Saturday, February 12, 2011

Instruct ourselves... in joy...

en route for Aumont-Aubrac

               "It is what I was born for - 
                      to look, to listen,

to lose myself
    inside this soft world -
              to instruct myself
                     over and over

in joy
   and acclamation.
      Nor am I talking
          about the exceptional,

the fearful, the dreadful,
    the very extravagant -
       but of the ordinary,
           the common, the very drab,

the daily presentations."

~Mary Oliver
from the poem, 'Mindful'

It seemed like quite a long day from Les Faux to Aumont-Aubrac,
and when I checked my e-mail for the first time since leaving Paris
there was some sad, hard news about a family at home.

But even though it seemed like a bit of a dull, even difficult day,
the sun still came out 
to leave the shadow of this tree on the ground
a quiet bit of joy to notice.

8 comments:

  1. Your blog is well named Margaret.. every posting does inspire!

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  2. Thanks Kay. You will be walking this route soon enough!

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  3. Hi Margaret your posting reminded me of Patrick Kavanaghs 'A Christmas Childhood'

    "The tracks of cattle to a drinking-place,
    A green stone lying sideways in a ditch,
    Or any common sight, the transfigured face
    Of a beauty that the world did not touch."

    Thank you
    Nell

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  4. Oh Nell, that very Irish use of words... spine-tingling...
    I have a photo of a shared meal I had in Los Arcos with a group of Irishmen. I would like to use it, but it seems quite difficult to find a suitably inspiring quote about sharing a meal. Maybe I need to read some more Irish literature...

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  5. Your photos bring it all back, Kiwi. How to look - yes, the Camino taught me that too.

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  6. Robert, I remember still that magic moment when I had just climbed the hill out of Le Puy, and saw the sunlight on some seed heads. And I knew I was so lucky that weeks of such noticing lay ahead 'si on peut'.

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  7. Our love and prayers Margaret as we listen to news about the earthquake.
    Terry and Valerie

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  8. Thanks Terry and Valerie. I don't live near so didn't feel it, but have friends and family there. It is a tragedy, and nobody was expecting this much damage and death from an aftershock.

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