EXCUSE me but I digress, wouldn’t you ? I find myself musing among the words of Dr. Holmes, the senior Oliver Wendell of course ! If you have followed my DATELINES, then you will know how taken I am with his writing all these many years. There is a line he wrote in a letter from Beverly Farms, 7/9/1885, that is exceedingly profound and I would like you to ponder its core meaning ! He ends his self critique with these words: But the morning dew means little to the withered leaf ! Wow ! He repeats in a letter from same on 7/9/1894 noting that his opinion hasn’t changed. May I ask you to search out these letters on WIKIPEDIA, nothing like authenticating. Now what does this have to do with facing one’s own mortality, everything ! In our lives we calmly allow atrophy to overtake parts of our anatomy to stifle the most exciting contributions we are capable of making, from actions to words ! This includes progeny to thought process, wisdom. Why did God give us speech ? Or the capacity to think, plan, dream, hope ? And not the lions ? For we are special in His image, not automatons, however we are perceived. I for one wish to exercise my abilities until the day I bid adieu, knowing all the while that this is what I was created for. In Genesis 9:1 instructions to Noah, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. Amen ! Sincerely, Claire B.
“And if I should live to be……….That last leaf upon the tree……….In the spring,……….Let them smile, as I do now,…………At the old forsaken bough………..Where I cling”………….( final stanza). The Last Leaf by Oliver Wendell Holmes
Claire V. Bogdanos 