Autumn

"In his autumn before the winter, comes man's last mad surge of youth." -vintage film line, quoted in "don't fall" by the Chameleons (U.K.).

Feeling a bit old of late. Looking, feeling, and thinking. Wondering what my life has been, and how the story of it will read when all the stories are told one day. This time of year is always sort of a sweet heartache for me. It has long been a favorite season, second only to winter in my estimation. The gray skies feel softer than the harsh light of summer, the damp air soothing, caressing the skin like the faint kisses of some quiet, unseen, but forgiving god.

Metaphorically of course, it is the season for looking backward; always the favored direction of my gaze. So I am sitting at home alone tonight, browsing iTunes for digital versions of the music of my youth.

Hence the quote.

Annie Dillard quotes

Some favorites:

"Our life is a faint tracing on the surface of mystery, like the idle, curved tunnels of leaf miners on the face of a leaf. "

"Cruelty is a mystery, and the waste of pain. But if we describe a world to compass these things, a world that is a long, brute game, then we bump against another mystery: the inrush of power and delight, the canary that sings on the skull."

Eskimo: "If I did not know about God and sin, would I go to hell?" Priest: "No, not if you did not know." Eskimo: "Then why did you tell me?"