"I OMIT THE UNUSUAL ~ the hurricanes and earthquakes ~ and describe the common. This has the greatest charm and is the true theme of poetry. You may have the extraordinary for your province, if you will let me have the ordinary. Give me the obscure life, the cottage of the poor and humble, the workdays of the world, the barren fields, the smallest share of all things but poetic perception. Give me but the eyes to see the things which you possess."
~ Henry David Thoreau/ An American Landscape/ Selected Writings from His Journals, edited and illustrated by Robert L. Rothwell, Paragon House, 1991.
Lorna, your quote from Thoreau about his desire for 'poetic perception' and the simple observances really reminds me that maybe that's what we do possess when we ponder and see the immediate small things around us, as we did as children. As adults, we often over-look these basic wonders in our quest for something grander. I know that happens to me, and I shudder to think of what I miss. As children, we didn't seem to yearn for anything 'larger'; we were enthralled by every-day occurrences and objects. Your lovely photo of the three girls enjoying the collected water on the flat-bed, as only children seem to be able, reminds me of a precious moment, not then appreciated: my mother and I promptly getting outside after a rainfall, and with bare feet, walking in the delicious, soft puddles left by the rain on the earthen driveway of our home. I still recall my child's pleasure of this sensation, and remember well my mother's child-like pleasure in this shared experience...then, with tender, bare feet we felt the 'common'....how did our soles/souls harden since?
ReplyDeleteHow indeed did our "soles/souls harden since?" Thank you for taking the time to share this beautiful childhood experience.
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