u2019s post<\/b><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>Ancient Airs and Dances<\/b><\/p>\n<p>I<\/p>\n<p>I knew too well<br \/>\nwhat had befallen me<br \/>\nwhen, one night, I put my lips to his wineglass<br \/>\nafter he left&#8211;an impulse I thought was locked away with a smile<br \/>\ninto memory&#8217;s museum.<\/p>\n<p>When he took me to visit friends and the sea, he lay<br \/>\nasleep in the next room&#8217;s dark where the fire<br \/>\nrustled all night; and I, from a warm bed, sleepless,<br \/>\nwatched through the open door<br \/>\nthat glowing hearth, and heard,<br \/>\ndrumming the roof, the rain&#8217;s<br \/>\ninsistent heartbeat.<\/p>\n<p>Greyhaired, I have not grown wiser,<br \/>\nunless to perceive absurdity<br \/>\nis wisdom. A powerless wisdom.<\/p>\n<p>II<\/p>\n<p>Shameless heart! Did you not vow to learn<br \/>\nstillness from the heron<br \/>\nquiet from the mists of fall,<br \/>\nand from the mountain&#8211;what was it?<br \/>\nPride? Remoteness?<br \/>\nYou have forgotten already!<br \/>\nAnd now you clamor again<br \/>\nlike an obstinate child demanding attention,<br \/>\ninterrupting study and contemplation.<br \/>\nYou try my patience. Bound as we are<br \/>\ntogether for life, must you now,<br \/>\nso late in the day, go bounding sideways,<br \/>\ntrying to drag me with you?<\/p>\n<p>Denise Levertov &#8211; <span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Evening Train<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2014\/10\/Denise-Levertov.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-866\" alt=\"Denise Levertov\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2014\/10\/Denise-Levertov.jpg\" width=\"286\" height=\"289\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wednesday &#8211; October 28 \u00a0&#8211; \u00a0Denise Levertov \u00a0&#8220;Greyhaired, I have not grown wiser,\u00a0unless to perceive absurdity\u00a0is wisdom.&#8221;\u00a0 Work week\u2019s middle; \u00a0Autumn\u2019s about 1\/3 finished (if you count from the equinox in September to the winter solstice in December); \u00a0lots of &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2014\/10\/29\/oct-29-ancient-airs-and-dances\/\">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\/865"}],"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=865"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":867,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865\/revisions\/867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}