A Pair of Shoes, by Vincent van Gogh
There's also this to see: They will live on, they will increase,
no longer pawns of time.
They will grow like the sweet wild berries
the forest ripens as its treasure.
Then blessed are those who never turned away
and blessed are those who stood quietly in the rain.
Theirs shall be the harvest; for them the fruits.
They will outlast the pomp and power,
whose meaning and structures will crumble.
When all else is exhausted and bled of purpose,
they will lift their hands, that have survived.
The Book of Hours III, 28
Oh, Rilke, how prescient you were! I think of last night's (11/27) episode of "60 Minutes" on the increase of (in?) homelessness here. How people are living in vans and cars because there is no room for them in hotels or shelters, and many cannot afford the former as it is. Hardest on the children, and yet one young lady had a compassion, determination and wisdom far beyond her years (and far beyond that of most adults). She is the blessed even as she brushes her teeth in gas stations and never spends the night at the same location twice.
ReplyDeleteWhen will we learn???