{"id":15628,"date":"2014-05-16T06:36:43","date_gmt":"2014-05-16T10:36:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/?p=15628"},"modified":"2014-05-16T06:36:43","modified_gmt":"2014-05-16T10:36:43","slug":"early-late-later-too-late","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2014\/05\/early-late-later-too-late\/","title":{"rendered":"Early, Late, Later, Too Late"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Illustration<\/a><\/p>\n

[Image: illustration from <\/em>The Sneetches and Other Stories, by Dr. Seuss (Theodore Geisel).
\nFor the complete tale of “Too Many Daves,” see below<\/a>.]<\/em><\/p>\n

From whiskey river<\/em><\/a> (operating in terse mode this week, apparently):<\/p>\n

No one can tell what goes on in between the person you were and the person you become. No one can chart that blue and lonely section of hell. There are no maps of the change. You just … come out the other side.<\/p>\n

Or you don’t.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Stephen King [source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n

…and<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Waking at Night<\/strong><\/p>\n

The blue river is gray at morning
\nand evening. There is twilight
\nat dawn and dusk. I lie in the dark
\nwondering if this quiet in me now
\nis a beginning or an end.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Jack Gilbert [source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n

…and<\/a> (italicized portion):<\/p>\n

Try to be reasonable in the way you grow, and don’t ever think it is too late. It is never too late. Even if you are going to die tomorrow, keep yourself straight and clear and be a happy human being today<\/em>. If you keep your situation happy day by day, you will eventually reach the greatest happiness of enlightenment.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Lama Thubten Yeshe [source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Not from whiskey river<\/em>:<\/p>\n

If today you can take a thing like evolution and make it a crime to teach it in the public school, tomorrow you can make it a crime to teach it in the private schools, and the next year you can make it a crime to teach it to the hustings or in the church. At the next session you may ban books and the newspapers. Soon you may set Catholic against Protestant and Protestant against Protestant, and try to foist your own religion upon the minds of men. If you can do one you can do the other. Ignorance and fanaticism is ever busy and needs feeding. Always it is feeding and gloating for more. Today it is the public school teachers, tomorrow the private. The next day the preachers and the lectures, the magazines, the books, the newspapers. After a while, your honor, it is the setting of man against man and creed against creed until with flying banners and beating drums we are marching backward to the glorious ages of the sixteenth century when bigots lighted fagots to burn the men who dared to bring any intelligence and enlightenment and culture to the human mind.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Clarence Darrow [source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n

…and:<\/p>\n

the song of mehitabel<\/strong>
\n(excerpt)<\/em><\/p>\n

i have had my ups and downs
\nbut wotthehell wotthehell
\nyesterday sceptres and crowns
\nfried oysters and velvet gowns
\nand today i herd with bums
\nbut wotthehell wotthehell
\ni wake the world from sleep
\nas i caper and sing and leap
\nwhen i sing my wild free tune
\nwotthehell wotthehell
\nunder the blear eyed moon
\ni am pelted with cast off shoon
\nbut wotthehell wotthehell<\/p>\n

do you think that i would change
\nmy present freedom to range
\nfor a castle or moated grange
\nwotthehell wotthehell
\ncage me and i d go frantic
\nmy life is so romantic
\ncapricious and corybantic
\nand i m toujours gai toujours gai<\/p>\n

i know that i am bound
\nfor a journey down the sound
\nin the midst of a refuse mound
\nbut wotthehell wotthehell
\noh i should worry and fret
\ndeath and i will coquette
\nthere s a dance in the old dame yet
\ntoujours gai toujours gai<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Don Marquis [source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n

…and (an old favorite, which I can’t believe I’ve never used here):<\/p>\n

You Reading This, Be Ready<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starting here, what do you want to remember?
\nHow sunlight creeps along a shining floor?
\nWhat scent of old wood hovers, what softened
\nsound from outside fills the air?<\/p>\n

Will you ever bring a better gift for the world
\nthan the breathing respect that you carry
\nwherever you go right now? Are you waiting
\nfor time to show you some better thoughts?<\/p>\n

When you turn around, starting here, lift this
\nnew glimpse that you found; carry into evening
\nall that you want from this day. This interval you spent
\nreading or hearing this, keep it for life —<\/p>\n

What can anyone give you greater than now,
\nstarting here, right in this room, when you turn around?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(William Stafford [source<\/em><\/a> (among many others)])<\/p>\n

<\/a>…and:<\/p>\n

Too Many Daves<\/strong><\/p>\n

Did I ever tell you that Mrs. McCave
\nHad twenty-three sons and she named them all Dave?
\nWell, she did. And that wasn’t a smart thing to do.
\nYou see, when she wants one and calls out, “Yoo-Hoo!
\nCome into the house, Dave!” she doesn’t get one.
\nAll twenty-three Daves of hers come on the run!
\nThis makes things quite difficult at the McCaves’
\nAs you can imagine, with so many Daves.
\nAnd often she wishes that, when they were born,
\nShe had named one of them Bodkin Van Horn
\nAnd one of them Hoos-Foos. And one of them Snimm.
\nAnd one of them Hot-Shot. And one Sunny Jim.
\nAnd one of them Shadrack. And one of them Blinkey.
\nAnd one of them Stuffy. And one of them Stinkey.
\nAnother one Putt-Putt. Another one Moon Face.
\nAnother one Marvin O’Gravel Balloon Face.
\nAnd one of them Ziggy. And one Soggy Muff.
\nOne Buffalo Bill. And one Biffalo Buff.
\nAnd one of them Sneepy. And one Weepy Weed.
\nAnd one Paris Garters. And one Harris Tweed.
\nAnd one of them Sir Michael Carmichael Zutt
\nAnd one of them Oliver Boliver Butt
\nAnd one of them Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate…
\nBut she didn’t do it. And now it’s too late.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Theodore Geisel [source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Image: illustration from The Sneetches and Other Stories, by Dr. Seuss (Theodore Geisel). For the complete tale of “Too Many Daves,” see below.] From whiskey river (operating in terse mode this week, apparently): No one can tell what goes on in between the person you were and the person you become. No one can chart […]<\/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":[247,1393,95,250,5,50,251,713],"tags":[1345,3015,3566,3795,3796,3797,3798,3799,3800,3801,3802],"class_list":{"0":"post-15628","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-ruminations","7":"category-whiskey-river-runningaftermyhat","8":"category-science-medicine","9":"category-art","10":"category-06_writing","11":"category-language-writing_cat","12":"category-poetry-writing_cat","13":"category-humor-writing_cat","14":"tag-william-stafford","15":"tag-jack-gilbert","16":"tag-stephen-king","17":"tag-dr-seuss","18":"tag-theodore-geisel","19":"tag-thubten-yeshe","20":"tag-clarence-darrow","21":"tag-don-marquis","22":"tag-archy-and-mehitabel","23":"tag-evolution","24":"tag-scopes-trial","25":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kZSG-444","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15628","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=15628"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15645,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15628\/revisions\/15645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}