"The deepest sleep holds us

to something immutable.

We have fallen

into place, and harmony

surrounds us. We are carried 

in the world, in the company 

of stars. But as day comes

I feel the waking of my hunger

for another day."

from From The Crest

Wendell Berry

Friday Night a new pack member joined us.

Nina is a rescue from Mexico arranged through

a Calgary group that brings smaller dogs, which

are often in short supply in Calgary, from rescue

groups in the US and Mexico. Since we wanted

a young companion for Whateley and Shaun

we contacted them and decided Nina would fit

would right in. At present she is sleeping in 

with the rest of the pack.

The wonder of the world

The beauty and the power,

The shapes of things

Their colours, lights and shades

These I saw,

Look ye also while life lasts

from an old gravestone in Cumberland England
from the introduction to the book

Eliot Porter In the Realm of Nature.

"Passions of rain, or moods in falling snow; 

Grievings in loneliness, or unsubdued
Elations when the forest blooms; gusty 

Emotions on wet roads on autumn nights; 

All pleasures and all pains, remembering 

The bough of summer and the winter branch. 

These are the measures destined for her soul. "

    from  Sunday Morning 

                   Wallace Stevens

"Where is the sea, that once solved the whole loneliness

Of the Midwest?Where is Minneapolis? I can see nothing

But the great terrible oak tree darkening with winter.

Did you find the city of isolated men beyond mountains?

Or have you been holding the end of a frayed rope

For a thousand years? "

from As I Step Over A Puddle At The End Of Winter
I think Of An Ancient Chinese Governor

                   James Wright 

"The moments of happiness—not the sense of well-being,

Fruition, fulfillment, security or affection,

Or even a very good dinner, but the sudden illumination—

We had the experience but missed the meaning,

And approach to the meaning restores the experience

In a different form, beyond any meaning

We can assign to happiness"

from The Dry Salvages

Eliot

Both Saturday and Sunday when I finally hauled myself out

of bed the temperature in the backyard had warmed up to 

about -28 C or -18 F. I am not sure how cold it was earlier

but even after the temperatures had risen to a balmy -20 or so

they still proved too much for the heated birdbath which has 

frozen over. The birds and the squirrels still appear at the feeder 

but only the magpies who have pecked a hole through the ice

can get a drink.

My reading on epiphany or revelation in poetry continues

yesterday it lead me to the works of T.S. Eliot, enjoy.

I am off the the library you can never have too many books 

around.

"We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Through the unknown, unremembered gate
When the last of earth left to discover
Is that which was the beginning;
At the source of the longest river
The voice of the hidden waterfall
And the children in the apple-tree
Not known, because not looked for
But heard, half-heard, in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea.
Quick now, here, now, always—"

from Little Gidding 

Eliot