{"id":1145,"date":"2008-10-03T06:33:56","date_gmt":"2008-10-03T10:33:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/?p=1145"},"modified":"2009-08-28T15:42:24","modified_gmt":"2009-08-28T19:42:24","slug":"things-pass-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2008\/10\/things-pass-away\/","title":{"rendered":"Things Pass Away"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"2<\/a>From whiskey river<\/a>:<\/p>\n

September: it was the most beautiful of words, he’d always felt, evoking orange-flowers, swallows, and regret.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Alexander Theroux)<\/p>\n

For summer there, bear in mind, is a loitering gossip, that only begins to talk of leaving when September rises to go.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(George Washington Cable)<\/p>\n

…and<\/a>:<\/p>\n

If we were not beings who pass quickly away like all other things, none of this would matter.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Susan Murphy, Upside-Down Zen<\/em>)<\/p>\n

…and<\/a> (the single word don’t<\/em> ringing loudly):<\/p>\n

Why we don’t die<\/strong><\/p>\n

In late September many voices
\nTell you you will die.
\nThat leaf says it. That coolness.
\nAll of them are right.<\/p>\n

Our many souls — what
\nCan they do about it?
\nNothing. They’re already
\nPart of the invisible.<\/p>\n

Our souls have been
\nLonging to go home
\nAnyway. “It’s late,” they say.
\n“Lock the door, let’s go.”<\/p>\n

The body doesn’t agree. It says,
\n“We buried a little iron
\nBall under that tree.<\/p>\n

Let’s go get it.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Robert Bly, Eating The Honey of Words: New and Selected Poems<\/em>)<\/p>\n

…and — not from whiskey river, just because I was curious about Bly’s “iron ball” and found this video, likewise on the theme of time, and of things which can happen too quickly to see or even imagine:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/td>\n\"\"<\/td>\n\"\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/object><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

…and finally, because obvious though the selection is, this post just wouldn’t be complete without it:<\/p>\n

[audio:trytoremember_jerryorbach.mp3|titles=Try to Remember (The Fantasticks)|artists=Jerry Orbach]<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From whiskey river: September: it was the most beautiful of words, he’d always felt, evoking orange-flowers, swallows, and regret. (Alexander Theroux) For summer there, bear in mind, is a loitering gossip, that only begins to talk of leaving when September rises to go. (George Washington Cable) …and: If we were not beings who pass quickly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","h5ap_radio_sources":[],"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[38,247,1393,74,123,251],"tags":[178,415,535],"class_list":{"0":"post-1145","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-backwards","7":"category-ruminations","8":"category-whiskey-river-runningaftermyhat","9":"category-music","10":"category-theater","11":"category-poetry-writing_cat","12":"tag-whiskey-river","13":"tag-september","14":"tag-the-fantasticks","15":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kZSG-it","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1145"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1164,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1145\/revisions\/1164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}