Perfection in Darkness

It’s a dark, gloomy day. I love it.
It’s my birthday and we are swimming in
April Showers. About three inches of rain
has fallen in the past few days, a third of
our annual rainfall. Hallelujah!

Andrew Nagen called me this morning
with a birthday song:

Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you,
May the Angel of Death pass over your house tonight,
Happy birthday to you!

It’s also my son Max’s birthday today. He’s 20.
He was the gift on my birthday in 1984.

It’s also the birthday of poet Richard Eberhart –
He’s 100 years old today. Here’s one of his best-known
poems –from the Philadelphia Inquirer Online –

Perfection in darkness

The Eclipse

I stood out in the open cold

To see the essence of the eclipse

Which was its perfect darkness.

I stood in the cold on the porch

And could not think of anything so perfect

As man's hope of light in the face of darkness.


- From Collected Poems, 1930-1986