{"id":18297,"date":"2016-11-19T10:53:19","date_gmt":"2016-11-19T15:53:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/?p=18297"},"modified":"2017-12-08T16:51:59","modified_gmt":"2017-12-08T21:51:59","slug":"happy-to-be-here-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/2016\/11\/19\/happy-to-be-here-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Happy to Be Here Now"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Summit<\/a>

Summit of Cascade. Archive Photo of the Day: Stuart Delman, Chestertown NY.<\/p><\/div>\n

It’s been a tough year to follow the obits, a tough year period. No sooner do I get my head around one human-shaped hole in the universe, than “another man done gone”\u2014or woman.<\/p>\n

Too much loss, too much worry, too much anger and fear: blessings hard to give thanks for. These things were on my mind last month as I was sitting in the library at Twitchell Lake Inn, reading the work of some older men who were also contemplating mortality and gratitude.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead to Thanksgiving this week, I give thanks for that most basic of all blessings\u2014for life.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Happy to Be Here Now<\/strong><\/p>\n

Beside this rustic lodge a glacial erratic rests, just short
\nof sliding down to the lake. On it, a plaque–
\nEarl Covey built this place. Lodge and boulder remain,
\nbut Earl Covey? Gone since nineteen fifty-three.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

“There’s only one dualism that counts: Being and Non-Being,”
\nGary Snyder said, “It’s all ecology otherwise; it’s all
\ninteractions.” Being on the being end of the continuum
\nat this moment, dry and warm, I say, “Thanks, Earl. Nice work.”\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

But not to keep. Gravity takes the long view \u2013 logs will lean,
\nthe rooftree fall. The boulder will roll to the lake bottom,
\nwhich will in time silt in, sprout up into white birch. Meanwhile,
\n“Let’s go dancing while we’ve still got feet,” David Budbill said.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

He said of dead, “It’s back to the undifferentiated Tao with you.”
\nNow he can speak with authority. I say, “Thanks, David. Nice work.”
\nNorth of sixty is a surplus of memento mori<\/em>. Asked “What about
\nage, sickness and death?” Snyder said, “Enjoy them while you can.”\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I climb up, beyond bonsai mountain ash at the timberline,
\nbeyond fear, sentiment, to the mute anorthosite bulge of summit,
\nto one solid illusion of eternity in a kingdom of wind. There
\nI take off my hat to scratch at the scar where cancer once grew.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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