Across a river.
I have a favorite poem torn from a SF magazine tacked near my computer at work. It's by W. Gregory Stewart (and while researching for this blog, I realize that I also have a W. Gregory Stewart poem beneath my display at home - that one's about playing marathon solitaire, and I've played over 13,000 games).
For copyright reasons, I won't quote all of Stewart's poem. It's entitled "as much as most". Here are the parts that I find especially compelling:
"Here is as much as most folks need to know about space, time . . . If you go fast enough from as many A to as many B as you can why then you will eventually come to a place where you see yourself across a river. . . . And here is as much as most folks will want to know about Freud and the boys - whether you can meet your dreams on the AB itinerary will determine whether you look yourself in the eye when you do, or blink if you do - or want to wave."
Each time I read this, I think of it anew. If I saw myself across a river, like a river of time, would I look myself in the eye, blink, or wave?
I'd wave.
I think of this as I pass through my days. What am I working towards? It comes to me that I should choose to do things that would make my old and young me's want to wave at my now-me. It's a kind of a philosophy, if you think about it.
For copyright reasons, I won't quote all of Stewart's poem. It's entitled "as much as most". Here are the parts that I find especially compelling:
"Here is as much as most folks need to know about space, time . . . If you go fast enough from as many A to as many B as you can why then you will eventually come to a place where you see yourself across a river. . . . And here is as much as most folks will want to know about Freud and the boys - whether you can meet your dreams on the AB itinerary will determine whether you look yourself in the eye when you do, or blink if you do - or want to wave."
Each time I read this, I think of it anew. If I saw myself across a river, like a river of time, would I look myself in the eye, blink, or wave?
I'd wave.
I think of this as I pass through my days. What am I working towards? It comes to me that I should choose to do things that would make my old and young me's want to wave at my now-me. It's a kind of a philosophy, if you think about it.
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