An imperfect weapon—yes; but the imperfect weapon would accord with the
great oaks, the beech trees full of knot-holes, the mysterious
thickets, the tall fern, the silence and the solitude. The chase would
become a real chase: not, as now, a foregone conclusion. And there
would be time for pondering and dreaming.
Let us be always out of doors among trees and grass, and rain and wind
and sun. There the breeze comes and strikes the cheek and sets it
aglow: the gale increases and the trees creak and roar, but it is only
a ruder music. A calm follows, the sun shines in the sky, and it is the
time to sit under an oak, leaning against the bark, while the birds
sing and the air is soft and sweet. By night the stars shine, and there
is no fathoming the dark spaces between those brilliant points, nor the
thoughts that come as it were between the fixed stars and landmarks of
the mind.
Or it is the morning on the hills, when hope is as wide as the world;
or it is the evening on the shore. A red sun sinks, and the foam-tipped
waves are crested with crimson; the booming surge breaks, and the spray
flies afar, sprinkling the face watching under the pale cliffs. Let us
get out of these indoor narrow modern days, whose twelve hours somehow
have become shortened, into the sunlight and the pure wind. A something
that the ancients called divine can be found and felt there still.
THE END
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account